CHAMPIONS CORVETTE FIRST AND SECOND IN CLASS; NEW CADILLAC NORTHSTAR LMP 7th AND 8th OVERALL
SEBRING, March 14, 2002 – Reigning ALMS GTS Champions, Corvette Racing, qualified their cars first and second in class for Saturday's 50th running of the Sebring 12 Hours. Such was the dominance of America's legendary sportscar that both the Millennium Yellow Corvette C5-Rs topped the timesheets of every single practice sessions, thus putting the team in the best possible position to finally win America's oldest sportscar race. Cadillac's brand-new Northstar LMP 02 showed lots of promise throughout the whole week on the Old Hendricks Airfield, regularly setting times in the top three.
"The track was pretty slick today," said GTS pole sitter Ron Fellows. "One of the things we have worked on all winter is not just to get faster but to get more durable. That lap was faster than we were last year and I think that shows how much work we have done and how much progress we've made on the car. We've concentrated on long runs and set up for the race."
With temperatures reaching 30°C on Thursday, and even hotter weather expected for Saturday, driver's comfort could become a key factor in the 12-hour long race. "It is going to be hot and very uncomfortable in the car," Fellows said. "Just imagine, you are sitting in this very heavy, non-breathable suit with a huge seven-liter engine in front of you producing six hundred or more horsepower… Anytime you are in a closed car, and I've been in a lot of them including Winston Cup cars, you are going to be uncomfortable. The guys have worked real hard to insulate around us and it would be unbearable for us without their efforts."
"To prepare for these conditions, you have to do a lot of cardio work. Breathing hot air is very uncomfortable and I use a steam bath for extended periods to get acclimated to breathing. If it is too hot on Saturday, we will only do single stints to get a chance to recover and not get too dehydrated. But no matter how hot it gets here at Sebring, it can't come close to Texas in 2000. I don't think I've been right sign that race. But it's fun, in some weird way!"
Over at Team Cadillac qualifying didn't quite go as well as expected, but the fast times set in the four other practice sessions showed that the qualifying times were the exception rather than the rule. Team and drivers are still learning about the new car; something that could be expected as the Cadillac Northstar LMP 02 is the only all-new car of the 27-car strong LMP field. But the drivers are very much looking forward to bank on the Cadillac's renowned reliability for Saturday's race.
"The Northstar engine is very impressive," said Eric Bernard. "It was very good last year and it has been improved a lot more for this year. This new engine is running better. It seems to run "freer" and revs very quickly. We have had no problems since the beginning and it is working very well. We just need to work on the car-engine combination and keep improving."
"It was very hot this afternoon and the track is very bumpy so we need a lot of downforce. When the weather was cooler we generated more downforce, but the heat caused us some problems. As the temperature went up it seemed that the downforce went down. But the car has progressed a lot since the beginning of the week and we just need to continue to work and learn about the car. Qualifying is one thing but a 12-hour race is something different"
The race starts at 10.30am EST (16.30 CET) on Saturday. 56 cars qualified but 60 are expected to be allowed to start.
The 50th Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring – 2002 ALMS, Round 1 – Qualifying results
| 1. Biela/Kristensen/Pirro | Audi R8 | 1m48s029 | | 2. Capello/Herbert/Pescatori | Audi R8 | 1m48s744 | | 3. Kane/Knight/Hawkins | MG Lola EX257 (1st LMP675) | 1m50s543 | | 4. Magnussen/Brabham/Van de Poele | Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S | 1m50s617 | | 5. Wallace/Lammers/Johansson | Audi R8 | 1m50s797 | | 6. Herta/Donohue/Auberlen | Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S | 1m51s076 | | 7. Bernard/Collard/Lehto | Cadillac Northstar LMP 02 | 1m51s160 | | 8. Angelelli/Taylor/Tinseau | Cadillac Northstar LMP 02 | 1m51s434 | | 9. Goossens/Smith/Mathews | R&S-Elan Mk.IIIC | 1m51s834 | | 10. Theys/Baldi/Lienhard | 1m52s186 | | 15. Field/Dayton/Durand | MG Lola EX257 (2nd LMP675) | 1m55s900 | | 19. Deletraz/Pillon/Smithson | Reynard-VW 2KQ-LM (3rd LMP675) | 1m58s080 | | 21. Fellows/O'Connell/Gavin | Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (1st GTS) | 1m59s699 | | 22. Pilgrim/Collins/Freon | Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (2nd GTS) | 1m59s940 | | 24. Hezemans/Kumpen/Cappellari | Chrysler Viper GTS-R (3rd GTS) | 2m01s476 | | 33. Luhr/Maassen | Porsche 911 GT3-RS (1st GT) | 2m07s460 | | 35. Dumas/Amorim/Fertl | Porsche 911 GT3-RS (2nd GT) | 2m07s746 | | 36. Bernhard/Bergmeister/Lieb | Porsche 911 GT3-RS (3rd GT) | 2m07s786 |
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