2006 Year in Endurance Racing

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, this thread is a year-in-review for the world's biggest endurance races. This is the first time I've attempted to review the moments in endurance racing. Everything from the Rolex 24 at Daytona to the 8 Hours of Suzuka to even the Petit Le Mans (and perhaps even the recent Laguna Seca race if you want to count that as well) is fair game here. This will be one on a series of different Year in Review threads. Here are some of the endurances we can look back on:

Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona
Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring
24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans Moto
24 Houurs at the Nürburgring
Monza 1000km
Bathurst 1000
Petit Le Mans
Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen
8 Hours of Suzuka
(just about any other Le Mans Series endurance)
(just about any Japanese Le Mans Challenge endurance)
Petit Le Mans
the 9 Hour race at Miller Motorsports Park with Rolex Sports Cars
FIA GT 24 Hours at Spa-Francorchamps

So it all mostly pertains to time endurances. Now if if there are any endurance races I may have forgotten, you're free to make your own entries. But this is a thread to look back at some big endurance races for 2006. This can be about any racing series that has a serious long-distance endurance race.

 

[m.piedgros]

Hey John,

I really like the concept for the thread. I don't have a big editorial for this post, though I will be posting one later (most likely regarding the 12 Hours of Sebring, a race I for no reason other than having attended the most of any endurance, call my home) but I felt the need to chime in. I've read three or four articles about the 24h Rennen Nurburgring so I'll just dump a little fact/opinion dribble to start us off.

The race around the 'Ring is something to behold. A race where a 500 SEL can share a track with a factory Maserati effort, Lamborghini Gallardo GT3's with "factory support" and a ridiculous number of other competitors (some 250-300) ranging from Porsche GT3's with big name factory drivers in them to a seven year old Super 2000 Alfa Romeo, and even a bunch of friends who thought it would be a larf to take their grocery-getter 24 hour racing. That is the kind of race, a one of a kind race, that blows your mind. Fierce competition at the top of the field is contrasted with guys driving in complete fear at two in the morning. evo magazine contributor Dickie Meaden, and more familiar to us yanks Road & Track's Patrick Hong got the dream job of driving a 400 odd horsepower Maserati Gransport Trofeo at the 'Ring. Dickie talked of double stinting at night, getting onto the Nordschleife section of the course, getting comfortable following the lights of a car he knew was much slower and having the... er, poop scared out of him when the two leading Porsche's battling tooth and nail would fly by flashing their lights and making a big to do over Dickie's apparent lapse in concentration. He talked of the pressure he felt when the Gransport Light driven by Maserati MC12 FIA GT drivers dropped out of the event (Contact) and the pure joy he felt cheering Yank Journalist Patrick Hong across the finish line past the 24h mark. That, my friend is a race for the ages!

Just my $0.02. Expect to get the other $0.98 later today or on Tuesday!

m.piedgros

P.S. Might I recommend 25 Hours of Thunderhill to the list. No rules dictating driver stints so some may try 25 Hour stints... heck of a race. Also, new GAC 350z car is set to debut their with some major magazine sponsoring them, not sure who but I'll pick it up whatever it is if it claims to have a Thunderhill article in it.

 

[JohnBM01]

I'll actually give this thread life by looking back on Le Mans 2006.

The 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
LMP1 - Biela/Pirro/Werner; Audi R10 V12 TDI; Audi Sport Team Joest (1st Overall, 380 laps)
LMP2 - Erdos/Newton/Wallace; Lola EX264 AER; RML (8th Overall, 343 laps)
LMGT1 - Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen; Corvette C6-R; Corvette Racing (4th Overall, 355 laps)
LMGT2 - Dean/Tomlinson/Hughes; Panoz Esperante GTLM; Team LNT (15th Overall, 321 laps)

from: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=221920&FS=LEMANS


The 2006 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps with FIA GT
GT1 - Van de Poele/Bartels/Bertolini; Maserati MC12 GT1 (1st Overall)
GT2 - Salo/Aguas/Scheider; Ferrari F430 GT2 (6th Overall)
G2 - Luhr/Maassen/Tiemann; Porsche 997 GT2 (14th Overall)
G3 - Chaillet/Nef/Deman/Geoffroy; Dodge Viper Competition Coupe

from: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=227236&FS=FIA-GT


I'll provide more results when I get a chance to see them and report them. Remember, this is a look back on all the big endurance races of 2006. Stuff you can do is talk about some of the finer moments of endurance races this year, what you considered the best endurance race of the year, and stuff like that. I'll try to get in the Rolex 24, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the Petit Le Mans in my next post.

 

[dougiemeats]

I have much to say about this season, but I've been avoiding the motorsport forum because I have yet to see Laguna Seca

Without going into much detail (I'll do that later), here are some of the moments that I will remember for some time:

* Fireworks through the Corvette windshield at Sebring (chasing the Aston Martin)
* The flying DBR9 at Mid-Ohio (I know, sprint race practice, but still)
* Autocon leading overall (another non-endurance)
* Jon Field vs. the Penske Porsche at Petit
* Ben Devlin vs. the Penske Porsche at Laguna (I saw the beginning, exciting!)
* First ever JLMC race
* Fuel shortage in the opening round of LMS
* Lamborghini at Le Mans
* All the awesome GT2 class battles

OK, back to ignoring the motorsport forum, I really need to watch that race!

 

[Ford_Fan90]

If you are available tommorow at noon eastern the Laguna Seca race replays on SPEED Channel.

 

[dougiemeats]

If you are available tommorow at noon eastern the Laguna Seca race replays on SPEED Channel.

They usually don't replay ALMS races, so this is awesome! I don't have class during this time, so I'll be watching it. My brothers taped the race, but I would have had to wait until Thanksgiving break to watch it. Thanks man!

 

[Ford_Fan90]

Glad to help! Just to add to your previous comments, Jon Field vs. Penske Porsche at Petit and Ben Devlin vs. Penske at Laguna, those were some impressive efforts. However, the mere magnitude of the Penske team vs. the mom-and-pop Intersport effort was an impressive fight all year. It will be incredible next year when we have semi-factory Acura teams vs. (hopefully) a couple of teams like Intersport.

 

[JohnBM01]

Remember that next year, I'll make my first thread on the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Whether or not you like this race and the cars that race it, it's the only big time 24-hour race in America. Twenty-four hours is 24 hours regardless of who runs the race. So let's look back at the Rolex 24. And let me remind you that a Porsche GT car didn't win overall like in 2003. (^_^)


The 2006 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona
DP - Dixon/Wheldon/Mears; Target Chip Ganassi Racing; Lexus Riley (1st Overall)
GT - Pobst/Levitas/Pumpelly; TPC Racing; Porsche GT3 Cup (9th Overall)

About 66 entires were reported for this race.

from: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=209107&FS=GRANDAM


Now back to the ALMS and two big endurances.

The 2006 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring
P1 - Capello/McNish/Kristensen; Audi Sport North America; Audi R10 TDI (1st Overall)
P2 - Field/Dayton/Halliday; Intersport Racing; Lola B05/40 AER (2nd Overall)
GT1 - Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen; Corvette C6-R; Corvette Racing (3rd Overall)
GT2 - Maxwell/Brabham/Bourdais; Panoz Esperante GTLM; Multimatic/Team Panoz (9th Overall)

from: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=212341&FS=ALMS

In all, 35 cars competed.


The 2006 Petit Le Mans
P1 - Capello/McNish; Audi Sport North America; Audi R10 TDI (1st Overall)
P2 - Maassen/Bernard/Collard; Penske Motorsports; Porsche RS Spyder (5th Overall)
GT1 - Enge/Turner; Aston Martin Racing; Aston Martin DB9 (8th Overall)
GT2 - Bergmeister/Long/Jonsson; Petersen/White Lightning; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (14th Overall)

from: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=234537&FS=ALMS

Over 28 cars competed.





I'll talk about more endurance races when I get a chance to report them.