2009 Monterey Sports Car Championships (10.11.2009)
The Patron Highcroft Acura ARX-02a (9) Only Needed To Show Up In Order To Claim the ALMS Crown.
The American Le Mans Series finale at the beautiful Laguna Seca race facility (our hometown road course and sentimental favorite) salvaged an otherwise mediocre season with plenty of excitement and future promise for sportscar racing.
The Patron Highcroft Acura ARX-02a entry (9, Scott Sharp-David Brabham), the ALMS points leader due to malchance falling upon its rival de Ferran Motorsports Acura complement at Petit Le Mans (66, Gil de Ferran-Simon Pagenaud), only needed to complete seventy percent of the race in order to claim the crown and did so in perfunctory order. The championship would have been settled at Laguna Seca but for a dustup between the 66 de Ferran and competitor Jon Field at Petit which left the former crippled and unable to take the fight to Patron Highcroft.
The de Ferran Motorsports 66 Acura Dons the Venerable Jim Hill Livery for Laguna Seca.
Despite losing out on the ALMS title, de Ferran Motorsports still utilizes the opportunity to honor the racing retirement of its principal Gil de Ferran and legendary sportscar constructor Jim Hill by donning its chassis with the ever memorable and historic white ‘66′ livery sported by Hill’s notable Chaparral cars.
The de Ferran Acura Faces Unexpectedly Stiff Opposition From Its P2 Fernandez cousin.
During actual racing, the de Ferran entry enjoys easy running at the front for over an hour, given the conservative start-and-jog posture executed by putative series’ champion Patron Highcroft, yet with an hour remaining on the clock, the P2 Lowe’s Fernandez entry (15 Fernandez Acura ARX-01b Adrian Fernandez-Luis Diaz) unexpectedly enters the frame. Running with better fuel economy and a superior Laguna Seca setup, Fernandez swiftly closes in on the purportedly superior de Ferran P1 entry and runs nose-tail with the overall leader for the remaining minutes. As darkness and the Pacific marine fog drifts over Laguna Seca, dFM driver Gil de Ferran immediately adopts a defensive posture for the closeout by perilously blocking Fernandez at every corner, and ultimately ekes out an overall victory that renders the retiring driver to tears afterwards.
Despite the thrilling overall race battle, the major headlines involve the fierce GT2 donnybrook between Flying Lizard (45 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, Jorg Bergmeister-Patrick Long) and Corvette Racing (3 Chevrolet Corvette C6R, Jan Magnussen-Johnny O’Connell). In the closing minutes, the Porsche and the Corvette run nose-tail for several circuits with the 911 in obvious blocking mode (Bergmeiseter) until the Corvette (Magnussen) finally executes a pass by swerving left onto the pit exit lane to accomplish the same. Race Control rules Magnussen’s pass illegal and orders him to surrender the position back to the Porsche, and all race observers tuck in closer to the action, fully aware of a probable last lap confrontation between the two aggressive drivers. Neither disappoint as both cars exchange paint in a couple of curves on the final lap, yet the final curve (Turn 11) proves out as the evening capper. On the curve approach, the Corvette (Magnussen) clearly bumps the Porsche (Bergmeister) out of shape before diving for an inside line along the main straight for the finish. Bergmeister, once rough handled by Magnussen on the final curve at Sebring back in 2007, after collecting his car, refuses to back down and angles his final sprint left in order to pinch the Corvette against the inside wall. Road rage finally prevails as the cars eventually touch, and the Porsche’s planted nose in the Corvette’s right rear quarter panel spins the latter across the track and hard into the outer wall just meters before the finish. Anger prevails in the paddock as Bergmeister argues self defense after the rough handling by the Corvette at Turn 11, while Magnussen contends that the bump was unavoidable contact and that he was already past the 911 when Bergmeister intentionally turned him into the outside wall. IMSA places both drivers on probation for the early 2010 season as sportscar enthusiasts chuckle to themselves over the greatest level of excitement the ALMS has offered up all season.
