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Sears Point Raceway 2002

19/05/2002

Race Report- In Full

The Panoz of Jan Magnussen & David Brabham held on for a dramatic in win at Sears Points Raceway in California today. Magnussen, who drove the last stint in the No 50 car, watched a one lap advantage over the Audi R8 of Johnny Herbert dwindle down to just 0.48 of second as they finally crossed the finish line.

The race was full of incident from start to finish due to heavy rain before the race, so much so that the race was started behind the safety car. The first six laps were completed behind the bright yellow Dodge before the race finally went to green, though we only had to wait a minute or so before the first incidents to occur. The Champion Audi got past the factory R8 on the first lap and it was not long before the Panoz of David Brabham had them both.

Shortly after Biela lost control of the Audi, spinning off into the middle of the circuit and causing some slight damage to the left hand side of the car. Fortunately for the Audi team, they were not the only team to do so, giving the race the first of many full course yellows.

The lead two cars were very much in a class of their own for most of the race and could hardly be split until Tom Kristensen finally made his move on the Panoz of Brabham on a drying track on lap 33. By this stage, the No 1 Audi is over one minute down on the leaders.

Many of the other cars had started to pit for slick tyres from lap 33 and within a few laps were showing the teams who had changed that is it was definitely the way to go, the No 51 Panoz lapping some five seconds quicker than the lead cars. The No 50 Panoz soon got the hint and on lap 41 came in for new slicks and a change of driver. Jan Magnussen jump in, the Panoz crew bolted on the tyres, then off he flew lapping considerably quicker than anyone else.

The Audi of Kristenson soon followed them in for the same combination, though Kristensen had wanted to pit earlier but could not due to a faulty radio. Herbert gets back out onto the track and soon loses twelve and half seconds to the Panoz whilst his tyres warm up; no sooner was this done when Johnny goes off with a right front puncture. To add to Audi’s already severe headache, Pirro then firmly planted the No 1 Audi into the barrier, damaging the rear of the car and seemingly putting him out of the race, or so you would think.

Pirro somehow managed to get the three wheeled Audi moving and back to the pits, then six minutes later back out of the garage with a completely new rear end. 30 seconds further down the road the Audi driver sent the car into another spin. He eventually finished 15th overall!

Jan Magnussen could now sit back and enjoy his one lap advantage over the pursing Herbert. If only! Half an hour later Magnussen crosses the line less than half second in front of the sideways Audi!

The Corvettes dominated the GTS class with a display of shear speed that will surely worry the opposition come Le Mans next month. The manner in which the No 3 Chevrolet of Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell strode effortlessly away with the class win was so clinical, that even the Germans would have looked on in admiration.

The second yellow speed machine of Andy Pilgram & Kelly Collins eventually came through the GTS field to finish second, having a tough fight with the Konrad Saleen on the way. In fact it was the Saleen that produced most of the entertainment in the class, seemingly taking it upon them to flit around the GTS positions to find intriguing challenges in which to test the team’s nerve.

The Konrad car eventually finished 4th in class (16th overall), dropping them behind the ever improving Ferrari 550 of the Team Olive Garden, after a late pit stop to take on fuel. The Olive Garden Ferrari frequently tangled with the Saleen through out the race, almost as though the two were connect by some invisible bungee rope, providing the sodden Californian crowd with some great entertainment. Eventually the Saleen, just like certain other cars that race against the lead Ferrari’s, had to move to one side, handing the final podium slot to Naspetti and Schiatarella.

The American Viperacing team had a weekend to forget with neither making it to the end. The No 45 car of Shane Lewis and Rick Fairbanks did briefly make the headlines but all for the wrong reasons as they buried the car firmly into the barriers, bring the race to yet another full course yellow.

The GT class followed a similar pattern to the GTS with one certain Alex Job car demonstrating exactly how to demoralise the opposition. The No 23 Porsche GT3 RS of Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen performed so well they managed to finish sixth overall, ahead of the second GTS Corvette. The Germans will be proud of this team.

Through out the race the leading GT cars were rarely separate by more than ten seconds, each time somebody made a run for it a yellow flag period would bring them right back to where they started.

The LM675’s were all falling over each other to lose the race before the Archangel car of Ben Devlin and Dave McEntee eventually crossed the line first from a distant MG Lola belonging to the Knighthawk Team. Knighthawk had car troubles all weekend and race would be no different. They did eventually get the car to work, at which point it absolutely flew, but it was too little too late.