Sounding like the proverbial Broken Record... It’s totally amazing to Mwah that its already time for the yearly running of the legendary Sports Car race, which to me always signals that half of the year has already slipped by; SHEISA! Not to mention that very shortly we here in the Northern Hemisphere will quickly have that dreaded day called Summer Solstice – which means Daylight will henceforth begin receding... Which I don’t know ‘bout Y’all; BUTT! Seeing how Seattle has just had its first two days of SUNNY, WARM weather last weekend, (6/4-5) when we finally broke the 70deg-f temperature barrier for the first time since September, 2010 – a scant 9-months prier; Oh Never Mind, eh? As its pretty DAMN funny that I still DON’T know who won this year’s 12hrs of Sebring...
Thus it seems kinda funny that the ‘Kuhnadiun Grand Prix will be occurring the same weekend, as I haven’t checked le Telescreen guide yet to see what’ll be what? Timewise that is; OH SHIT! This’ll be the first of the summer’s four BASTARDIZED FOX F1 broadcasts; SHEISA! Not to mention those riveting Twin 275k Ovaltrack IndyCar races in ‘lil Texas Saturday night; which I guess is why “Marky-Marc” (Marco Andretti) has been replaced in the No. 12 LMP1 Rebellion Lola/Toyota by Jerome Blekamolen, alongside last year’s teammates Neil Jani and Nicolas Prost; but I digress...
And the usual “Heavy Hitters” once again are back; this time with Audi running three of its newest R18 TDi variants vs. Peugeot’s dominating 908 turbocharged diesels, as Peugeot’s formidable ex-Formula 1 laden driver line-up’s return, with the nine “French Lions” drivers remaining the same as last year’s runners. Plus for insurance, Oreca will once again campaign a “Privateer” 908 with ex-Formula 1 ace Oliver Panis as part of the lineup.
And I’m somewhat disappointed by my ‘Ol standby Planet Lemans Spotters guide this year, which used to feature a tiny thumbnail pic of each entries chassis... Although it appears this has been rectified for Mwah by SPEED’s Le Man correspondent John Davies who’s doing a Car-by-Car preview which you can peruse here:
NOTES
Thus, I wont try covering all of this year’s entrants, especially since Messer Davies has already done all of the heavy liftin’ in his class previews. (See above) Yet I’ll toss out a few tidbits, as I was totally unaware that once again the GT category structure has been revised – which makes sense, since the deletion of my favourite category GT1, as the bigger cars apparently fell outta favour? At least with the Manufacturer’s, eh? Thus there’s now just GTE, with the ‘E standing for Evolouzione... With the class broken into Pro and Am divisions, i.e.; Pro = Professional and Am = Amateur.
And while I’m personally hoping that the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia chauffeured by ‘FishyFella, a.k.a. Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander – I’m MOST interested to see how their stable-mate’ Mikey “Aw Shucks” Waltrip does aboard his No. 71 Ferrari. DAMN! The life ‘O a RASSCAR Team Owner & SPEED Talking Head, eh? Just hope he remembers ‘Thar AIN’T NO Lucky Dog over there; Hya! Waltrip will co-drive with Rui Aguas and Robert Kauffman...
Once again Vanina Ickx is behind the wheel of a potent LMP1 Prototype, driving for Kronos Racing in the No. 22 Lola-Aston Martin.
Adrian Fernandez returns again with his crowd pleasing Aston Martin V-12 powered LMP1 Prototype with the Aston Martin “Works” team, this time part of a two-car lineup. Fernandez will pilot the No. 009 AMR1 alongside Andy Meyrick and Harold Primat. While the No. 007 sister car features Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Christian Klien. Although I‘d guess they’ll be hard pressed to beat the Audi’s and Peugeot’s...
Y’all can check it out on SPEED, who’ll be devoting major chunks ‘O time Saturday/Sunday – beginning at 5:30AM PACIFIC...