AUDI WINS TOP THREE PLACES AT LE MANS
By dawn, Ron's Corvette was pushed up the pitlane, in need of a new gearbox apparently. He had set the fastest lap in the GTS class - 4:01.081, six tenths faster than the Beretta time that was also set in the first hint of dawn.
"Praise to Audi for a three car effort that has blasted the rest into the kind of submission that no one except four-ringed people wanted to see." Said Janos Wimpffen. It's not a great Le Mans, but we've been spoilt lately. "
However, Multimatic Motorsports won first in the LMP675 class, with a Nissan powered Lola B2K/40 SR2, finishing eight laps ahead of its nearest rival after the 24-hour event. It was an exceptional achievement for a team who had never before competed at LeMans and in a car that was only three weeks old. And to add to Canadian pride, It was the first team from Canada to compete at LeMans in twenty years.
Veteran Mario Andretti's quest for that elusive prize, a win at Le Mans, was once more unrealized as the Panoz team was forced to retire. Mario sat in the #11 Panoz, overlooked by a worried Don Panoz, as the car had its gear cluster replaced. He returned to the track six laps down on the leading Audi, #8. He had a tire go down and just about kept it off the wall. Mario gave a valiant effort by driving around the 3:51 mark initially, then improving to 3:48. The Audis were just too fast, around 3:41 / 3:42 at first then, under 3:40, and no one else could catch them. But despite the loss, Mario's gloves were auctioned, and the proceeds donated to Jim Martyn to help pay his medical expenses.
Driving flat out for twenty-four hours, part of which is night driving on a course such as at Le Mans, creates a sense of excitement that no other racing event seems to generate. The spectacular at Le Mans is the inspiration behind the American Le Mans series and the Panoz driven organization. Don Panoz wants to provide the American Sportscar fan with the kind of racing that has pretty much be confined to Europe. To him, a race is the culmination of an entertainment event that is open to the whole family.
The American Le Mans Series will go next to Germany to Nurburgring at the Bitburger/AvD-1000 Km, the fourth race in
Latest Articles