Vol 1 Issue 2

With Aston-Martin’s long awaited entry to challenge the brand new C6R Corvettes and the still competitive, magnificent, English-built Prodrive 550 Maranellos came the late acceptance of the highly controversial Maserati MC12, a radical mid-engined coupe that skirted the rules with an overly wide chassis that couldn’t be revised in time for the entry and the beautifully prepared privateer ACEMCO Saleen S7R of American team owner Jeff Giangrande.

In truth the Maserati team wasn’t trying to cheat. They were just caught in the bureaucratic cross-fire between the rival FIA sanctioning officials and the ACO/ALMS Sebring organizers, who needed new blood in their American series. Over a year ago the Paris based FIA had prevailed upon Ferrari to build a works entry Maserati, hoping to use the power of the Ferrari name and the MC12’s Enzo chassis, to provide credibility for an FIA series that would undercut the growing momentum of the ACO’s new, better accepted, European Le Mans Series. Then, at the last moment, seeing that entries were not materializing as expected, the FIA decided to make nice with their Le Mans based rivals, the ACO, who have long held the true power in international endurance racing. Part of the agreement was the amalgamation of rules so that entries in either series could participate in both. The FIA’s earlier rules had permitted the wider-chassis MC12 (cleverly designed to lock-in Maserati’s entries in the ELMS) but when the rules were changed at the last moment the Maseratis were already completed and there was no place for them to run! The American officials took a pragmatic approach, accepting the car for Sebring, based on the condition that it would be technically penalized for the dimensional infraction by adding weight, additional intake restriction and RPM limitations to ensure that it didn’t have a performance advantage over the other GT1 cars in the race. All of the Maserati competititors were polled prior to acceptance and all evidently agreed to its inclusion, realizing that having the famed Italian marque in the race would be to the overall good of the series. Ironically, the ACO in France then issued a bulletin stating they still considered the car illegal and ineligible for competition at Le Mans, if by chance it won at Sebring! This in turn sparked a last minute protest by Aston Martin at Sebring requesting the car be barred from the race on the ACO’s decree. It all turned out to be a tempest in a teapot, as the car was permitted to run and performed reasonably well considering the imposed restrictions.

The new C6R Corvettes were the class of the GT1 field, clearly controlling the race until midway when a failed brake rotor on the leading ‘Vette of Johnny O’Connell took the car out of serious contention allowing one of the pursuing Aston Martin DBR9s to assume the lead. Then the second Corvette had an on-track confrontation with one of the Audis, which bent the C6R’s rear suspension, dropping it back. The crack Pratt and Miller crew, which built the Corvettes for GM and runs them in competition, was able to recover sufficiently to put them back into second and third in class by the flag, but the Aston’s win, by a single lap, was a huge boost in prestige for the English marque and they’ll be formidable competitors at Le Mans. The ACEMCO Saleen had been in contention for a podium position until the final hour of the race when a leaking oil cooler fitting forced their withdrawal. It was the first time the Saleen had run such a distance at such a competitive pace and their new found speed (due largely to their fitment of Michelin rubber) will make them serious competitors for the rest of the ALMS season.