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JHS18

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Midweek Motorsport reporting that some of the 13 cars that took part in the last ELMS race may well be late entries to the WEC Silverstone race.

Look out for more teams confirming entries. The entry list for that race will only increase over the next few weeks.

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SRT Viper lineup is confirmed, with Jonathan Bomarito taking the final endurance seat. Bomarito was a very promising talent in the Atlantic Championship, and has been racing a Mazda RX-8 for SpeedSource recently.

That's a really solid lineup they have...I hope they're competitive, and I hope they go to Le Mans.

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The note about the WEC calendar at the end...expect an "exciting new venue" that isn't Sebring to represent North America in the WEC, if North America is represented at all. I may be dead wrong there.

One possibility being thrown around is Austin, who are booked all over the place. I don't think it would be in combination with ALMS, who are going to run in May, but it could be alongside IndyCar, who would like to run (not confirmed they will) as a season opener in March.

Another possibility is the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico. The FIA have been visiting there a lot, and most assume for F1, but you never know...

And they could go really, really old school and return to Homestead-Miami like the FIA GT did in1998 and 1999 but I'm going to guarantee right now that's not where they are going. tongue.png

Which is a good thing because most road courses built inside ovals suck...there's one good roval that I can think of, and it's the 1.6 mile course at Loudon. As it happens, the road course connects to the oval but is built mostly outside it, so it's not even one built inside an oval too much. Great little track...but very much irrelevant to any kind of big-time sports car racing (though it is .07 miles longer than Lime Rock and has a substantially larger pit road)...they mostly run motorcycles and LeMons up there. wink.png

Homestead-Miami is actually really horrible, and I was shocked to find out FIA GT raced there. The layout is miserable, and the track was paved with an aggregate that includes seashells. Maybe in the 90s it wasn't as big of a deal (also, in the 90s, the oval part wasn't banked as it is now), but now with Grand-Am racing there, they haven't repaved the infield part in a long time, so the seashells have gone up to the top and really grind the tires down.

Well, more than you ever wanted to know about that and I'm sure now they'll confirm Sebring as returning anyway. laugh.png

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Midweek Motorsport reporting that some of the 13 cars that took part in the last ELMS race may well be late entries to the WEC Silverstone race.

Look out for more teams confirming entries. The entry list for that race will only increase over the next few weeks.

Jota Sport confirmed today that they will be running the Six Hours of Silverstone and will not run Petit Le Mans.

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Thanks for that - hadn't read that yet.

Whilst I do think a few of them will go to Petit, I don't think all of them 9 prototypes will. Certainly two of the three GT cars won't be as ALMS doesn't have a GT-Am class for them to race in. Also, many of them have sponsors who are only interested in the European side of things (hence they entered ELMS and not the WEC to start with), plus I guess no-one's totally sure about the travel package yet.

If teams are going to go, they need to sort that out fairly quickly.

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Thanks for that - hadn't read that yet.

Whilst I do think a few of them will go to Petit, I don't think all of them 9 prototypes will. Certainly two of the three GT cars won't be as ALMS doesn't have a GT-Am class for them to race in. Also, many of them have sponsors who are only interested in the European side of things (hence they entered ELMS and not the WEC to start with), plus I guess no-one's totally sure about the travel package yet.

If teams are going to go, they need to sort that out fairly quickly.

They did confirm the the ALMS, ELMS, and ACO were covering 100% of the travel expenses.

I'm pretty sure they will treat it like Sebring, since everyone is running for separate points, which means running the five ALMS classes and the four ELMS classes separately as a nine-class race (which means a hell of a lot of podium ceremonies, just like at Sebring). If GTE-Am cars enter, they will be in a GTE-Am class, because everything is for separate points anyway.

But that assumes they go. Even with the expenses of travel covered, there are still a lot of reasons not to go, obviously, and Silverstone would make a lot more sense for most teams, as WEC is their best option for 2013.

Also, any teams that run the WEC won't likely be at Petit, which includes ELMS teams OAK, Greaves, and Pecom. AF Corse in LMGTE-Am are also a WEC team, and I see that their ELMS drivers are now all entered for Silverstone. Too hard to run Petit directly in the middle of two races in Asia with no time buffer at all.

I think it'll be a very light grid for Petit Le Mans, which is fine, though I also think they'll end up with an LMP2 car winning overall. At Sebring, Level 5's LMP2 was the highest-finishing ALMS car, fourth overall, while Dyson was second overall, two laps behind. The overall ALMS podium was completed by an LMPC, that being CORE Autosport's 06. PC cars also took fourth and fifth, with a GT car in sixth. So I'd expect a pretty weird result for Road Atlanta as well. If Level 5 are gone by then, we might get an LMPC car winning the whole thing. :lol:

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Wild Grand-Am race with huge downpours and a drying track and all that. A lot of fun stuff. Bourdais charged from fifth to first in a few laps to win with Alex Popow. He's an awesome driver. I wish he'd run an LMP or DP full-time and give up the Indy stuff, but that's just me personally. And Starworks know how to get me to like them...my guy Bourdais the last two races, and now Alex Tagliani at Montréal. Excited for that.

Magnus Racing with Andy Lally and John Potter won in GT, and win the $50,000 North American Endurance Championship prize for that class.

Starworks won the DP NAEC and that pays $100,000. Another accomplishment for them, obviously nothing quite like the Le Mans and Sebring wins. Great season so far for them. Pole and podium at Daytona, and wins at those two...when's the last time a team was on the podium for all three of those races in one year? Probably have to go back to the days when the same cars were running on all three...

Perhaps the North American Endurance Championship title will be a sign of things to come for Starworks...WEC LMP2 title next?

Anyway, Montoya's move...well, that's Montoya for you. He has no respect for his competitors when he runs in Grand-Am. He just doesn't care and it's a guarantee he'll wreck somebody. The other Ganassi car, Pruett and Rojas, had a few clown moments, too, and how they got second is beyond me (I guess Montoya wrecked everyone else).

But hey, my guys won DP, so that's nice. :P

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Gloves are off!

I told [Juan Pablo Montoya] he’s trash in Spanish because he is. Chip Ganassi sent him to win a championship. Where we were winning the Endurance Championship and the points lead and they ruined our championship. They needed an a##hole like that to ruin our race. We told GRAND-AM what was going to happen and it happened, perfectly. It was all staged and it happened perfectly. They did it late enough that they couldn’t do anything. They waited until the right chance to hit us and they hit us.
Ganassi is big enough that they don’t need to do that. GRAND-AM is not a sanctioning body; it’s a joke.

Remember the Starworks to ALMS rumors?

Our team and Michael Shank are the only private team in the series – everybody else is paid by the series to race. We are the only team that comes here and brings legit sponsors from our own countries to race. Those guys hit every car in the series and don’t get penalties. In the position we were in the championship lead and it was a big deal. They brought in another car to take care of us.

Something everyone already knew all along...NASCAR subsidizes most of the teams...but nice to hear it public.

The other side:

If you are beside somebody and turn into them you are going to get into trouble. The 2 car is one of those. He hit me and nearly spun me. I didn’t do anything. I took it as a man. The only thing I did out of that was learn from it.
Screw him.

Classy.

http://www.motorspor...t-indianapolis/

Do I think this sealed the Starworks to leave Grand-Am rumors?

Not necessarily, but man, it's ugly now...

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I hope the rumors of the BMW Z4 being converted to ALMS GT-spec and replacing the M3 are true. That's the only BMW out there that looks nice.

Any relation between Black Flacon and Black Swan? I only ask because the names are similar, and Jeroen Bleekemolen and Bret Curtis are two of Black Swan's drivers...

Great to see Franck Perera's name again. He would have been a total star in Champ Car.

Is there live timing?

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Live timing is here:

http://static.sportr...fia/app/portal/ - click Blancpain Endurance Series.

It appears there is no coverage of the entire 24 hours - the YouTube stream is off air. Also hearing reports of an ambulance on track and a driver requiring medical attention after an accident. I'll try and find out more soon.

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The RMS CUP class Porsche No.86, with Frenchman Philippe Salini at the wheel, has a big accident at T17 bringing out the SAFETY CAR. Salini is still in the car being treated by medical staff on the scene.

Hopefully he's okay.

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The race is back underway by the way - no word on the conditions of Salini, but I'd take it as good news that the race has been restarted.

More rain is forecast to hit the track in the next few hours.

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Thanks. I was watching live when Salini hit. It was a big one. His car just aquaplaned right off the circuit at full speed and he hit the wall (no tires at all in that part because it was either before or after the actual corner). The entire front end of the car came off and one of the wheels fell off as well. It hit right in the noseclip and left-side door. There was no indication of the driver's well-being after the accident; not sure what standard procedure is in this series; I know in other series it's taking the wheel off or opening the door or something like that. The marshals/safety team were excruciatingly slow and small in number getting to the vehicle. Hope he's well.

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Phillippe Salini has been taken to Verviers hospital for X-rays and checks following his accident at Blanchimont.

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Wow, sounds nasty, thanks for the information. Spa is one of those circuits where it is still possible to have a very large accident - but that is what makes the challenge unique. Given by that last update his condition isn't life threatening at least, and any injuries he has sustained hopefully he'll be able to make a full recovery from.

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