Although its labor day weekend, motorsports is well ‘N alive with it’s return to the Belle Isle sircuit.where the Indy Cars and American Le Mans Series are racing this weekend. This marks the return to racing in Detroit after a six year absence. And since I CAN’T watch the Champ Cars this weekend, I’ve decided to watch the ALMS event instead…
Although it seems to be a pretty boring race, the ALMS always intrigues me since there are four separate classes competing at once. With the lighter LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder’s once again dominating the once all conquering Audi’s.
And I’m writing this as there’s a lengthy yellow flag period to clean the track after a very scary incident when the Flying Lizards Porsche 911 caught fire. And I mean Oh Boy did it ever catch fire! As the car simply burst into flames… Which the SPEED announcers are saying the same has happened for any chance of their taking the championship as they were currently trailing the leading duo of Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GT’s.
And Ryan Briscoe managed to get punted upon trying to run over Mika Salo, with Briscoe being black flagged for his advantageous passing maneuver… And now his teammate has just lost his rear wing after contact with “Stevie Johnson,” A.K.A. Stefan Johansson.
And did I say boring? As Emanuele Pirro has just forced his way to the front in the Audi R10 Diesel after the long yellow flag session and looks set to snap Roger Penske’s Porsche seven race winning streak.
Does this indicate what the Indy Car race will be like tomorrow? As Helio Castroneves has just set the record for most poles in a season at seven, with Franchitti lining up second, Dixon third and Kanaan fourth. While Ryan Hunter Reay starts fifth…
Yet with only 4 ½ minutes left to go, Romain Dumas made an excellent pass on Pirro to give Porsche its eighth consecutive overall victory, as the Audi drought continues. The victory also gave Porsche the LMP2 Manufacturer’s title with two races remaining.
Meanwhile Mika Salo and Jamie Mello led wire to wire to capture their seventh victory of the season in GT2, while extending their championship points lead.
But the spotlight was on the overall winners, as the victory was fitting for the man who’d made the event happen. As Roger Penske worked tirelessly to bring racing back to Detroit, his cars captured pole, swept the front row of the grid and won the race. Is this an omen of things to happen in the Indy Car event?
