by Erik C. Nielsen
Pictures courtesy and copyright Bentley Media
Team Bentley had hoped that the withdrawal of direct factory support for Audi would give the team their best shot at winning le Mans outright in a few months. Everyone seemed to be using the 12 hours of Sebring as an extended shakedown weekend, and the new Bentley boys were in for a surprise.
The privateer Audis of Biela, Werner and Peter, as well as Pirro, Lehto and Johansson were both quicker and took the top spots on the podium, proving once again that the Audi team developed the most competitive package currently available. The Pirro car seemed to be gathering all of the limelight until the only caution period came out, when both bad luck and driver fatigue led to a chess match that had the Champion Team end up second, resulting in another win for Team Joest.
The #8 Bentley of Herbert, Brabham and Blundell captured the last spot. While this may seem like another so close event for Bentley without the outright win, remember that Sebring does not have a nice long straightaway (like Mulsanne) where the refined aerodynamics really become a factor. The #7 Bentley being driven by Kristensen set the fastest lap of the race, demonstrating that the cars do have some get up and go. The key to le Mans will be how many double stints the cars can make, and how lean the engine can
go to conserve fuel and still be competitive. With this result, Bentley should be in good shape.
There were high hopes for the LMP 675 class where, in theory, the lighter prototypes should have had an excellent shot at overall victory. In practice, the cars seemed to be either too fragile or not fully developed. The highpoint of the class was Chris Dyson winning the class for his dad. It was definitely an early father’s day gift.
For Ferrari fans, the Prodrive 550 came in 2nd in the GTS class behind the Vette of O’Connell, Fellows and Freon. The Corvette seemed to run like clockwork while the more expensive Italian vehicles had niggling problems early. Things don’t look too good, in that the Vette run this weekend was a freshened up 2002 model, not the new version that will debut at le Mans. Corvette did announce over the weekend that they will extend the program through 2005 when the C6-R will be introduced. GTS Ferraris will have their work cut out for themselves.
In the GT class, surprise, the GT3-RS Porsche of Luhr and Maassen came in first. Again. Ferrari did not fare any better, here, either. All except the Risi car of Bennett, Franchitti, and McGarrity were out early with problems. The #34 car was running third in class when McGarrity put it in the wall late in the race. He was taken to the hospital with leg pains, but everything indicates that he’ll be alright.
So now that everyone has taken out their toys, the fog is clearing around how le Mans will shape up. Even without factory support, the Audi RS8 package will go down in history as one of the most dominant packages in the sport, and the closed version of the car (the Bentley) has its work cut out for it. The LMP 675’s are going to have problems running for an overall victory, but it could get interesting for who takes the class win. GTS may be dominated by the Corvette, but privateer Ferrari teams are beginning to close the gap. GTS, the class owned by Porsche, will probably stay that way with a Ferrari in the running, but coming up short. Only 4:00 PM local time in a sleepy little village in France on June 15 will tell.
Sebring Top 10
by Erik C. Nielsen