Zytek team beats Audi for pole

[coolhand]

The Zytek team from Europe taught the ALMS regulars a lesson today by snagging pole by over 1.0 sec at Mid-Ohio for this weekend's ALMS race.
Pos Car Driver Best Lap Gap Car Make/Model Team
1 15 Hayanari Shimoda 1:11.333 0.000 Zytek 04S Zytek Engineering
2 16 James Weaver 1:12.431 1.098 Lola EX257 AER Dyson Racing Team
3 1 JJ Lehto 1:12.925 1.592 Audi R8 ADT/Champion Racing
4 2 Emanuele Pirro 1:13.184 1.851 Audi R8 ADT/Champion Racing
5 20 Chris Dyson 1:13.272 1.939 Lola EX257 AER Dyson Racing Team
6 37 Jon Field 1:14.699 3.366 Lola B05/40 AER Telessis Intersport Racing
7 10 Jeff Bucknum 1:16.540 5.207 Courage C-65 AER Miracle Motorsports Inc
8 4 Oliver Gavin 1:18.033 6.700 Chevrolet Corvette C6-R Corvette Racing
9 3 Johnny O`Connell 1:18.131 6.798 Chevrolet Corvette C6-R Corvette Racing
10 8 Guy Cosmo 1:18.321 6.988 Courage C65 Mazda B-K Motorsports
11 35 Fabrizio De Simone 1:18.379 7.046 Maserati MC12 Maserati Corse
12 63 Johnny Mowlem 1:19.055 7.722 Saleen S7R ACEMCO Motorsports LLC
13 5 Ryan Dalziel 1:20.377 9.044 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R Pacific Coast Motorsports
14 71 Michele Rugolo 1:20.566 9.233 Dodge Viper Carsport America
15 23 Timo Bernhard 1:22.663 11.330 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Alex Job Racing
16 31 Patrick Long 1:22.761 11.428 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Petersen Motorsports/White Lig
17 51 Bryan Sellers 1:22.878 11.545 Panoz GTLM Panoz Motor Sports
18 50 Robin Liddell 1:23.316 11.983 Panoz GTLM Panoz Motor Sports
19 24 Randy Pobst 1:23.512 12.179 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Alex Job Racing
20 44 Lonnie Pechnik 1:23.616 12.283 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard Motorsports
21 45 Johannes van Overbeek 1:23.849 12.516 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Flying Lizard Motorsports
22 79 Tim Sugden 1:24.186 12.853 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR J3 Racing
23 30 ? TBA ?.??? ?.??? Lola B2K/40 Judd Telesis Intersport Racing
24 19 ? Gunnar van der Steur ?.??? ?.??? Lola B2K/40 AER van der Steur Racing, Inc.
25 43 ? Tony Burgess ?.??? ?.??? Porsche 911 GT3 RSR BAM!

[pchall]

The Zytek team from Europe taught the ALMS regulars a lesson today by snagging pole by over 1.0 sec at Mid-Ohio for this weekend's ALMS race.
Pos Car Driver Best Lap Gap Car Make/Model Team
1 15 Hayanari Shimoda 1:11.333 0.000 Zytek 04S Zytek Engineering
2 16 James Weaver 1:12.431 1.098 Lola EX257 AER Dyson Racing Team
3 1 JJ Lehto 1:12.925 1.592 Audi R8 ADT/Champion Racing
4 2 Emanuele Pirro 1:13.184 1.851 Audi R8 ADT/Champion Racing
5 20 Chris Dyson 1:13.272 1.939 Lola EX257 AER Dyson Racing Team
6 37 Jon Field 1:14.699 3.366 Lola B05/40 AER Telessis Intersport Racing

Damn. That's almost reason enough to drive up there tomorrow and drink a couple of cold ones for 'bird.

[coolhand]

i wish i could check it out.

i hope the zytec is at Sonoma

I guess the mazarati is not there? i wish the teams would commit for a full season. :shakehead

[FCYTravis]

The Maserati is there. It's just out to lunch. The Corvette C6s are the class of the GT1 field by a huge, huge margin.

The Zytek will not be at Sonoma. Reports I've heard say they plan to be running at Petit Le Mans and the Laguna Seca Four-Hour.

[coolhand]

The Maserati is there. It's just out to lunch. The Corvette C6s are the class of the GT1 field by a huge, huge margin.

The Zytek will not be at Sonoma. Reports I've heard say they plan to be running at Petit Le Mans and the Laguna Seca Four-Hour.

for someone not familiar with sports cars. How does ALMS rank among other similar series around the world? competitionwise.

[FCYTravis]

Well, in the FIA GT you've got sort of the opposite problem - the unrestricted Maserati is the class of the field there. Of course, there's no factory Corvettes in Europe either.

LMES doesn't have the same field-filling problems - because, of course, Europe is the home of ACO-rules racing, so there's plenty of constructors and the Audis have been fairly heavily restricted so other teams have a decent shot at winning. Plus, sports car racing is just a lot more popular there to begin with, and their season is shorter (just five races + Le Mans) so costs are a lot less.

The ALMS was really helped for a few years by the fact that there *was no* European series dedicated to ACO-spec cars - the FIA SRS was a joke on par with 2003 Grand Am. So a lot of European teams came over to run their cars here full-time.

Now that the LMES is going strong, all those European teams don't need to bother spending all the money to come over here except to cherry-pick the endurance races. The rest of the season, they're busy running LMES and they could care less about our races.

This is why, as I keep pointing out, tying American sports car racing to a ruleset developed by a French organization that's obsessed with one race a year (ACO = USAC) is stupid beyond words.

[extramundane]

The Maserati is there. It's just out to lunch. The Corvette C6s are the class of the GT1 field by a huge, huge margin.

8 4 Oliver Gavin 1:18.033 6.700 Chevrolet Corvette C6-R Corvette Racing
9 3 Johnny O`Connell 1:18.131 6.798 Chevrolet Corvette C6-R Corvette Racing
11 35 Fabrizio De Simone 1:18.379 7.046 Maserati MC12 Maserati Corse

Obviously your definitions of "out to lunch" and "huge, huge margin" differ from mine.

[FCYTravis]

Qualifying != race results.

Get back to me when Maserati finishes on the same lap with the GT1 winner.

[coolhand]

Well, in the FIA GT you've got sort of the opposite problem - the unrestricted Maserati is the class of the field there. Of course, there's no factory Corvettes in Europe either.

LMES doesn't have the same field-filling problems - because, of course, Europe is the home of ACO-rules racing, so there's plenty of constructors and the Audis have been fairly heavily restricted so other teams have a decent shot at winning. Plus, sports car racing is just a lot more popular there to begin with, and their season is shorter (just five races + Le Mans) so costs are a lot less.

The ALMS was really helped for a few years by the fact that there *was no* European series dedicated to ACO-spec cars - the FIA SRS was a joke on par with 2003 Grand Am. So a lot of European teams came over to run their cars here full-time.

Now that the LMES is going strong, all those European teams don't need to bother spending all the money to come over here except to cherry-pick the endurance races. The rest of the season, they're busy running LMES and they could care less about our races.

This is why, as I keep pointing out, tying American sports car racing to a ruleset developed by a French organization that's obsessed with one race a year (ACO = USAC) is stupid beyond words.


So LMES has 5 races + le Mans and its a strong series that runs GT1 and P1 type cars. same rules as ALMS. Now that LMES strong we dont see euro teams over hear racing anymore except Sebring and Petit Le Mans.

[FCYTravis]

Exactly. They have no reason to, when they have a series closer to home that's cheaper to run. It's a pity... I remember seeing all the European-style trailers in ALMS paddocks... Taurus, Prodrive... :/

[coolhand]

Exactly. They have no reason to, when they have a series closer to home that's cheaper to run. It's a pity... I remember seeing all the European-style trailers in ALMS paddocks... Taurus, Prodrive... :/

prodrive is a great organization. I wish we could see the Aston Martin run all season with the Vette. but i guess we will wait to see them at Le Mans.

I wish their was competition here for the Audi's. Happy to see Zytek here.

[extramundane]

Qualifying != race results.

Get back to me when Maserati finishes on the same lap with the GT1 winner.

Probably about the same time a DP race is won by someone other than a Factory Crawford or Riley.

[FCYTravis]

Hmm, that would have been... Oh, right, Laguna Seca.

Chip Ganassi isn't a factory Riley. Lexus, maybe, but he ain't a factory Riley ;)

BTW, why do you irrelevantly bring up Grand Am in a thread about the ALMS?

[extramundane]

Hmm, that would have been... Oh, right, Laguna Seca.

Chip Ganassi isn't a factory Riley. Lexus, maybe, but he ain't a factory Riley ;)

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. And Chip Ganassi isn't a fat bastard, either.


BTW, why do you irrelevantly bring up Grand Am in a thread about the ALMS?

Why did you irrelevantly slam the ACO in a thread Mid-Ohio qualifying?

[FCYTravis]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Thanks, I am right. There is *no* factory connection between Ganassi and Riley. He's a de-facto factory Lexus team, but the factory Riley team is... hi... the team Bill Riley *owns* - SunTrust Racing.


Why did you irrelevantly slam the ACO in a thread Mid-Ohio qualifying?
What was irrelevant about it? Someone asked how the ALMS compares to other series, and I answered the question, adding a comment as to *why* I believe it compares that way. Feel free to disagree with me, please, but let's not turn this thread into Yet Another Grand Am Flame War. If you want to start a thread on Grand Am, do it. Let's not pollute the ALMS thread.

[coolhand]

you guys are arguming over Grand Am "factory teams". like that means anything.there is like zero development on those things. :rofl: