Veteran Bill Auberlen of Southern California out-dueled Max Angelelli and Scott Pruett down the stretch in the featured Daytona Prototype class to win the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series Linder Industrial Komatsu Grand Prix of Miami Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Auberlen has driven a variety of cars in a number of series, mostly with BMW power, winning races and championships regularly at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the process. He was teamed with young Matt Alhadeff Saturday in the #05 Sigalsport Riley with, what else, BMW power to win round three of the series in southern Florida.
Auberlen and company will be at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca May 18-20 for the U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express, kicking off the storied circuit’s 50th anniversary season.
Sylvain Tremblay held off defending GT class champion Andy Lally to win the GT class in the SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 with the distinctive sound of Mazda’s fourth-generation rotary engine.
Tickets are available for the U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express May 18-20 by calling 1-800-327-SECA (7322) or logging on to www.laguna-seca.com.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Flying Frenchman Obliterates Record
As reported on AP, here's the story on Sebastien Bourdais' record run.
Throughout his four-year Champ Car World Series career, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, the reigning three-time series champion, has shown a flair for the dramatic and he did so once again Saturday on the second and final day of Champ Car’s Spring Training at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Moments before a red flag came out that ended the day’s testing when his former teammate, Bruno Junqueira, ran off course, Bourdais blistered the 2.238-mile, 11-turn permanent road course with a lap of 1 minute, 5.880 seconds (122.295 miles per hour) to set a new, albeit unofficial, track record, smashing the prior mark established by Ricardo Zonta in Toyota’s TF106 Formula One car.
Official records must be set in race conditions, either in qualifying sessions or during the race itself so the mark by Bourdais goes into the book with an asterisk.
After three drivers, including Paul Tracy of Forsythe Championship Racing, Bourdais of Newman Haas Lanigan Racing and rookie Neel Jani of PKV Racing, had come within about four-tenths of a second of Zonta’s unofficial mark of 1:06.309 (121.504 mph) on Friday, Champ Car posted a $5,000 "bounty" payable to the first driver to eclipse the mark Saturday.
The official track record was set by Helio Castroneves in 2000 when he qualified at 1:07.722 (118.969 mph).
"It’s great that we were able to get under the track time set by the 2006 F1 car," said Bourdais who became a father during the off season. "We used Push to Pass (a feature giving the car an extra boost of horsepower) but it’s only good for a couple of tenths here so we would have broke it without using it.
"The track has a lot of grip; it’s really fun to drive here. Unfortunately there is so much grip that I really doubt we can use any of the information we gained at any of the tracks this season. The information might be completely irrelevant. We were able to work through some issues with the car. Cosworth is really trying to get some issues resolved and have made some progress and Hewland has improved the gearbox.
"The McDonald’s boys (his crew) have fixed what they could but now it is in the hands of the suppliers. There aren’t any tests left so I really hope they can fix the problems but we won’t know until we get to Las Vegas. You hardly ever win a championship with a good start to the season but you can lose it if you have a bad start."
Though seven drivers, including Bourdais, turned times of under 1:07 in the morning session Saturday, none but Bourdais approached the record in the afternoon. He flashed across the start-finish line on the record-setting lap with just under 10 minutes remaining in testing. There wasn’t enough time to collect Junqueira and clean the track, so the test session was ended.
The final hour of Champ Car’s last of three open tests, the drivers practiced standing starts, which Champ Car has said it wants to use at some point during the season which begins April 8 on the streets of Las Vegas.
Will Power of Team Australia had set the early test standard Saturday morning with a time of 1:06.424 (121.294 mph). Power never got below that and the time held as second best for the two days. Jani, who can hardly be considered a rookie because of his experience racing in Europe and as an F1 driver, was third quickest over the two days at 1:06.516 (121.126 mph).
Eight other drivers did dip below 1:07, including 18-year-old sensation Graham Rahal of Newman Haas Lanigan Racing, rookie Simon Pagenaud of Team Australia, Tracy, Justin Wilson of RuSPORT, rookie Matt Halliday of Conquest Racing and Robert Doornbos of Minardi Team USA. Junqueira, testing for Dale Coyne Racing, was the last driver under the official track record with a time of 1:07.048 (120.165 mph).
Throughout his four-year Champ Car World Series career, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, the reigning three-time series champion, has shown a flair for the dramatic and he did so once again Saturday on the second and final day of Champ Car’s Spring Training at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Moments before a red flag came out that ended the day’s testing when his former teammate, Bruno Junqueira, ran off course, Bourdais blistered the 2.238-mile, 11-turn permanent road course with a lap of 1 minute, 5.880 seconds (122.295 miles per hour) to set a new, albeit unofficial, track record, smashing the prior mark established by Ricardo Zonta in Toyota’s TF106 Formula One car.
Official records must be set in race conditions, either in qualifying sessions or during the race itself so the mark by Bourdais goes into the book with an asterisk.
After three drivers, including Paul Tracy of Forsythe Championship Racing, Bourdais of Newman Haas Lanigan Racing and rookie Neel Jani of PKV Racing, had come within about four-tenths of a second of Zonta’s unofficial mark of 1:06.309 (121.504 mph) on Friday, Champ Car posted a $5,000 "bounty" payable to the first driver to eclipse the mark Saturday.
The official track record was set by Helio Castroneves in 2000 when he qualified at 1:07.722 (118.969 mph).
"It’s great that we were able to get under the track time set by the 2006 F1 car," said Bourdais who became a father during the off season. "We used Push to Pass (a feature giving the car an extra boost of horsepower) but it’s only good for a couple of tenths here so we would have broke it without using it.
"The track has a lot of grip; it’s really fun to drive here. Unfortunately there is so much grip that I really doubt we can use any of the information we gained at any of the tracks this season. The information might be completely irrelevant. We were able to work through some issues with the car. Cosworth is really trying to get some issues resolved and have made some progress and Hewland has improved the gearbox.
"The McDonald’s boys (his crew) have fixed what they could but now it is in the hands of the suppliers. There aren’t any tests left so I really hope they can fix the problems but we won’t know until we get to Las Vegas. You hardly ever win a championship with a good start to the season but you can lose it if you have a bad start."
Though seven drivers, including Bourdais, turned times of under 1:07 in the morning session Saturday, none but Bourdais approached the record in the afternoon. He flashed across the start-finish line on the record-setting lap with just under 10 minutes remaining in testing. There wasn’t enough time to collect Junqueira and clean the track, so the test session was ended.
The final hour of Champ Car’s last of three open tests, the drivers practiced standing starts, which Champ Car has said it wants to use at some point during the season which begins April 8 on the streets of Las Vegas.
Will Power of Team Australia had set the early test standard Saturday morning with a time of 1:06.424 (121.294 mph). Power never got below that and the time held as second best for the two days. Jani, who can hardly be considered a rookie because of his experience racing in Europe and as an F1 driver, was third quickest over the two days at 1:06.516 (121.126 mph).
Eight other drivers did dip below 1:07, including 18-year-old sensation Graham Rahal of Newman Haas Lanigan Racing, rookie Simon Pagenaud of Team Australia, Tracy, Justin Wilson of RuSPORT, rookie Matt Halliday of Conquest Racing and Robert Doornbos of Minardi Team USA. Junqueira, testing for Dale Coyne Racing, was the last driver under the official track record with a time of 1:07.048 (120.165 mph).
Blistering the Track
Sebastien Bourdais came 0.071 seconds from breaking Toyota's F1 record before an appreciative and sun-drenched crowd this morning at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Bourdais is the three-time reigning Champ Car World Series champion driving for Newman Haas Lanigan Racing. His time this morning was 1:06.380 (121.374 mph); the unofficial record, set by Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota TF106 at 1:06.309 (121.504 mph).
Team Australia's Will Power was another tick behind Bourdais with a quick lap of 1:06.424 (121.294 mph).
Eleven drivers have now eclipsed the official track record set by Helio Castroneves in 2000 at 1:07.722 (118.969 mph).
Bourdais is the three-time reigning Champ Car World Series champion driving for Newman Haas Lanigan Racing. His time this morning was 1:06.380 (121.374 mph); the unofficial record, set by Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota TF106 at 1:06.309 (121.504 mph).
Team Australia's Will Power was another tick behind Bourdais with a quick lap of 1:06.424 (121.294 mph).
Eleven drivers have now eclipsed the official track record set by Helio Castroneves in 2000 at 1:07.722 (118.969 mph).
$5000 Bounty
The Champ Car World Series has placed a $5,000 bounty on the (unofficial) track record set by Toyota's Formula One car, the TF106, that was set last year.
With three drivers within a few ticks after yesterday's first of the two-day Spring Training, the F1 mark is almost assured of falling. Ricardo Zonta took the Toyota around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's 2.238 mile, 11-turn permanent road course in 1:06.309 (121.504 mph) at the Rolex Monterey Historics.
The bounty will be paid to the first who eclipses the mark. Yesterday, Paul Tracy, Sebastien Bourdais and Neel Jani were all within about .4 seconds of the record.
With three drivers within a few ticks after yesterday's first of the two-day Spring Training, the F1 mark is almost assured of falling. Ricardo Zonta took the Toyota around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's 2.238 mile, 11-turn permanent road course in 1:06.309 (121.504 mph) at the Rolex Monterey Historics.
The bounty will be paid to the first who eclipses the mark. Yesterday, Paul Tracy, Sebastien Bourdais and Neel Jani were all within about .4 seconds of the record.
Friday, March 9, 2007
New Chassis Quick
Nine drivers eclipsed the existing track record led by Forsythe Championship Racing's Paul Tracy in the first day of testing at the Champ Car World Series spring training Friday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Tracy, the 2003 series champion, turned a quick lap of one minute, 6.707 seconds (120.779 miles per hour). The official track record was established in 2000 by Helio Castroneves at 1:07.722 (118.969 mph).
Tracy, Sebastien Bourdais of Newman Haas Lanigan Racing (1:06.737, 120.725 mph) and rookie Neel Jani of PKV Racing (1:06.749, 120.703 mph) were all within a few ticks of the exhibition mark set by Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota TF106 Formula One car at last year's Monterey Historics. Zonta turned a 1:06.309.
Testing concludes today with on-track activity from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. as the teams complete their final shake downs of the new DP01 chassis before the season-opening race April 6-8 at Las Vegas.
Complete results can be found at www.champcar.ws.
As part of the raceway's kickoff of its Golden Anniversary season, motorsports artist Bill Patterson, the official artist for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, will do a painting during the lunch hour Saturday in front of the Souvenir Store. It's fascinating to see how fast he can produce a high quality painting. Good exhibition to see.
Tracy, the 2003 series champion, turned a quick lap of one minute, 6.707 seconds (120.779 miles per hour). The official track record was established in 2000 by Helio Castroneves at 1:07.722 (118.969 mph).
Tracy, Sebastien Bourdais of Newman Haas Lanigan Racing (1:06.737, 120.725 mph) and rookie Neel Jani of PKV Racing (1:06.749, 120.703 mph) were all within a few ticks of the exhibition mark set by Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota TF106 Formula One car at last year's Monterey Historics. Zonta turned a 1:06.309.
Testing concludes today with on-track activity from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. as the teams complete their final shake downs of the new DP01 chassis before the season-opening race April 6-8 at Las Vegas.
Complete results can be found at www.champcar.ws.
As part of the raceway's kickoff of its Golden Anniversary season, motorsports artist Bill Patterson, the official artist for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, will do a painting during the lunch hour Saturday in front of the Souvenir Store. It's fascinating to see how fast he can produce a high quality painting. Good exhibition to see.
Champ Car's Kalkhoven On the Air
Champ Car World Series owner Kevin Kalkhoven will be a guest on the Dave Coffin Motorsports Show Saturday morning between 11 a.m. and noon on KNRY AM-1240.
Each Saturday, founding host Tony Karis and Dave Coffin interview personalities from the world of motorsports live on the air. The show can be heard on line at www.knry.com.
Kalkhoven, Gerry Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi, each a team owner in the series, formed Open Wheel Racing Series LLC, bought the assets of CART and rescued the series from bankruptcy in January of 2004. Since then, the emphasis has been on street festivals in urban markets. After running at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in '04, the series pulled out and now does a street race in San Jose.
Kalkhoven is in town for the Champ Car spring training event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the final of three pre-season test sessions for the series. He is still a principal in PKV Racing, along with 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser, who went to high school at Live Oak High in Morgan Hill.
Kalkhoven will call into the show (831-373-1234) from the track during the Saturday morning test session.
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will also be hosting an open house at the track Saturday with a number of community events, including a fan forum, to jump start the 50th anniversary celebration of the track's first race in November, 1957. There is no charge for the event.
Each Saturday, founding host Tony Karis and Dave Coffin interview personalities from the world of motorsports live on the air. The show can be heard on line at www.knry.com.
Kalkhoven, Gerry Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi, each a team owner in the series, formed Open Wheel Racing Series LLC, bought the assets of CART and rescued the series from bankruptcy in January of 2004. Since then, the emphasis has been on street festivals in urban markets. After running at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in '04, the series pulled out and now does a street race in San Jose.
Kalkhoven is in town for the Champ Car spring training event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the final of three pre-season test sessions for the series. He is still a principal in PKV Racing, along with 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser, who went to high school at Live Oak High in Morgan Hill.
Kalkhoven will call into the show (831-373-1234) from the track during the Saturday morning test session.
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will also be hosting an open house at the track Saturday with a number of community events, including a fan forum, to jump start the 50th anniversary celebration of the track's first race in November, 1957. There is no charge for the event.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Frenchman Continues to Fly
Rookie Franck Perera of Montpellier, France, led every session of the Cooper Tires Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda the past two days, closing out the Atlantics spring training at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with his quickest lap of one minute, 0.67 seconds (105.917 miles per hour).
Half a dozen drivers joined Perera under the 1:17 mark and all were below the official Atlantic track record set by A.J. Allmendinger in the second qualifying session in 2003 at 1:16.986 (104.653 mph). That record is pretty secure, however, as Champ Car (including Atlantics) pulled out of Laguna Seca following the 2004 season.
Brazilian Rafael Matos of Sierra Sierra Enterprises was second quickest in Thursday's final session at 1:16.216 (105.710 mph) and Monterey's Jonathan Bomarito, driving for PR1 Motorsports, had his best session of the two days, finishing with a 1:16.374 (105.491 mph).
To call Perera a rookie really isn't indicative of his experience. He has been racing in Europe and has tested for an F1 team. The 22-year-old who is racing for Condor Motorsports, is one of a number of drivers in Champ Car and Atlantics who have come over from Europe.
Half a dozen drivers joined Perera under the 1:17 mark and all were below the official Atlantic track record set by A.J. Allmendinger in the second qualifying session in 2003 at 1:16.986 (104.653 mph). That record is pretty secure, however, as Champ Car (including Atlantics) pulled out of Laguna Seca following the 2004 season.
Brazilian Rafael Matos of Sierra Sierra Enterprises was second quickest in Thursday's final session at 1:16.216 (105.710 mph) and Monterey's Jonathan Bomarito, driving for PR1 Motorsports, had his best session of the two days, finishing with a 1:16.374 (105.491 mph).
To call Perera a rookie really isn't indicative of his experience. He has been racing in Europe and has tested for an F1 team. The 22-year-old who is racing for Condor Motorsports, is one of a number of drivers in Champ Car and Atlantics who have come over from Europe.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Frenchman First Day Surprise
Franck Perera of Montpilier, France had never driven an Atlantic car before Wednesday. Don't tell that to the veterans around the Cooper Tires Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda series.
Perera, another discovery of Condor Motorsports, paced both the morning and afternoon test sessions on the opening day of Champ Car's four-day Spring Training, bettering the existing single-lap track record for Atlantics in the process. Condor Motorsports also brought Charles Zwolsman to the U.S. and he promptly won the 2005 Atlantic championship.
Perera turned a one minute, 16.978 seconds (104.664 miles per hour) in the morning, just a tick better than A.J. Allmendinger's qualifying mark in 2003 of 1:16.986. In the afternoon, Perera dropped his time to 1:16.634 (105.133 mph).
Brazilian Rafael Matos of Sierra Sierra Enterprises was the only other driver to drop below 1:17, turning a quick lap of 1:16.684 (105.065 mph) in the day's second session.
Perera is anything but a novice, despite no previous seat time in an Atlantic car. He has test in Formula One and competed last year in GP2 in Europe.
Monterey native Jonathan Bomarito, who won the season-ending Atlantic race at Road America last year, was third quickest in the morning with a 1:17.244 (104.303 mph). Bomarito drives for PR1 Motorsports out of Fresno.
Perera, another discovery of Condor Motorsports, paced both the morning and afternoon test sessions on the opening day of Champ Car's four-day Spring Training, bettering the existing single-lap track record for Atlantics in the process. Condor Motorsports also brought Charles Zwolsman to the U.S. and he promptly won the 2005 Atlantic championship.
Perera turned a one minute, 16.978 seconds (104.664 miles per hour) in the morning, just a tick better than A.J. Allmendinger's qualifying mark in 2003 of 1:16.986. In the afternoon, Perera dropped his time to 1:16.634 (105.133 mph).
Brazilian Rafael Matos of Sierra Sierra Enterprises was the only other driver to drop below 1:17, turning a quick lap of 1:16.684 (105.065 mph) in the day's second session.
Perera is anything but a novice, despite no previous seat time in an Atlantic car. He has test in Formula One and competed last year in GP2 in Europe.
Monterey native Jonathan Bomarito, who won the season-ending Atlantic race at Road America last year, was third quickest in the morning with a 1:17.244 (104.303 mph). Bomarito drives for PR1 Motorsports out of Fresno.
Champ Cars are Coming
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is the place to be this week as the Champ Car World Series makes its return to the hallowed hills of one of America’s premier road racing venues.
We don’t get a race, but we do get the next best thing as both the Atlantics and Champ Cars will hold their Spring Training on the world-renowned, 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit today (Wednesday) through Saturday.
Cruise the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca web site for exciting details on the Open House to begin the celebration of the track’s Golden Anniversary of the inaugural race in November of 1957. There will be fan activities – including a fan forum with Champ Car folks, car displays, a tribute to 1957 and so on, culminating with an old fashioned sock hop in the Red Bull Hospitality Center Saturday night.
This is such a great opportunity to see the stars and cars of the premier open-wheel road racing series in the country. The highly-competitive Atlantic Series will be running the new Swift chassis with 300-horsepower Mazda power on the dry lake for the first time. And this year, the Atlantics are shod with a new tire supplier as Cooper Tires takes over following a super successful tenure with Yokohama.
After two days of Atlantic testing, the Champ Cars take over for the final open test session before the season begins April 6-8 on the streets of Las Vegas – a brand new event for the series this year.
More details are available in my weekly Pitstop column in the Monterey Herald. Please click on the following link to go to the column: http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/sports/16817538.htm.
Further info on the Atlantics heading into the final two-day test today and Thursday can be found at the following link: http://www.champcaratlantic.com/News/Article.asp?ID=2788.
Read more on Champ Car testing at the following link, which chronicles Day 2 of the Houston open test: http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=11264.
Rainey to be Honored
Wayne Rainey, whose home with wife Shea and son Rex is in the hills just outside Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, is one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time. April 26 at Talladega, Rainey will get his due as he is inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF).
Wayne, who won three consecutive 500cc World championships from 1990-1992 and a pair of AMA Superbike titles, was a major player in bringing MotoGP back to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Stay tuned for more on this well-deserved honor as well as a profile on the guy who heads my personal IHBHOF (International Human Being Hall of Fame).
The Mikeys
From time-to-time during a race weekend, we (the media) experience a bit of down time. With, really, nothing better to do, that can result in some interesting blogging. Two weekends ago and with the Oscars about to be awarded (I hope your favorite won), veteran Associated Press Motorsports Writer Mike Harris awarded his inaugural “Mikeys.”
Read all about it at the following link (scroll down to the Saturday, Feb. 24 item): http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SPT_CAR_NASCAR_WEBLOG?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-28-22-28-50.
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is the place to be this week as the Champ Car World Series makes its return to the hallowed hills of one of America’s premier road racing venues.
We don’t get a race, but we do get the next best thing as both the Atlantics and Champ Cars will hold their Spring Training on the world-renowned, 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit today (Wednesday) through Saturday.
Cruise the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca web site for exciting details on the Open House to begin the celebration of the track’s Golden Anniversary of the inaugural race in November of 1957. There will be fan activities – including a fan forum with Champ Car folks, car displays, a tribute to 1957 and so on, culminating with an old fashioned sock hop in the Red Bull Hospitality Center Saturday night.
This is such a great opportunity to see the stars and cars of the premier open-wheel road racing series in the country. The highly-competitive Atlantic Series will be running the new Swift chassis with 300-horsepower Mazda power on the dry lake for the first time. And this year, the Atlantics are shod with a new tire supplier as Cooper Tires takes over following a super successful tenure with Yokohama.
After two days of Atlantic testing, the Champ Cars take over for the final open test session before the season begins April 6-8 on the streets of Las Vegas – a brand new event for the series this year.
More details are available in my weekly Pitstop column in the Monterey Herald. Please click on the following link to go to the column: http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/sports/16817538.htm.
Further info on the Atlantics heading into the final two-day test today and Thursday can be found at the following link: http://www.champcaratlantic.com/News/Article.asp?ID=2788.
Read more on Champ Car testing at the following link, which chronicles Day 2 of the Houston open test: http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=11264.
Rainey to be Honored
Wayne Rainey, whose home with wife Shea and son Rex is in the hills just outside Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, is one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time. April 26 at Talladega, Rainey will get his due as he is inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF).
Wayne, who won three consecutive 500cc World championships from 1990-1992 and a pair of AMA Superbike titles, was a major player in bringing MotoGP back to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Stay tuned for more on this well-deserved honor as well as a profile on the guy who heads my personal IHBHOF (International Human Being Hall of Fame).
The Mikeys
From time-to-time during a race weekend, we (the media) experience a bit of down time. With, really, nothing better to do, that can result in some interesting blogging. Two weekends ago and with the Oscars about to be awarded (I hope your favorite won), veteran Associated Press Motorsports Writer Mike Harris awarded his inaugural “Mikeys.”
Read all about it at the following link (scroll down to the Saturday, Feb. 24 item): http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SPT_CAR_NASCAR_WEBLOG?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-28-22-28-50.
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