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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">05/03/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Post Texas</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Comments</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/exasCommAME.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2"> A new year, new cars, new team-mates, interesting weather, a great race – and those involved came up with some choice remarks afterwards. <BR> <BR> The Westward Racing Group pair were top of the list for putting the right words together to tell a tale. Richard Dean’s remark about driving the Panoz was that it was like driving a pencil…and he was the rubber. A brilliant analogy. His partner Jay Cochran referred to Texas as only his “fourth race in four years. There was rust flying out from the cockpit.” He pointed out that the next time he would race the Panoz Roadster would be in Europe. So Sebring seems to be out for this car.<BR> <BR> Bob Mazzuoccola reckoned that “it was time to close the toolbox and go racing” with the Aspen Knolls Callaway. The right rear hub broke though, so the toolbox wasn’t closed for long. The C12-R showed an interesting turn of speed though, first time out.<BR> <BR> Owen Trinkler had a cunning plan for the first two races: “We’re using an endurance motor for this race and a sprint motor for Sebring.”<BR> <BR> Don Panoz: “It was a great effort by the team and the drivers to get our new baby, the car – which came out kicking and screaming at birth but has settled down nicely – through to the finish for our first race this year.”<BR> Indeed, the LMP07 was kicking and screaming in different ways out on the track. The Alien has found some form. It’s taken approaching four months, but such an individual design was always going to take a while to get through its birth pains. “Leading the race was an unexpected bonus,” said David Brabham. What a contrast that was with Adelaide. Turnarounds don’t come much better than this.<BR> <BR> Gualter Salles and Klaus Graf did a fine job in the ‘old’ Roadster too. Graf: “It was good at the beginning, getting past Jan! It’s the first time for a while that I’ve led a race so that was a good feeling and great for the team.”<BR> <BR> Alex Job Racing had a dream start to their 2001 campaign. Lucas Luhr: “The yellow worked perfectly for our strategy.” The benefit of leading early on was that lap advantage after the first yellow. Sascha Maassen; “I hope Lucas will (pull out) almost a lap lead at every race. It made my job so much easier. I held back a little when I came up on the fight for second place. I definitely didn’t want to get involved in that.”<BR> <BR> Now here was a contradiction: the Porsche release states that Bob Wollek was shunted by other competitors on three occasions. Jorg Muller: “We had to take a lot of risk(s) and brake very late." Charly Lamm: “For two hours, we were fighting for a podium position until we had to make an unscheduled pit stop to replace a flat-spotted front tire.” Wollek and Johnny Mowlem still managed to finish in fourth place in the Petersen Mortorsports Porsche, only 1.6 seconds behind the Said / Stuck BMW.<BR> <BR> Do top honours go to Audi for their 1 – 2, or Alex Job for their 1 – 2? Both were running brand new cars, so both deserve the highest praise for their success. Tom Kristensen: “It’s good to be in a good car, in a great environment. So far I’m not doing too much wrong.” That seems to describe all of his drives in an Audi R8. It wasn’t all joy in the other car though. Emanuele Pirro: “One of the slower cars hit me in the door. I think it was a red and white Viper. I think he missed his braking. After that, my car wasn’t right. I was not happy.”<BR> <BR> Kristensen seemed to be (happy), from the moment he arrived at the track (photo). Next stop Sebring. Kristensen goes well there.<BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>