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American LeMans
ALMS: Mosport Saturday Notebook
Rollercoaster day for Risi, Driver swap at Corvette, AJR's big shunt and more
John Dagys  |  Posted August 28, 2010   Bowmanville, ON
Pierre Kaffer's No. 61 Risi Competizione Ferrari, moments before the weekend-ending accident. (John Dagys)
Rollercoaster Day For Risi

While Gimmi Bruni scored the GT class pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Mosport, it could be perhaps the only positive thing that came out of Risi Competizione’s drama-filled day.

PHOTOS: Saturday Photo Gallery

Things got off to a scary start when Pierre Kaffer crashed his No. 61 Ferrari F430 GT heavily in the opening practice. The high-speed accident, which started at Turn 1 before coming to rest hard in the Turn 2 barriers, sent the German to the hospital for observation.
Despite sustaining significant front-end damage, team manager Dave Sims says the car will be repaired for Petit Le Mans. (John Dagys)

Just hours after the accident, which put an end to the car’s participation this weekend, news came though that Jamie Melo was sick with a stomach virus and would be replaced at the wheel of the No. 62 machine by Kaffer’s co-driver, Toni Vilander.

It appeared the world almost turned upside down for the Houston-based team. But determined to make up for the disappointment earlier in the day, Bruni put the Prancing Horse on the class pole, despite being forced to start from the rear of the grid on Sunday because of the late driver change.

The obvious concern this morning was on the condition of Kaffer. While he was transported to Bowmanville’s Lakeridge Health Hospital complaining of dizziness, Kaffer was later released with no serious injuries. In fact, he returned to the track in the afternoon.

“Everything was under control,” Kaffer told SPEED.com. “It was an easy lap, but unfortunately, while on the exit of Turn 1, the floor hit the ground, which I really didn’t expect. It upset the car in the rear and lost it suddenly... I then went left into the wall and hit hit very hard."

Team manager Dave Sims said the data showed Kaffer making impact with the tire barriers at 150 mph. While it destroyed the front-end of the F430 GT, Sims is confident of it being repaired in time for the season-ending Petit Le Mans.

“I’m glad to be here,” Kaffer said. “Thanks to Ferrari for building such a safe car. I didn’t have the chance to look at the car, but it once again shows how good the Ferrari protects the drivers... It was one of my bigger hits in my career.”

The unfortunate circumstances for the No. 61 car meant that Vilander was able to step into the No. 62 to fill in for the ailing Melo. It has huge championship implications, with Melo not scoring points this weekend, as he and Bruni headed into Mosport tied for second in the drivers’ standings.
Despite getting time in the car on Friday, Jamie Melo fell ill shortly after and will not race Sunday. (John Dagys)

For Vilander, Saturday turned out to be a rollercoaster of emotions. From the initial concern of Pierre’s condition to the dejection of seeing his race hopes fade away, then to get the late word that he would indeed race, the rapid Finn will be focused at the task at hand tomorrow.

“My mind and thoughts were going up and down for an hour or two,” Vilander said. “The key was to get confident in the car today and make sure the seat and pedals were set up to be fully prepared for the race. While this is part of my job, I hope it doesn’t happen like this every day [under these circumstances]... My goal is to do a good race and finish with the best result we can. I already have some experience from starting last, as we did it in Salt Lake City, so we’ll see.”

Mosport has been a treacherous place for the Risi squad. Last year, Melo suffered a heavy crash in final practice, but rebounded to finish second after an all-nighter pulled by the team to rebuild the Ferrari. In 2008, Harrison Brix also wrecked one of Risi’s cars here.

Can the bad luck turn around with a win on Sunday? With a fast, sole remaining No. 62 car, and with it still being in the title hunt, a victory could go a long way at not only rebuilding the team’s morale, but keeping Risi in the championship fight.

Driver Swap At Corvette

With Corvette Racing yet to visit victory lane this season, the Pratt & Miller squad has elected to shuffle its driver lineup ahead of Sunday’s race. Olivier Beretta moves to the No. 3 Corvette C6.R, pairing with Johnny O’Connell, while Oliver Gavin will reunite with former teammate Jan Magnussen.

"Although racing is a technology-driven sport, there is also an important human element," said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "To compete at this level, the drivers must have absolute confidence in their car and be totally comfortable with its setup.
It was a strange sight seeing Olivier Beretta at the wheel of the No. 3 Corvette. But with the team winless in 2010, a driver shuffle couldn't hurt. (John Dagys)

“By realigning our driver pairings to better match setup preferences, Corvette Racing is seeking to minimize compromises in the car setups and maximize our on-track performance. Tailoring each car to the driving styles of the respective driver pairs will provide the most competitive two-car effort.”

Fehan said the decision came under a complete agreement of all four drivers. Considering both pairings were close to being knocked out of the championship, the decision to shuffle things up, and perhaps begin preparing for 2011, could come as a wide move.

AJR’s Big Shunt

It wasn’t only Pierre Kaffer who got caught out by the treacherous Mosport International Raceway this weekend, as Alex Job Racing had a serious accident of its own on Wednesday when Romeo Kapudija also went hard into the Turn 2 barriers while testing the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

“It was an average lap and I wasn’t pushing too hard,” Kapudija explained to SPEED.com. “By the time I got to the top of the hill, I braked normally and turned in and there was just no grip. The car just pushed when I turned the wheel. When I hit the grass, the car obviously picked up speed and got sideways and hit the tire barriers pretty hard.”

The side impact was strong enough to send the tire barriers flying over the wall, with the Porsche ultimately making heavy contact with the concrete wall. Kapudija was transported to an area hospital and released but later returned complaining of chest, rib and stomach pains.

“Besides my motorcycle racing days, this was definitely the hardest hit I’ve ever taken in a car,” Kapudija said. “We’re going to look at the g-forces to see how hard I hit, but I would definitely gamble to say it’s -30 g’s. It was a hard hit and I came to an instant stop.”
Alex Job Racing did a remarkable job making repairs to its Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car for this weekend. (John Dagys)

While the Chicago-area resident returned to the track on Thursday, he and team owner Alex Job made the collective decision to have him sit out this weekend’s race as a precaution. Mitch Pagerey will share the wheel of the No. 23 Porsche with Bill Sweedler on Sunday.

“Obviously it’s a tough decision on all of us, especially Romeo, to step out, because of the driver points,” Job said. “But he’s very much a team player and wants to do what’s best for the team. I think we also have to take the cautious and safe road here, too.”

Miraculously, the car didn’t sustain any structural damage but still required a lengthy repair. The right rear quarter and rocker panels, right front suspension, hood, front fender, bumper, radiator and windshield all had to be replaced.

“The tub fortunately was okay,” Job said. “The first thing we wanted to do was to get it together to make it a roller. By 11 p.m. on Wednesday we got it up on the pad and confirmed that it was square. It was a hard hit, and the worst place to go off here is Turn 2.”

Alex Job Racing sits only four points behind Black Swan Racing in the GTC teams’ championship, giving hope for the Florida-based squad to rebound from Wednesday’s setback.

After all, the team has done it before at Mosport. In 1999, AJR pulled an all-nighter to rebuild its GT-class Porsche Court Wagner had rolled in Saturday’s final practice. Wagner and co-driver Dirk Muller went onto take the class win.

New Pit Procedure

With the tight confines of Mosport’s pit road, IMSA has implemented an alternative pit lane procedure for Sunday’s race. When under full-course caution, LMP and LMPC cars will be permitted to pit on the first lap the pits are opened. GT and GTC cars will have to wait until the second lap while under yellow.

It’s a similar system to what GRAND-AM uses and will be interesting to see how it works with four classes instead of two.

First Timers
Courtesy of: MichelinAlley.com

We should have known from the outset that it was going to be a season of firsts in the 2010 American Le Mans Series competition.

A stunning number of manufacturers, teams and drivers have scored their first wins in 2010 ALMS competition. Peugeot kicked off the 2010 season with its first victory in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, and tacked on a first MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge win on for good measure.

It was also the first ALMS win for the Peugeot drivers: Anthony Davidson, Marc Gene and Alexander Wurz. Other firsts at Sebring included, Gianmaria (Gimmi) Bruni’s first GT win aboard the Risi Competizione Ferrari and Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s first LMP2 class win.

At Long Beach, we saw Adrian Fernandez score his first ALMS overall race pole and the first for Aston Martin. Simon Pagenaud then passed him on the last lap of the race to score his first win for his new Highcroft Racing team.
There have been a number of first-time winners in the ALMS this year. (John Dagys)

Jonny Cocker and Drayson Racing scored a first ALMS pole, led its first laps and scored a first team podium with Paul Drayson and Emanuele Pirro at Salt Lake City.

When the series resumed after the 24 Hours of Le Mans break, Greg Pickett and Muscle Milk Team CytoSport got their first ALMS overall win at Lime Rock.

Mid-Ohio was next and the ALMS first time overall winner scoreboard lit up as Chris Dyson, Guy Smith, Mazda, Isobutanol fuel and Dunlop all hit the big casino for the first time.

And last time out at Road America, Drayson and Cocker backed up their Mid-Ohio pole with a pole and first win for the British-based crew.

The MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge, the race within each ALMS race to recognize the Prototype and GT car racing the farthest, fastest, with the smallest environmental footprint, has also had a number of first time winners.

Peugeot, Ferrari and Lola-Judd have each scored initial wins. On the team side of the ledger, first time MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge winners now include, Muscle Milk Team CytoSport at Long Beach, Drayson Racing and Extreme Speed Motorsports at Salt Lake City and Risi Competizione at Lime Rock.

Drayson Racing also became the first team to pair an ALMS MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge win with the Asian MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge award they won last year at Okayama, Japan.

The 2010 season marks the first for an exciting new class providing a truly level field of identical prototypes offering a sophisticated Le Mans Prototype at a more affordable cost to teams. Level 5 Motorsports #55 with co-drivers Christophe Bouchut, Scott Tucker and Mark Wilkins won the first Le Mans Prototype Challenge race at the Twelve Hours of Sebring while the #99 Green Earth Team Gunnar took the first pole position.

Gunnar Jeannette and Elton Julian of Green Earth Team Gunnar have since added their first wins in the American Le Mans Series.

For more articles throughout each race weekend, check out Michelin Motorsports’ trackside blog, MichelinAlley.com

Mosport Spotter’s Guide
Download Andy's Spotter's Guide today

Andy Blackmore’s Spotter’s Guide for Mosport is now available. Featuring all 29 cars on the grid for Sunday’s final two-hour and 45-minute race of the season, Andy’s guide is a must-have, whether you’re headed to the track tomorrow to see the race in person, or will be sitting back watching it on SPEED. Andy has made some last-minute tweaks, including Corvette's reshuffled driver lineup and new drivers to the Nos. 23 and 88 GTC machines.

Download Andy's Spotter's Guide Here.

News & Notes

• The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team arrived at Mosport with an old, but new No. 92 car for Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner following last weekend’s high-speed accident. With the car suffering heavy right-side damage, the Ohio-based team had no other option but to build up a car around its spare chassis.

Led by crew chief Greg Cates, the 12-man crew put in a total of 250 man hours in building up a new No. 92 car around last year’s chassis, which was a bare shell. The team completed the build in less than two days, with Milner putting the car third on the grid for Sunday.

• It turns out Klaus Graf didn’t actually run out of fuel on the final lap at Road America last weekend as originally suspected. A low fuel alarm came on with a few corners remaining, just moments after Graf got caught up in GT traffic. It's a testament to the strategy called by team manager Geoff Carter, as the Porsche RS Spyder had 1 cup of fuel left in its tank. Now that’s cutting it close!

• On Friday, I was lucky enough to have been given a ride around Mosport in a Porsche Carrera Turbo by Chris Hall, who has been helping the series with the Vitesse program this year. The former Primetime Race Group driver said he’s working hard with Performance Tech owner Brent O’Neill to make a return to the ALMS next year with a pair of LMPC cars.


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