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SUNDAY 9:00am
Good morning, race fans!
Here is the ALMS story as promised, along with some fancy photographing from our boys Russell and Samuel to get your day started. Check out this race preview I wrote last night, and check back here in a few hours as we get ready for the 35th annual Long Beach Grand Prix!
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SATURDAY 6:00pm
The XM Radio Acura of Gil de Ferran just captured the P1 class and overall victory in the American Le Mans Series race, under a yellow caution flag caused by a Corvette C6-R that burst into flames after overshooting Turn 1. It was that kind of race.
I’m heading to the conference room to get quotes from the winners, but we’ll have pictures, videos and a full story available tonight!
That’s all for today, check back in tomorrow for a full IndyCar race preview and much, much more!
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SATURDAY 5:00pm
After qualifying on the pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Long Beach, Will Power gave thanks to his new crew team for their work on the car he had never driven before this morning.
“It was just a great job from the team to transfer everything over,” said Power, who spent Friday tweaking the #3 car to perfection before handing it over to Helio Castroneves. That didn’t thwart his attempt to capture pole, though, as he hopped into the #12 and smoothly scored the fastest lap of the day.
“This morning, there were a few bugs to iron out,” he said, after his team took the setup on the #3 and copied them into the #12. “We hardly had to make any adjustments.”
Dario Franchitti, winner of the 2007 Indy 500, gave Power a great run for his money but came up just short. A few minor miscues cost him a chance at a perfect lap, but Franchitti says he’s happy to be in a good starting position and is glad to be racing in Long Beach again. He received a little good-natured ribbing when EJ Viso noted that he was not even born when Franchitti made his Long Beach debut in 1987.
“I would like for it to be an advantage,” Franchitti said of his extensive Long Beach experience, “But it’s not. Let’s be honest, it doesn’t take long for these guys to familiarize themselves with a track.”
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SATURDAY 4:45pm
The American Le Mans Series race is almost halfway completed, and we’ll have a leaderboard shortly, as well as quotes from the winners following the race. Scott Sharp is currently leading the field in his Patron Acura ARX, which is pictured above.
Stay tuned!
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SATURDAY 4:30pm
We’ve just learned that Helio Castroneves has been complaining of a headache after the Turn 1 crash he suffered during qualifying, and the two-time Indy 500 winner will be reevaluated by IRL Medical Director Mike Ollinger tomorrow morning before the afternoon race. Ollinger has found no sign of concussion thus far.
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SATURDAY 3:45pm
Wow. After being forced out of a car that he had nearly perfected, Will Power has captured the pole position for tomorrow’s race in a car he had never driven until this morning. His time of 1:09.710 barely bested Dario Franchitti, the only other driver to beat the 1:10.000 mark.
Power in the #12 car that he began driving just this morning. By Russell Conroy
Raphael Matos is playing the role of Cinderella, and will surprisingly start from third position tomorrow after his 1:10.204.
Quotes from these drivers and the other top finishers are forthcoming!
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SATURDAY 3:15pm
Team Penske just had a bad five minutes, as drivers Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves each lost control of their cars – one after the other – during qualifying. Briscoe spun safely off the track, but Castroneves lost control heading into Turn 1 at high speed and collided with the concrete barrier. The back end of his #3 car slammed into the wall, dislodging his rear wing. The car was just towed away. We’ll let you know more as it comes in.
Dario Franchitti and Justin Wilson sit atop the qualifying leaderboard thus far.
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SATURDAY 3:00pm
Here we go into the final round of qualifying, where the top six drivers in each of the last two sessions battle it our for the twelve best starting positions for tomorrow’s race. Look out for EJ Viso, Dario Franchitti and of course, Will Power. All posted excellent times in their sessions.
Franchitti in this morning’s practice session. By Russell Conroy
Looks like I was right: the IndyCars are simply slower. No one has broken 1:10.000 yet, after last year’s pole-winner scored a 1:06.902.
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SATURDAY 2:35pm
Largely unheard from this weekend as she’s struggled to find an effective setup, Danica Patrick just spun out and made contact with the wall during her qualifying session. It looked like she went a little too hard on the gas in Turn 10 and spun out, sending her nose-first into the wall with substantial damage to her front wing.
This drew some “Oooohs” from the Media Room, and one loud “Nice work, Princessa.” Ha!
Patrick in Turn 10. By Russell Conroy
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SATURDAY 2:30pm
In the first qualifying session, Scott Dixon‘s #9 Target car took top billing with a 1:10.099, followed by Penske’s Ryan Briscoe and NHL’s Graham Rahal.
If that time seems a bit slow, it is compared to last year’s times from Champ Car qualifying. Justin Wilson grabbed the pole with a 1:06.902. Are the IndyCars slower than the Champ Cars? They’re definitely not suited as well for a street track such as Long Beach, but a three second differential is quite substantial. We’ll see if anyone in the next qualifying session is able to break 1:10.000, and if Wilson, Will Power or the other former Champ drivers have any advantage.
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SATURDAY 2:00pm
We’re getting ready for IndyCar qualifying right now, and the cars are about to start rolling out. We’ve also got plenty of videos and pictures going through editing right now that will be available shortly. What have you thought of today’s action so far?
Helio Castroneves. By Russell Conroy
The big story was the return of Helio Castroneves, and though the two-tine Indy 500 winner looked a little shaky at first in the morning practice session, any indication of rust was blown away when he ended up posting the tenth-best time in an unfamiliar car setup. Teammate Will Power continued his dominance of this track despite the setback of giving his car up to Castroneves, hopping into the #12 Verizon car and posting the day’s third-best lap. We’ll see how they stack up in qualifying, along with Dario Franchitti and EJ Viso in the first and second best times of the morning.
Franchitti set his best lap before colliding with the tire wall in Turn 5, but was uninjured and will likely be unaffected for qualifying. Marco Andretti also took a nasty spill in Turn 10 and slammed into the concrete barrier. He emerged unharmed and gave a wave to the crowd, but his car will likely not be ready for qualifying today.
Marco Andretti’s #26 car makes contact. He would jump out unharmed and wave to the crowd. By Russell Conroy
Who looks good to you so far? Seems the former Champ drivers and those with more road course experience are having an easier time of it than the Indy veterans. We’ll see if that continues!
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FRIDAY 9:00pm
If you didn’t know, this weekend is your last chance to ever see the Chevrolet Corvette C6-R compete in the GT1 class of the American Le Mans Series. The car has built a bulletproof legend for itself after dominating nearly every race it’s entered, and the team will field a new model in the GT2 class.
Photo by Samuel Lippke
Check it out while you can!
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FRIDAY 6:00pm
The American Le Mans Series qualifying session is set and, not surprisingly, a car in the top-notch P1 class took pole position as the Acura ARX 02a of David Brabham and Scott Sharp posted a smoking 1:11.627, a new ALMS qualifying lap record. Another ARX 02a will follow in second, while the Lowe’s #15 Acura ARX 01-B (P2 class) rounds out the top three.
The ALMS polesitter. Photo by Russell Conroy
In a shocker, a Corvette C6-R took the best time in the GT1 class (the two Corvettes are that class’ only competitors).
In GT2 however, there was an actual shocker. The Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GT captured the best time, but it was cancelled when the car failed some kind of test following the session. We’ll post more as we learn it.
The Risi Competizione Ferrari won the GT2 pole, and then lost it. Photo by Russell Conroy
That hands the pole over to the #87 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3-RSR, followed by its teammate and a pair of BMW M3s. Click here for my article on a couple of local M3 drivers searching for victory.
The ALMS race will be held on Saturday at 4:00pm!
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Since we got an email asking, here are the celebrity qualifying times: Danny Way out in front of Keanu Reeves, then Fonzworth Bentley. We’ll print the full results as well as more on who’s wrecking and some interviews later this evening!
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FRIDAY 4:15pm
The American Le Mans Series practice is underway, and initial impressions are that the Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GT is looking very, very quick. Keep your eye on that car in the GT2 class.
As for the prototypes, it seems a bit lacking this year with the abcense of the Audi R15 TDi and the Porsche RS Spyder, but there are also a host of new cars to pique the interest.
Acura brings newly designed cars to the P1 class in the green/black #9 Patron car and the gray #15 Lowe’s car. Acura hopes to build on their past Long Beach success with these two very sleek designs. Also watch out for the white #20 Mazda, the only closed-cockpit car in the Prototype classes.
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FRIDAY 3:30pm
Round two of practice has finished for the IndyCar teams, and defending champion Will Power posted the fastest overall lap with a blistering 1:10.5 lap. Thing is, with the impending arrival of teammate Helio Castroneves, Power will have to give up his car after tweaking it to the point that it captured the fastest lap. Power remained positive but seemed to be at least a little bit discouraged that he’ll have to start over with a brand-new car.
“Tomorrow, I’ll be in a new car and we’ll transfer everything over from this one,” Power said after hopping out of his now-former #3 car. “So it’s there for Helio, it’s a good car. I’m happy with everything heading into the weekend.”
Power after finishing the second practice session with the day’s top time. Photo by Mike Guardabascio
Power and Castroneves’ teammate Ryan Briscoe posted the session’s second-fastest time with a 1:10.6. But not before he introduced himself to the tire wall on Turn 5.
“I tried to cut the corner a bit more than I had been,” Briscoe said. “I just clipped those rumble strips and it sort of flew into the air. The wheels don’t turn so well when they’re not touching the ground.”
His crew brought the #6 car back to the pits and replaced the nose, and Briscoe is feeling just fine. He’s competed at Long Beach in the American Le Mans Series but never before in an open-wheel car.
“It’s my first time here in an IndyCar, but I’m feeling pretty confident,” he said.
Briscoe acknowledged that while it doesn’t take long for professional drivers to adjust to driving a track quickly, those who have raced open-wheel cars here before have a slight advantage. Graham Rahal is one of those veterans, entering his fourth go-round after three seasons of racing Champ Cars in Long Beach. Rahal posted the tenth-best time of the day and is optimistic that his Newman/Haas/Lanigan #02 car will be ready.
“We’ve got a little bit of work to do overnight, but we’re definitely close,” Rahal said on his way to a post-practice team meeting. “We’ve got a good start to the weekend.”
Rahal and other former Champ drivers may have a slight advantage, but there’s also a new learning curve: learning the track again in an IndyCar.
“This is my fourth time racing here, but absolutely it’s different,” he said. “But we came here with some of the same theories we would have with a Champ Car. We’re getting close.”
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FRIDAY 2:15pm
Hey friends! Plenty has been going on at the race today, as you can plainly see by clicking here and here.
On the track, the IndyCars are going through their practice paces currently, and Penske driver Ryan Briscoe got off to a shaky start by slamming nose-first into the tirewall exiting Turn 5. The car looks fine and will surely be ready for tomorrow’s qualifying event. We’ll have updates as they’re available.
Commenters! Thank you to Todd and Mike D. for giving us your input. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Those stories and more are on their way. Just stick with us and you’ll have an all-access pass to the 35th Annual Long Beach Grand Prix!
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Here’s the deal. We’re at the Grand Prix right now, and we need your help.
Who do you want us to talk to? What cars do you want to see? Any rumors we should investigate?
We’ll be updating all weekend, but here is your chance to contribute and make requests. The American Le Mans Series is practicing now and we’ll shortly get out there for interviews and the latest racing news. If there’s anything in particular you’d like us to cover, leave a comment below or e-mail us at ryan@lbpost.com.
See you at the race!
– Ryan ZumMallen