ACURA ON POLE IN SEBRING THRILLER

New Zealand driver Scott Dixon gave Acura/Honda a dream LMP1 debut with a stunning final-lap dash to take pole position for Saturday’s 57th annual 12 Hours of Sebring.   Dixon, the defending Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion, made his first Sebring race appearance quite notable by driving the all-new No. 66 de Ferran XM Radio Acura ARX-02a prototype sports car to the top position in Saturday’s grid over European challengers Audi and Peugeot.  It was a big day for the Japanese manufacturer with veteran Adrian Fernandez taking his Acura to the pole in the LMP2 class.  It is the first time since 2005 that a manufacturer has captured both the LMP1 and LMP2 pole positions in the same event.  This weekend marks Acura’s debut in the LMP1 class in the American Le Mans Series, after two years of competition in the LMP2 category.  Acura won the LMP2 division in its initial Sebring event in 2007.  Audi's new diesel powered challenger the R15 also made an impressive debut with multiple 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen in the No. 2 Audi taking second place on the grid to edge out arch rival Peugeot. Nicolas Minnasian was the fastest of the Peugeot coupes just ahead of Mike Rockenfeller's Audi and David Brabham in another of the new Acuras.

WE WILL RACE AT LE MANS: CORVETTE

Corvette have denied an  Autosport magazine story that claimed the team would not be running at next the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Steve Wesoloski, Road Racing Group Manager for the General said that the current plan was that the cars would be at the classic race in next June 2009. “I can confirm that we will be in Sebring, Long Beach and Le Mans with the C6 R in GT1” he said. The  program as announced at Detroit last September will include the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Long Beach ALMS round and finally the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mr Wesoloski did say however that “for several reasons, primarily to preserve our budget, we will not be present at the Winter Test of the ALMS”  The ALMS Corvette program in GT2 is also at this stage still on track. “Project GT2 is in hand, with the objective of beginning in Mid-Ohio” he said. Of course all of this could be dependent on their still being a General Motors come 2009. With Audi, Porsche, Acura and now Chevrolet all cutting back their ALMS programmes, the 2009 season will be a very different landscape from the one we saw in 2008.

AUDI FINISH ON A HIGH AT LAGUNA SECA

Another stunning come from behind win has given Audi its seventh win in the 2008 American Le Mans Series.  Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner celebrated a narrow victory in front of their team mates Christijan Albers and Emanuele Pirro. It was Pirro's final race for the team. Starting from row five of the grid, the Audi drivers were able to take advantage from the enormous torque of their TDI engine  at the many  restarts brought about after the Safety Car was deployed no less than twelve times – the most occasions all season.    Werner crossed the finish line the eventual winner only 1.941 seconds ahead of an emotional Pirro who had tears in eyes following his last race in the Audi R10 TDI.  It was the seventh outright victory for Audi in the eleven-round American Le Mans Series. Acura/Honda and Porsche each scored two victories. Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner celebrated their eighth win of the season in the LM P1 class. The two Germans had already secured the title in the LM P1 Drivers Championship. Pirro finished third in the Championship while Christijan Albers finished his first sportscar race on the podium.

BRABHAM TAKES POLE FOR ALMS CLOSER

Australian driver David Brabham clinched his third overall American Le Mans series pole position of the season in what was his last qualifying session in the LMP2 Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  Brabham set a blistering fastest time of 1:10.103, taking pole position by 0.099 seconds and setting a new Laguna Seca ALMS lap record in the process.

SPEED TV PETIT LE MANS WRAP

GT QUALIFYING FROM PETIT LE MANS

PEUGEOT ON POLE FOR PETIT LE MANS

Puegeot's single car entry will start from pole for the 2008 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Stephane Sarrazin's time of 1:06.242 (138.039 mph) just edged out the Audi Sport North America's R10 of  Allan McNish by 0.085 seconds to set up another classic confrontation between the two giants of international sports prototype racing. “We are very happy,“ said Sarrazin, who also captured pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans the last two years for Peugeot. “It is very good for us and the team. We will focus now on a good start and a long race for tomorrow. It is a different target now than Sebring (in March). We were a newer car then and we did not finish. Then we advanced at Le Mans, so now we have even more time with the car.“ The rapid improvement in Le Mans racing was clearly evident as in the  top 15 qualifiers were all under Marco Werner's pole-winning time of 1:08.906 (132.703 mph) from 2006, with Sarrazin 2.564 seconds under. Werner, himself qualified third in the second of the Audi R10 TDIs at 1:06.818 (136.849 mph). Penske Racing's Ryan Briscoe led a Porsche sweep of the top three qualifying positions in LMP2. Briscoe made a triumphant return to Road Atlanta with a class-record pole run of 1:07.061 (136.353 mph) in one of Penske's three Porsche RS Spyders that he will share with two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves.

PEUGEOT DOMINATE NURBURGRING

Peugeot dominated the Nurbugring 1000 with a win for the driving team of Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy. It was the perfect weekend for the French marque with pole position and a race one, two all at the home circuit of major rival Audi.   Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene also in a Peugeot 908 were second, one lap ahead of the first Audi of Alexandre Premat and Mike Rockenfeller.