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AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES |
18/07/2004 |
Krohn Gives Lamborghini Best-Ever Race Result |
Second Place For Murciélago R-GT |
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Krohn Gives Lamborghini Best-Ever Race Result
Surviving an incident-packed race, the Krohn-Barbour Racing Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT of Tracy Krohn and David McEntee placed second in the hotly-contested GTS-class in today’s (Sunday 18 July) fourth round of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) at Infineon Raceway, California. This is the best result yet for the new Murciélago, which made its race debut just three weeks ago in round two of the ALMS at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and the best-ever result for the Lamborghini marque in an international-status auto race.
Team co-founder Krohn and team newcomer McEntee (standing-in for Scott Maxwell) were both racing the Lamborghini for the first time, Krohn in his first-ever ALMS race. By running at a consistent pace through the two-hour 45-minute event they were beaten to the chequered flag in GTS by only the Chevrolet Corvette of Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell. Krohn and McEntee picked their way through the field from seventh in class and 24th on the starting-grid, gaining eight positions overall and five in GTS.
There were tense minutes in the closing stages of today’s race at the 2.53-mile track near Sonoma when the Chevrolet Corvette of Oliver Gavin/Olivier Beretta was pushing hard in an effort to catch the Lamborghini for second place. (The Corvette was recovering from time lost in the pits to repair accident damage incurred when Gavin skated off-track while disputing the same piece of asphalt as McEntee.) With half-an-hour of the race remaining, the Lamborghini was well ahead, but the Corvette was catching - and then McEntee was called into the pits for a stop-and-go penalty, imposed by race officials because the pit-crew had started working on the Lamborghini during its final scheduled stop before its engine was switched off. At this stop, Krohn handed-over the car to McEntee for the final stint.
At the flag, the number 6 Lamborghini had completed 90 laps of the hilly 12-turn course, the Gavin/Beretta Corvette 86 laps. The fourth-placed Dodge Viper of Tom Weickardt/Jean-Philippe Belloc covered 75 laps, the winning Fellows/O’Connell Corvette 102 laps.
Krohn, who co-established Krohn-Barbour Racing this year with sports car racing legend and team manager Dick Barbour, said: “It’s awesome! I was never aware that the Corvette was back on track and trying to catch us, I was just doing consistent laps and trying to stay focused in the heat. It got to be hard work out there because this track has got a lot more for you than you think.”
McEntee, who’s day job is track instructor at Infineon Raceway, and who finished second in the LMP675 class of the ALMS race here two years ago, said: “I can hardly believe it – it wasn’t until this Thursday night that the team called and invited me to drive. The Lamborghini’s a great car to drive and this is a great result.”
The other Krohn-Barbour Racing Lamborghini, of David Brabham and Peter Kox, was running fourth in GTS when Kox was forced to retire the car 25 minutes into the race with differential failure.
Kox said: “I smelled smoke and thought it was gearbox oil, as the gearshift was getting worse. The team called me in because there was a lot of smoke coming out the back of the car. By the time I got to the pits I couldn’t smell smoke anymore; there was no oil left in the differential.”
Smoke and flames of a more dramatic nature marked the removal of another of the Lamborghinis’ rivals, the Corvette of NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Boris Said. Making a guest appearance in this year’s ALMS, Earnhardt crashed heavily at Turn 8 during the pre-race warm-up, hitting the wall so hard that the filler-neck broke off the car’s fuel cell, igniting a substantial fire. Earnhardt baled out of the flaming car in seconds, and was taken by helicopter to UC Davis Hospital, Sacramento, for treatment to minor second-degree burns on the inner sides of both legs and on his chin. He is being held overnight in hospital for observation.
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