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Krohn Racing celebrates winning the Pole for the 63rd annual Sebring
12 Hours race. (Image
source: planetlemans.com)
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Yeah, know Y'all are probably lookin' for some hard hittin' IndyCar recap here after St
Pete, but, Y'all know how I roll here in Nofendersville; Chirp-Chirp, Bueller?
As I wanted to give a Shout Out to the various drivers who should be in Indy
Cars, along with a few interlopers...
Memory lane
As I scribbled briefly in my comments towards
the pathetic lack 'O celestial TV coverage here in the Pacific Northwest, the
Sebring 12hrs endurance race is ten years older than its more esteemed rival DayToner,
who's only hosted the epic Rolex 24 a scant 53-times.
As Sebring began life in 1941 as Hendricks Army Airfield thru
the end of WWII as a US Army Air Forces (USAAF) training base for B-17 and B-24
Heavy Bombers.
Thus, suppose when listening to JB' (Justin
Bell) drone on 'bout Sebring's legendous' bumps, along with mentioning how much
Bob Varsha knew about the track's history. And as Varsha further mused how
interesting it was to puruse the record books for various winners and related
stories, my mind immediately flashed back to Ken Miles last major victory in
the (open-top) Ford GT40 X1 Roadster.
As suppose this was somewhat spurred on by
the news that Scotty Sharp's Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) had dusted off
their old open cockpit Honda ARX03b's for the event, which Ryan
"Razzle-Dazzle" Dalziel
had surprisingly put on the front row alongside Tracy
Krohn's pole winning P2 Ligier-Judd with Olivier Pla at the controls.
63rd Annual Mobil 1 Sebring 12 Hours
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Awoke 5mins prior to the disappointingly
short Fox Sports-1 (FS1) 2hr TV broadcast which began at 7:30AM here on the
"Left" (West) Coast, with lead
announcer extraordinaire Bob Varsha at the helm, flanked by Calvin Fish and
Justin Bell, with the green flag flying at 7:41AM, which seems like an odd time
to Mwah. Whilst hearing Justin in the booth made me think of my last proper
interview...
As my hurriedly scrawled notes mention the
various Open Wheel Racing Drivers getting Shout Outs, in no particular order:
"Plowie," nee Martin Plowman was scrapping for the lead in PC
(Prototype Challenge) vs. the class's champion Colin Braun.
Conor Daly, also contesting the PC class got
multiple mentions, whilst I was most pleased by Varsha's comments, musing how
Conor deserves to be in a premiere racing series as this Kid's got the Chops!
Hear-Hear Bob!
As I've already lamented how nice it'd be
seeing the younger Daly in IndyCar, say I dunno, as "Francesco
Floppah's" (Dracone)
replacement at Dale Coyne Racing later this year...
Another talented driver named James Davidson
was mentioned, as it appears the "Aussie has settled for a Sports Car
career? As he was the chauffer of the #007 TRG AMR (The Racers Group Aston
Martin Racing) Vantage V-12 GT3, with his run of five consecutive GTD class
Pole positions being snapped at Sebring.
Mario
Farnbacher, brother of noted Porsche 911 racer Dominik, got noticed
for his prolific 'Dicking for the lead in GTD, (GT Daytona) behind the
wheel of my Hometown Team Seattle/Alex
Job Racing's (AJR) longtime No. 23 Porsche 911, as AJR has a penchant for
winning Sebring, having sprayed the champagne a very impressive nine times at
the 'Ol lady, nee Sebring.
While the #98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE, with
ex-Formula 1 driver Pedro Lamy as one of its chauffer's got mentioned, before
Lamy handed off to Paul
Dalla Lana, who was the unlucky recipient of a rear
wheel not being fastened properly, which brought out the races first
full-course caution. As the number 98 is pretty important in Shelby lore...
Pretty sure it was Pit Reporter Brian Till(?)
saying he'd talked to Justin B-I-G' UNIT Wilson who said: If Oz' (Oswaldo Negri)
sez' its loose, then there's NO way the rest of us can drive I-T! As both the
No. 60 and No. 01 with Joey Hand at the controls changed noses during said
(first) caution period at end of hour-one.
Yet the day just got worse 'N worse for the
Michael Shank Racing team and its #60
Ligier JSP2 Honda racecar, as Negri made a second trip to the Pits to have
another nose attached before we left the FS1 broadcast under our second
full-course yellow after Negri pirouetted into the wall, causing heavy damage to the car as team-mates Justin
Wilson and John Pew had yet to even take a single stint behind the wheel!
Live Streaming...
Cannot say how happy something simple like
being able to listen "N watch the race live via imsa.comhttp://www.imsa.com/
was
for Mwah! With the added bonus of hearing one of my favourite voices, Greg
Kramer at the mike, with the always enjoyable energized voice of John Hindhaugh as
Sidekick and Colour Commentator.
As Hindhaugh had fun interacting with thee
"Scottish Terrier," aka Alan McNish who was making a cameo
appearance. As McNish was his usual comedic self. As all of this took place
with some 7.5hrs remaining.
As still cannot say how excited I was 'bout
planning to listen to the races final
few hours via Zed Internetz, after first marveling over how simple it
worked around the 3hr mark! (11:40AM Pacific)
Having learned via the live stream, that
reportedly ESM will switch over to Ligier chassis for their Le Mans assault
this year after apparently having troubles with their new for 2015 Honda ARX04b
closed coupe chassis...
And apparently la Scuderia's, nee Ferrari 458
Italia is on its last legs, as they mentioned
a new 488GT will replace it soon.
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| The No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 qualifies second in the GT Daytona class for this year's Sebring 12 Hours race. (Image source: planetlemans.com) |
PNot to mention hearing John Hindhaugh
muse how the two AJR Boyz should really not try running side-by-side a whole
lap 'round Sebring! Pondering how that conversation would go over coffee if
they took each other out? As the two Alex Job Racing entries No's 22 & 23
were joined in a massive scrum for the class lead with the always competitive
Andy Lally aboard his Magnus
Racing #45 Porsche 911.
At the 3hrs 45mins (remaining) mark, Greg
Kramer interviewed GTD class leader James Davidson, who commented he'd been out
of the car for five hours before his stint, but everything was looking good,
then later on Greg interviewed Davidson's co-driver Christina Nielsen, who said
she didn't want to jinx anything, but
they deserved to win and she just hoped to podium.
And whilst Greg was Double-Dipping, doing a
Yeoman's job by working both the commentary booth and Pitlane, two unfamiliar
but enjoyable voices playfully supported lead announcer John Hindhaugh;
having never heard of either Shane Adam or Jim Roller (speeling?) before. As
these two, along with Jeremy Shaw also did double duty a la Greg Kramer's dual
roles...
As Kramer got help from an unexpected source,
as "MAD MAX" (Papis) co-driving the No. 5's 'Seester car, the No. 31
Action Express Corvette DP poured ice down Kramer's back as he was interviewing
a very hot 'N tired 'Hamburgular!
As Kudos to imsa.com's
wonderfully simple "One-step Watch Now" clip of the mouse enabling Mwah to gorge
thyself for some four-plus hours of live racing coverage! Having watched; Err
listened to more than half of the race...
Others
Funny hearing them described as the IndyCar
boyz, referring to Corvette Racing's tandem of Ryan Briscoe in the No. 3 and
Simon Pagenaud in the No. 4 respectively. While le 'Hamburgular, who's Day Job
is piloting the #11 KVSH Racing IndyCar, nee SeaBass (Sebastain Bourdais) was
once again co-driving the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP.
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Jeroen Bleekemolen suffered
the ecstasy of speed aboard the #33 Dodge Viper GT3R at Sebring. (Image source:
photos.prnewswire.com)
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Race of The Race!
OH
SHIT! I'm
rootin' against my Homeboyz, after wanting
James Davidson's "Double-oh-Seven" Aston Martin (#007) to win
the GTD class, before he fell down the leader board to fourth, as the driver
Shane Adam would later describe as "Super Mario," aka Mario Farnbacher,
had pulled the No. 23 Team Seattle/AJR Porsche back to the front after they'd
suffered a tyre puncture that apparently deranged the 911's tail-quarters; Aye
Karumba!
Meanwhile the Bob Riley designed Riley
Motorsports eight-liter V-10 Dodge Viper GT3R's ran P2-3 in class, before Jeroen Bleekemolen
driving the #33 Viper ran down the #23, passing for the lead with just nine
minutes remaining as Farnbacher
simply ran wide at Turn-10 under the unrelenting pressure of Bleekemolen!
Then unbelievably, with just five minutes remaining, Bleekemolen
came into the Pits and exited the smoking Viper, as John Hindhaugh commiserated over
how inconsolable Jerome was, sitting on the Pit Wall completely shell-shocked!
But as Hindhaugh said: DON'T write your headlines yet,
as with just under two minutes
remaining, some scant 90-seconds plus left, the sister #93 Dodge Viper
piloted by Mark Goosens drove thru Pitlane, losing third place...
As can Y'all believe this epic race finish
was NOWHERE to be seen on readily accessible cable TV! Can you hear me comca$t! Why the FUCK Don't we have Fox Sports-2 in Seattle?
As it was a "Win-Win" Day for Mwah,
as Team Seattle was victorious in GTD, netting Alex Job his tenth Sebring class
win in 26yrs with TRG AMR's #007 finishing second, and unexpectedly the #63
Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia with Townsend Bell & Co rounding out the
podium thanks to the Viper's last minutes demise... As hopefully the Vipers can
seek their revenge with a class win at this year's upcoming 24 Heurs du Mans!
Hail Corvette...
The #5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP of
Christian Fittipaldi, João
Barbosa and Sebastain Bourdais took a commanding
1-lap victory over the entire field, while Scott Dixon driving the Chip Ganassi
Ford Eco-boost DP lost third place with just 8mins remaining, as NO idea of
whether his uncharacteristic stall on Pitlane during the final Pit-stop played
any part in this?
And with less than one hour left, everythingy
went Pear-shaped for Porsche North America's two leading 911 Panzerwagons... As first the #912
suffered a humiliating stripped rear lug nut issue, before the class leading
#911 ran into shift linkage issues, giving the lead to the No. 3 Corvette of
MAGS', (Jan Magnussen) Antonio Garcia and Ryan Briscoe, with the Corvette trio
scoring their second consecutive endurance victory this season after winning at
Daytona. Not bad for Briscoe, eh! As
surely Corvette leads its class in the North American Endurance Cup, right?
The 'Seester No. 4 crashed out due to the
proverbial 25-cent part breakage according to Greg Kramer, when a brake return
spring broke a second time with "Ollie" (Gavin) at the controls.
As much fanfare was made over the fact to
remember the fives, as it was only the
second time ever in history for a Chevrolet engine to win Overall, the first
being exactly 50-years ago with Jim Hall's Chaparral...
As although an Oldsmobile (Aurora?) engine Riley &
Scott MkIII chassis won the event with Wayne Taylor, Scott Sharp and Jim Pace
at the controls in 1996; the hoopla over the fifty years win drought is in
honour of a Chevrolet engine in name on the "Valve Covers" winning
Overall at Sebring...