American Le Mans Series - Laguna Seca 2009

Caporegime
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Some will have seen this in the youtube thread, but i thought it would be interesting to Talk about the washup from it that the video doesnt cover.

http://www.oneighturbo.com/2009/10/...l-guest-discuss-the-gt2-last-lap-controversy/

After watching that, i felt sure the both of them would end up with severe penalties and the original result wouldnt stand

The corvette driver for throwing his toys out of the pram and ramming in on the last corner

and the Porsche driver for letting this get the better of him, find out he was loosing and drive the guy into the wall.

Turns out both are now "on probation" next year but the result still stands.

Another interesting topic to note, the 2010 ALMS has abandoned the GT1/GT2 class divide. Was only the corvette factory team that had the money for the GT1 cars anyway, so expect to see the GT3 RSR and the corvettes go head to head in the same class, much the same as they did in the ALMS this year (they abandoned GT1 half way through this year as they knew the 2010 regs were comming)

But they've added a production car class as well, interestingly. This will see the porsche GT3 cup (a standard roadcar GT3 with 500k of weight lost) possibly going up against the Audi R8 GT4 (confusing names or what?)

Meanwhile, the GT3 RSR will compete in the GT class, or what was the old GT2 before they binned GT1.
 
Soldato
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Patron GT3 Challenge class isnt new for 2010, they ran this year aswell and it will be solely for the 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, but they have also talked of perhaps allowing other 911 GT3 models to run under the Challenge Class aswell such as the Cup S and GT3 R.

As for the end result of the race, the #3 Corvette played with fire and got burned, if you watch the whole race you will see that both Corvette's drove like thugs for the whole race(#4 taking out about 4 cars by going into T2 far to quick on a restart and taking out one of the Dyson Lola's, #3 putting Richard Westbrook off the track, plus hitting 2 or 3 GT3 Challenge Porsche's off).
 
Soldato
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that was some great racing, corvettes bump into the last corner looked like just a racing bump as a last ditch dive, but the driving into the wall was a bit more on purpose.
 
Soldato
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Forcing him into the wall like that wasn't good, but trying to 'loosen' the porsche up in the last corner to gain an advantage was equaly as bad.

So its 50/50 there. Nightst@lker has a better opinion on the race though! :)
 
Caporegime
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Patron GT3 Challenge class isnt new for 2010, they ran this year aswell and it will be solely for the 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, but they have also talked of perhaps allowing other 911 GT3 models to run under the Challenge Class aswell such as the Cup S and GT3 R.

As for the end result of the race, the #3 Corvette played with fire and got burned, if you watch the whole race you will see that both Corvette's drove like thugs for the whole race(#4 taking out about 4 cars by going into T2 far to quick on a restart and taking out one of the Dyson Lola's, #3 putting Richard Westbrook off the track, plus hitting 2 or 3 GT3 Challenge Porsche's off).

think the fact he demonstrated he was willing to cross the solid white line and drive onto the pit exit to overtake says it all.
 
Associate
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Grand Am fines Papis, Magnussen following Miami


Grand American Road Racing Association has fined Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype drivers Max Papis and Jan Magnussen $5,100 each for "unacceptable driving tactics" following a review of the final stages of last Saturday's Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In addition to the fines, each driver will also be required this year to spend a day of community service at one of the U.S.-based Hole in the Wall Camps, the world's only network of camps for children with life-threatening illnesses founded by actor and racer Paul Newman in 1988. The $10,200 in total driver fines will be paid directly to Camp Boggy Creek, Newman's Florida camp, to fund six campers for the 2004 summer sessions.

Battling for the lead with less than 10 laps to go in Miami, Papis, driving the CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing #01 Lexus Riley XI, and Magnussen, behind the wheel of the Doran-Lista Racing #27 Lexus Doran JE4, made repeated contact for nearly an entire lap around the 2.3-mile road course.

The door-to-door banging ended with both drivers spinning off course in turn one just after completing lap 101 of the 109 lap race. Magnussen was eliminated on the spot while Papis nursed his damaged Daytona Prototype to a seventh-place finish.

The race was won by Andy Wallace and Milka Duno, who co-drove the #2 CITGO Pontiac Crawford to the first Rolex Sports Car Series win for Howard-Boss Motorsports.

Papis and Magnussen met with Grand American officials immediately following the race and were advised then of the pending review and penalties.

Took that from another forum where I got the video link from.
 
Soldato
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Ignoring the accident... Laguna Seca is an awesome track!

Its an amazing track! Have to watch moto gp there every year now (and its one of the most fun for gt4) wish f1 would go there.... (theres footage of a toyota being given a test there)

On the race, the bump before the back straight was a bit cheeky, but being run up on the wall was just cheap! Mainly as the no 45 just got a slightly better drive out the last corner. Shouldnt have ended in an accident like that
 
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