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American LeMans
ALMS: Dario and Highcroft Racing Prepare for Petit Le Mans
SPEEDtv.com catches up with Patron Highcroft Racing for the first look at the team’s testing for Petit with new driver Dario Franchitti.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted September 19, 2008   Braselton, GA
Dario Franchitti ran Wednesday and Thursday at Road Atlanta to prepare for the Petit Le Mans event, October 1st-4th. (Photo: ALMS)


The 2008 edition of Petit Le Mans is looking more like a sportscar all-star race than ever before. Of the many high profile teams and drivers set to compete at Road Atlanta two weeks from now, the return of 2007 Sebring 12hr LMP2 winner Dario Franchitti is amongst the most anticipated in the field.

Joined for Petit with the Patron Highcroft Racing Acura team, the 2007 Indy 500 champion got his first taste of the team and the updated ARX-01b chassis at a two-day test at the Georgian track this Wednesday and Thursday. It was a complete success on every level according to Franchitti.

“It was great to work with David, Scott and the whole Patrón Highcroft team at the test this week. I think the first thing that comes to mind about the team – from the outside, is that it looks incredibly professional. The standards of preparation are very, very high. The way Duncan does things…he’s a perfectionist and that works itself right through the team. It’s also great to be back working with the Acura and the HPD guys again. I was with them for 10 years before I went to NASCAR. It’s nice to be back

“I’ve known a lot of the team members for a long time. Guys I worked with in different ChampCar teams – guys at Ganassi or Team Green. So that is one of the reason for their success—– their team manager Robin Hill runs a tight ship and I’ve known him forever—I have a lot of respect for Robin; they have such great talent in their crew.”
The Scot hopes to ad a win with Patron Highcroft Racing at Petit Le Mans to his wins at the Indy 500, Sebring 12hrs, and Daytona 24hrs. (Photo: Getty Images)

Hill mirrored Dario’s sentiment. “He's very professional; great to work with. Dario was able to do some semi-serious running yesterday. We worked to get a good fit for him in the car and to get him familiar with the Acura ARX-01b, the Patron Highcroft team and our way of doing things. He came straight up to speed and will surely be an asset to our line up.”

Patron Highcroft’s regular drivers David Brabham and Scott Sharp were impressed with what the Scot can bring to the team for Petit. “It was a great opportunity for us to work with Dario before the race – to get to know the way he works, said Brabham. “Obviously, the Acura ARX-01b is very different from what he’s been driving in NASCAR this past year, but he’s fit in very quickly.”

Scott Sharp came away with the same impressions. “I'm excited to have Dario joining our team for Petit! He's vastly experienced, fast in everything he's gotten in, and has driven the Acura before. He immediately got up to speed at the test and I think we are going to have a very strong lineup for the race!"

Dario was equally impressed and excited with what he can achieve with Brabham and Sharp in the Acura. “David’s won everything there is to win in sportscars, hasn’t he? He’s just a great guy. It was really impressive to watch how he works. It’s so methodical the way the engineering happens here and you can tell how instrumental David is in the whole process. It was good for me to see how he works with Scott and how to fit into that circle.
Co-driver David Brabham was thrilled with the pace and feedback his new teammate was able to provide in testing this week. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

“Scott seemed to struggle a bit last year on the road courses (in the IRL) but look at him in the Acura – he’s been absolutely mighty.”

Poor weather on Wednesday also allowed Dario to spend some time outside the car with his new teammates “It was raining on the first day of the test, and it was good to be able to get to know the guys. We spent time under the tent just sharing our experiences and such. I’d known Scott for years, but this is our first time working together.”

Franchitti compared his recent NASCAR exploits to what he’d found by driving the Acura sportscar around Road Atlanta, and as usual, Dario was good for a few laughs.

“It was so different…the last time I was there I tested a Ganassi NASCAR Nationwide car and did a 1 minute 27 second lap…and the team was REALLY happy with that.

“And then I got out in the Acura this week and we’re running 1:08’s…almost twenty seconds faster; the first five laps felt like someone had pressed fast forward button on my visor. Turn one in the Acura is almost flat in top gear, in sixth; it was fairly decent brake and downshift to second in the Nationwide car…it took me a few minutes there to recalibrate my senses.

“There’s still a good part of the car that’s driving me…we did ten laps the first day and forty laps the second day and it’s still bloody fast and impressive. I’ll be caught up when practice starts.”
Franchitti reveled in taking turn one almost flat in top gear...a big change from the NASCAR Nationwide car he'd last driven at Road Atlanta. (Photo: ALMS)

An eighteen month gap between driving the Acura has left Dario with a bit of a disconnect that makes it hard to compare the Acura ARX-01a of 2007 to the ARX-01b of 2008. “It’s very difficult to give a comparison because I’ve spent the past year driving big, heavy stock cars with zero downforce. Its been the better part of a year and a half since I was in a P2 car, so this has been like a new experience for me with the chassis.”

Petit Le Mans will be an event filled with family and business relations for Dario – it’s not quite at the level of being able to play ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,’ but it’s close. To start, Dario will share the track with his younger brother Marino, pilot of the #20 Dyson Racing Porsche, for the first time as adults.

“Yeah, the last time we competed against each other was in a charity go kart race or something like that, but yeah, this will be our first proper go at each other,” he said while laughing. “But I don’t know how I feel about competing against him…I think I’m his biggest fan, so it will be weird. I hope we’ll get a chance to be on the same patch of track at the same time and get a good scrap going.”

The prospects of how that battle ends up could lead to some family drama afterward. “I think if I’m passing him, I’ll be quite happy…if he’s passing me…it might take a while to get over that…”

He’ll also fight for LMP2 class honors against former CART rival Gil de Ferran, and against Gil’s Petit Le Mans teammate Scott Dixon, whom Dario joins next season at Ganassi Racing as the New Zealander’s IndyCar teammate. Make sense?...

“Oh yeah…as soon as I got out of the Highcroft car I texted Dixon and said ‘Man, you’re not going to believe how fast and fun these cars are…’ There’s a lot of old friends and competitors that will be at Petit so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s like a ChampCar and IRL reunion, but everybody there is at the top of their game in the IRL and ALMS.”

With the vast numbers of top international drivers like Dario and Scott Dixon descending on Road Atlanta the historic event, Franchitti’s very aware that he’s following in the footsteps of his racing heroes – the drivers that raced across all forms of motorsports championship each year.

“That was one of the things I was lucky to be able to do in 2007. I got to drive at Sebring, Daytona, to do Indycars, to do NASCAR. All of my heroes got to do that, so I’m feeling pretty lucky to be able to drive all of these different cars, and competitive cars that have allowed me to win all of that stuff. Drivers today specialize so much that they miss the opportunity to do what our heroes have done, so I’m thankful to get another chance to add Petit Le Mans to my list of races.”
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Marshall Pruett

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