Easy Does it on First Day of Petit Pretest

Easy Does it on First Day of Petit Pretest

Posted: September 23rd, 2006 in American Le Mans
Author: American Le Mans Series

Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda CX-7 is off to a bit of an early start. Five cars that are entered in next weekend’s ninth annual 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic took part in the first day of a three-day test period Friday at Road Atlanta. More teams will take the track Saturday and Sunday as the ninth round of the American Le Mans Series nears.

One of the first cars out was Intersport Racing’s Lola B05/40-AER. Four drivers shared time in last year’s winning LMP2 entry: race drivers Clint Field, Jon Field and Liz Halliday, along with team sponsor Richard Berry.“We’re doing a few different things,” Jon Field said. “We have plenty of data from running here in the past. We were running 1:13.7s and 1:13.8s last year, and we’re a second better than that last year. Richard was doing great with some 1:18s!“We should be very close to them,” he added gesturing toward Penske Racing’s transporter at the other end of the paddock. “We want to see what they’re doing.”A pair of GT entrants completed the Friday lineup. Aston Martin Racing’s two green Aston Martin DBR9s circulated the track throughout the day, mainly conducting tire tests with Pirelli. Stephane Sarrazin drove the Mosport-winning No. 009 entry with Tomas Enge in the No. 007. Neither car had trouble, but they also weren’t running full speed and full stints either.BMW Team PTG’s two BMW M3s turned their first laps at Road Atlanta since 2003, the last time the team competed at Petit Le Mans. Joey Hand did the duties in the No. 22 entry with Bryan Sellers in the No. 22. The cars ran under the watchful eye of team manager Dave Gahagan, who said the cars were taking some time getting reacquainted to the track.Sellers’ day was spoiled by a spin and crash with about two hours left in the session as he came through Turn 12. He impacted the outside concrete wall twice, spun and impacted the inside wall before coming to rest. The damage appeared not to be too severe with the team planning to have the car ready for Saturday. Better to have it happen on Friday rather than this time next week, a subdued Sellers agreed.Aside from Penske’s two Porsche RS Spyders (with all six drivers already in Atlanta), a pair of Ferrari F430GTs from Risi Competizione also were in the paddock, waiting for track time Saturday. Flying Lizard Motorsports’ No. 44 Porsche is scheduled to test, as is the van der Steur Radical SR9-AER.

Â

Â