Portland International Raceway is a beautiful and challenging course in the Pacific Northwest. The Dyson crew got pole overall and P1. The Penske boys got her done for pole in P2. Corvette gets the pole for Pratt and Miller in GT1. Risi Competizione is the polesitting clique for GT2. Here is my "notebook" on Round 6:
---THE RACE---
Highcroft had a HUGE battle against one of the Porsche RS Spyders. The #7 Porsche took a heavy hit in the Festival Curves as it had a collision with the Highcroft unit. * The #62 Ferrari F430 had a BIG off with a rally-style jump and front radiators clogged with grass. Thankfully, the car didn't have the same result as that (I hate to mention the other series in an ALMS discussion, but...) BMW at Mid-Ohio. * The Dyson Lola was in trouble early, but surprisingly was still part of the big show. * Aston Martin claimed that the Corvette crew used more than one person to help put the driver in. One guy was working on getting the driver into the car, while a second person helped put on the other seat belt. The end result was about a 1-minute penalty. So you bet this Chevrolet vs. Aston Martin rivalry kicked up a bit. Let's just hope this doesn't become the racing equivalent of Michigan vs. Ohio State. But this thing is more like Georgia vs. Georgia Tech. Clean old-fashioned hate. It used to be Corvette vs. Ferrari when the 550 Maranellos and 575's were challenging the boys in yellow. * More trouble for the Lucas Luhr deal means that Liz Halliday will have the oppurtunity to tie Milka Duno as getting the most wins by a female driver. She'll tie with Milka Duno for most wins by a female driver. Liz Halliday is a stellar talent. You would think that if there was an all-star team assembled with quality female drivers in American racing series, you'd have to have Halliday join Katherine Legge, Danica Patrick, and even Milka Duno. I don't know about Erin Crocker or Sarah Fisher for road racing. * Congratulations to Allan McNish on a job well done. He'll likely be a Hall of Fame inductee once he hangs up his racing career. In fact, Audi finishes 1-2. * Halliday overtook Milka Duno for most wins by a female in the ALMS with her third win thi season. * Through thick and thin, Corvette got it done for the win with Olivier Beretta piloting the #4 entry. * Yellow ruled GT1. But it's Ferrari Red (or Rosso Ferrari) who got it done in GT2. The Ferrari Red boys (and Houston's own!) Risi Competizione came back from some early troubles to win. Any comeback to win is always a sweet story. Not to mention that wicked rally moment the #62 Ferrari had.
---FACT OR FICTION? - RESULTS---
1. Expect a Dyson upset of the Porsches.
RESULT: FICTION Apparentely, they finished lapped and really struggled. So did one of the Porsches. P2 honors went to Liz Halliday on a historic run (at least for her), passing Milka Duno for most wins by a female.
2. Aston Martin won't three-peat.
RESULT: FACT Amid some controversy in the pits, the Corvette boys did very well. The finishing order was Corvette, Aston Martin, Corvette, Aston Martin. Nice parity, eh? ^_^
3. Porsche will win overall, P2, and GT2.
RESULT: FICTION Hear me out on this. My inspiration for this item has been that I'd spice up the statements a bit. This was probably the easiest of the 10 statements I've provided. The emphasis was on the basis that Porsche upsets the Audis in P2 and overall, and then the GT2 Porsches would take down the non-Porsche groups. Didn't happen. I should have made the statement as "Porsche will lose three races- overall, P2, and GT2!" Tough break for Porsche.
4. Aston Martin finishes one, loses another.
RESULT: FICTION As I've seen, they've stayed in the race. So great job by the British make.
5. Risi Competizione wins in GT2.
RESULT: FACT Hats off to Risi Competizione. The #62 may have gotten all 9's from the judges judging the big jump, but it shown to be unbreakable. Good job by the Risi boys. And nice job brining another ALMS GT2 win to Texas!
6. A GT1 entry (regardless of which one) will finish 5th or higher overall.
RESULT: FICTION The highest-placed GT1 entry was the #4 Corvette, which placed 7th.
7. Dyson finishes 3rd or better in P1.
RESULT: FACT Dyson finished 3-4 with the Chris Dyson entry placing highest. So that's a good job by Dyson and nice of them not to jinx my Fact or Fiction.
8. All Porsches will follow Panoz to the checkered flag.
RESULT: FICTION The Panoz beat only one Porsche- the #7 Porsche RS Spyder. But I'm talking about all GT2 Porsches. And sadly, the Panoz crew didn't beat a single Porsche. Tough break for Panoz.
9. A BMW will finish. The other will not.
RESULT: FACT(?) The results page doesn't show any accidents, so I'll call it Fact.
10. At least one 'Vette will DNF.
RESULT: FICTION Neither Corvette dropped out.
---OTHERS---
The Sunoco Forgotten Fact asked about who won the first IMSA GT race at Portland in 1978. The answer was Peter Gregg of Brumos Porsche #59. Now Brumos Porsche is involved in Daytona Prototypes. * It's pretty nice seeing a few more different commercials marketing more ALMS cars. Many of you don't like CBS coverage of this (I'm not much of a big fan either), but look at it this way. People with regular TV channels will get to see what many others don't get to see with cable. So that's why this isn't as bad of a deal as one may initially think. Where else on non-cable TV will you get the chance to see cars like Porsches, Panoz, Aston Martins, and what not? It used to be that the NBC networks hosted the ALMS coverage, not to mention being partners with Speed Channel. Maybe something that concerns me is, how come Fox won't see any ALMS coverage? Speed is a FOX Network, so why don't Fox types get to see the ALMS? Don't make it just NASCAR (though I agree that Fox does a better job with NASCAR coverage than NBC networks). Introduce the ALMS to Fox when the NASCAR swing is done on Fox. * Now let's talk engine roars. I am still a big fan of the Audi R10's muffled roar. The car probably has NO problem with Portland's sound decibel issues since it's so quiet. Compare that 7-Liter(?) Corvette C6-R engine to the R10. Much quieter. Now, the Audi R10 isn't as quiet that all you hear is the wind rushing by. You just don't really hear the aggressive roar of most race cars. The Aston Martins have a big roar to them. What do you expect with British engineering that only Ford-owned Aston Martin can deliver? It is such a sexy race car. Even more so are those Ferrari F430GT cars. It would realy be nice if more Ferraris entered GT2 to try their luck against the Porsches. The only uncertainty is their reliability. Of course, Porsches are renowned for their reliability in racing. The Porsche RS Spyders still sound a bit like old-school Indy cars. Nice roar for that machine. * Liz Halliday tried her hand at being a Cub Reporter. The young blonde had a little fun asking questions about who's the most stylish driver, for example. I guess it's true what they say- blondes have more fun. * Allan McNish did a bobsledding run along with CBS Sports pit reporter, Heather Cox. McNish had on his racing gear while H. Cox was in your average ladies' summer clothes. McNish said that 24 Hours at Le Mans was less physically demanding than one minute on a bobsled course. Can you imagine that? Now I can see why go-kart racers would sort of say the same thing, since go-karts have no suspension. Of course, I've done some go-kart racing before, so I know what I'm talking about. * Detroit had a celebration in June for the Corvette team's fifth Le Mans GT1 win and third-straight. * Stephanie S. had a nice little dip with the All Adventures row boat deal. Before you ask, Stephanie is a male. Stephanie S. is an Aston Martin racer for the ALMS' GT1. * Belated birthday time. Happy 27th Birthday, Lucas Luhr! Also happy birthday, Calvin Fish! During the Le Mans weekend, Greg Creamer celebrated his own birthday. He also qualifies for AARP benefits, if I'm not mistaken. C. Fish and G. Creamer are solid announcing talents regardless. I do still miss Leigh Diffey. Wonderful talent he is.
-end
The next round of the championship (Round 7) will be at Road America on August 20th. And instead of CBS coverage, it will return to the Speed Channel. Road America is SURELY a challenging course. The former holder of "America's Longest Race Course" is still a high-speed thrill ride that still has punishing turns. This track is really where "race hard or go home" really comes into play. Next round is in about four weeks time. That will be a LOT of time to have some discussion about the ALMS. It would be sort of a shame if there will be only 24 entries on a track as big as Road America (hell, say the same for the longer Miller Motorsports Park). It should be a great race. Whenever you're ready for the next round of the ALMS season, I'll have my "Fact or Fiction" questions ready. I have one already. Here's a preview:
* (undisclosed) will retake the points lead in (class).
Road America on August 20th! Commentary continues.
This year, the term "night-race" will have more meaning. Last year they called it a night race, even though it ended at least an hour and a half before sunset. This year, the race starts an hour later, so it will be cool to have them racing in twilight for more of the event.
) and they are a quality team but there's no way they'll upset the Penske Porsche's, unless one or both break...
I voted "Fact" since there are two Audis and an improved Dyson team, but I'm still giving the old Lolas a chance. "Roll on, Autocon!"
. Here's the Pole sitters:
).
