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AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES |
18/03/2004 |
Battle Of The Brits At Sebring |
Davies Nips Weaver For Fast Time In Second Practice |
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Davies Nips Weaver For Fast Time In Second Sebring Practice
It was a Battle of Brits in the closing stages of American Le Mans Series practice Wednesday at Sebring International Raceway when two English drivers set the fastest speeds of the day as race teams prepared for Saturday's 52nd annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Jamie Davies, driving for Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx, posted the fastest time of the second practice session of the day, his lap of 1:50.352 coming with only three minutes remaining in the one-hour session. Davies' time in the Audi R8 led the LMP1 class, as well as overall, and bested the 1:50.843 that had been set by James Weaver in the Dyson Racing Lola EX257-AER/MG.
Davies will co-drive in the opening event of the 2004 season with fellow countrymen Johnny Herbert and Guy Smith, while Weaver will share the Lola with Andy Wallace of England and Butch Leitzinger of State College, Pa.
"I'm pleased to be the fastest but quite honestly it doesn't mean a lot," said Davies. "I was on a quicker lap on the next tour but was then delayed in traffic, a problem affecting everyone, so it's a bit of a lottery as to who ultimately claims the fastest time."
The ADT Champion Racing Audi R8 of JJ Lehto, Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro was third-fastest in the afternoon session at 1:50.857.
Corvette Racing driver Jan Magnussen set the fastest time of the session in the GTS class with a lap of 1:58.248 as the two Chevrolet Corvette C5-R team cars set nearly identical times. Magnussen, co-driving with Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta, beat the best time of 1:58.260 for the Corvette driven by Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Max Papis.
"It was a good practice session," said Beretta, in his first season with the Corvette team. "We have a lot of setup changes to work through but we are all happy with where the car is as of right now. Right now we are working on braking and the ride height. I am very happy to be with this team and we are all working to do our best this weekend."
The ACEMCO Saleen S7R of Terry Borcheller, Johnny Mowlem and David Brabham was third-fastest in the GTS class at 1:59.888.
Leading the LMP2 class for smaller, less-powerful Prototypes was the Intersport Lola B2K/40-Judd of Clint Field, Bill Binnie and Rick Sutherland at 2:03.986, followed by the Rand Racing Lola-Nissan of James Gue, Mike Fitzgerald and Bill Rand at 2:04.137. Rounding out the top three was the American Spirit Racing Lola-Nissan of Ian James, John Macaluso and Mike Borkowski at 2:05.160.
Lucas Luhr set the fastest speed of the session in the GT class at 2:05.379 in the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR that he will share with Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb. Second in class was the Risi Competizione Ferrari 360 Modena of Anthony Lazzaro, Ralf Kelleners and Matteo Bobbi at 2:05.693, followed by the BAM! Porsche of Mike Rockenfeller, Peter Baron and Leo Hindery at 2:05.950.
"We have spent Tuesday and Wednesday fine-tuning our new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR racers," said team owner Alex Job. "The cars arrived at our shop not more than 15 days ago, so this is the first opportunity we have had to get them on the track. Our new drivers Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb are getting up to speed with the team and really finding a nice rapport about tuning the car."
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