26.06.2004 THE OPENING TEST SESSION AT MID-OHIO SAW THE FIRST ON-TRACK ACTION FOR TWO CARS THAT HAVE ATTRACTED A GREAT DEAL OF ATTENTION IN THE PADDOCK, THE KROHN-BARBOUR LAMBORGHINI MURCIELAGO R-GT RACERS!!!
James Weaver unofficially smashed the existing American Le Mans Series track record as he led Friday's test session for Sunday's American Le Mans at Mid-Ohio race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Weaver, driving the Dyson Racing Lola EX257-AER/MG that he will share with Butch Leitzinger, turned the 2.25-mile circuit in a time of 1:13.448, faster than the official ALMS track record of 1:14.169 set by Frank Biela the last time the series raced at Mid-Ohio in 2002. Drivers will try to officially break the record in qualifying that will be held Saturday.
Only .199 second behind and also faster than the record was the ADT Champion Racing Audi R8 of JJ Lehto and Marco Werner at 1:13.647, followed by the second Dyson entry of Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace at 1:14.686.
Yesterday's test session saw the first on-track action for the two cars that have attracted a great deal of attention in the Mid-Ohio paddock, the Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT machines of Krohn-Barbour Racing.
David Brabham, Peter Kox, Scott Maxwell and Tracy Krohn ran their first laps in the cars yesterday. The new racing team only took delivery of the two cars this week from car builder Reiter Engineering in Germany.
The two-hour testing session ended 10 minutes early due to a crash between turns nine and ten involving the Murcielago of Tracy Krohn and the GT class Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Lonnie Pechnik. Though neither driver was injured, the session was brought to a halt due to the time required to pick up the cars and the debris from the crash.
The Flying Lizard car was damaged beyond repair and the team will replace it for this race with a 2003 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, while the Lamborghini team was still trying to effect repairs.
"The car picked up a little push and I ran wide onto the curbs," said Krohn. "I was coming back off the curbs onto the racing line when I felt a thump; I don't know where he (Pechnik) came from, it's kind of blind there anyway. After that the car half-spun."
"When I saw the Lamborghini with two wheels off the track on the fast downhill, I moved as far right as possible," said Pechnik. "The Lamborghini came across the track and took us into the guardrail.
"It really is a shame; the team worked extremely hard to prepare no44 and have done a spectacular job. The R-GT will not be quite as competitive but we are looking forward to getting back into competition."
After qualifying today decides the grid order, the GTS runners have a 30 minute single session in which to chase a grid position around the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course at Lexington, the 2 hour 45 minute race then starts tomorrow at 1pm local time.
GTS Friday practice times from Mid-Ohio: 1st GTS/5th Overall Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS), 1:20.017, 2ndGTS/7th Overall Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS), 1:21.232, 3rdGTS/8th Overall Terry Borcheller and Johnny Mowlem, Saleen S7R (GTS), 1:21.245. 4thGTS/10th Overall David Brabham and Peter Kox, Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT (GTS), 1:23.773, 5thGTS/11th Overall Scott Maxwell and Tracy Krohn, Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT (GTS), 1:24.118, 6thGTS/12th Tom Weickardt and Jean-Philippe Belloc, Dodge Viper GTS-R (GTS), 1:24.531.