Corvette Scores Yet Another 1-2 Victory; Cadillac has Difficult 2001
ALMS Debut
SEARS POINT, July 22, 2001 –
Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell continued to demonstrate their winning
combination in the American Le Mans Series GTS class today in the 2-hour,
45-minute “X-Factor Grand Prix of Sonoma”. The Fellows/O'Connell
Corvette C5-R finished 6.7 seconds ahead of Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins
in the second Corvette to complete the 1-2 win. The two cars finished 5th
and 6th overall.
“It
was a super run by Ron to catch and get by the Saleen and give me a lead
when I took over the car,” said
O'Connell in Victory Circle. “I had to build up that lead and it was really hard to do it. We
needed to have about 45 second lead over the second place car because we
had to make a late race pit stop and they didn't.”
With
less than thirty minutes remaining in the race, it became a race between
the two Corvettes. “Kelly and I
both drove out hearts out,” said O'Connell. “I
had the 45-second margin I needed to make the stop and hold the lead but I
had trouble trying to leave the pits and almost lost the lead right
there.”
So
far Johnny O'Connell has had a remarkable year with Corvette Racing. He
joined the team at the Rolex 24 Hour of Daytona where he won overall with
Fellows, Chris Kneifel and Franck Freon. Fellows and O'Connell then took
the GTS-win in the opening race of the American Le Mans Series in Texas in
March and, joined by Scott Pruett, finished first in GTS in the Le Mans 24
Hours last month.
Team
Cadillac had a less successful debut in this year’s American Le Mans
Series. In the first race for the new Atlanta-based team the Cadillac
Northstar LMPs scored only a twelfth place and a DNF.
Cadillac
Northstar LMP #7, driven by Emmanuel Collard crashed during the morning
warm up session. “The tires had no
grip,” he said, “and when I
shifted to fourth I completely lost the rear end and had a big crash.”
The
crew completely rebuilt the rear of the car in less than three hours to
make the start. Co-driver Christophe Tinseau took the start in the
untested car, lapping conservatively yet consistently. However,
intermittent alternator problems meant the battery had to be changed three
times dropping the car to 12th overall at the finish.
Wayne Taylor took over the second Cadillac Northstar LMP from Max Angelelli at lap 36 and was fifth by the one-hour mark. Just 12 laps later, he had to retire after losing a wheel.
THE X-FACTOR GRAND
PRIX OF SONOMA – ALMS Round 3 – Race Results
1.
Capello/ Kristensen
Audi R8 (1st LMP900)
107 laps in 2h46m52s00
2. Pirro/ Biela
Audi R8 (2nd LMP900)
+ 0m06s674
3. Brabham/Magnussen
Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S (3rd LMP900)
+ 1 lap
4. Wallace/Herbert, England
Audi R8
+ 1 lap
5. Fellows/O’Connell
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (1st GTS)
+ 10 laps
6. Collins/ Pilgrim
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (2nd GTS)
+ 10 laps
7. Müller/Lehto, Finland
BMW M3 GTR (1st GT)
+ 11 laps
8. Said/Stuck
BMW M3 GTR (2nd GT)
+ 11 laps
9. Müller/Ekblom
BMW M3 GTR (3rd GT)
+ 11 laps
10. Jonsson/Auberlen
BMW M3 GTR
+ 12 laps
11. Maassen/Luhr
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
+ 12 laps
12. Collard/Tinseau
Cadillac Northstar LMP
+ 12 laps
13. De Radigues/Duno/Graham
Reynard-Judd 01Q-Judd (1st LMP675)
+ 12 laps
14. Mowlem/Bernhard
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
+ 12 laps
15. Field/Sutherland
Lola-Judd B2K-10
+ 12 laps
DNF Taylor/Angelelli
Cadillac Northstar LMP
Lost wheel