BIELA'S AUDI LEADS OPENING PRACTICE DAY AT MOSPORT
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (August 17, 2001) -- Frank Biela,
holder of the record for the fastest lap ever turned at Mosport
International Raceway, showed that he had not forgotten the fast way around
the Canadian racing circuit Friday as he led the first day of practice for
Sunday's American Le Mans Series GT3 Grand Prix at Mosport.
The German drove an Audi R8 Prototype around the 2.459-mile, 10-turn
circuit in 1:09.404 (127.549 mph), the fastest of 26 cars that practiced on
Friday. Though Biela and driving partner Emanuele Pirro are winless in four
ALMS races this season, they won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
The Panoz LMP1-R of David Brabham and Jan Magnussen, winner of the
most recent ALMS race two weeks ago at Portland, Ore., was second-fastest on
Friday at 126.311, followed by the Audi R8 of Johnny Herbert and Andy
Wallace at 125.889.
The Reynard 01Q-Judd of Didier de Radigues and Bruno Lambert was the
fastest car in the LMP 675 class at 118.432 (1:14.747), which was the
ninth-fastest speed overall.
Hometown hero Ron Fellows, who lives in a suburb of nearby Toronto,
led the cars in the GTS class with a lap of 114.714 (1:17.169) in a
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R that he will share with Johnny O'Connell. Fellows
and O'Connell have won the GTS class in three of the four ALMS races this
season.
Leading the tight GT class was the BMW M3 GTR driven by Dirk Muller
and Fredrik Ekblom, which turned a lap of 111.085. The top six cars in the
class, including four BMWs and two Porsches, were separated by less than a
second.
The worst incident of the practice day was a crash by Johnny Mowlem
in a Porsche in turn three. The car slid off the track and struck a barrier,
suffering major front-end damage. Mowlem was not injured.
The Prototypes driven by Magnussen and Wallace also had problems
during the day, with Magnussen spinning in turn 10 and Wallace sliding off
the track in the same spot. Neither car was damaged.
FRIDAY'S PRACTICE SPEEDS (TIMES):
1. (2) Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro, Audi R8,
127.549 mph (1:09.404).
2. (50) Jan Magnussen/David Brabham, Panoz LMP1-R,
126.311 (1:10.084).
3. (38) Johnny Herbert/Andy Wallace, Audi R8,
125.889 (1:10.319).
4. (8) Wayne Taylor/Max Angelelli, Cadillac LMP 01,
125.594 (1:10.484).
5. (1) Rinaldo Capello/Tom Kristensen, Audi R8,
125.504 (1:10.535).
6. (16) James Weaver/Butch Leitzinger, Riley & Scott MKIIIC-Lincoln,
124.727 (1:10.974).
7. (51) Klaus Graf/Franck Lagorce, Panoz LMP1-R,
124.358 (1:11.185)
8. (7) Emmanuel Collard/Christophe Tinseau, Cadillac LMP 01,
123.495 (1:11.682).
9. (5) Bruno Lambert/Didier de Radigues, Reynard 01Q-Judd,
118.432 (1:14.747).
10. (3) Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R,
114.714 (1:17.169).
11. (4) Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R,
113.654 (1:17.889).
12. (11) Steven Knight/Claudia Huertgen, Lola B2K-Nissan,
113.359 (1:18.092).
13. (26) Franz Konrad/Terry Borcheller, Saleen S7R,
112.952 (1:18.373).
14. (57) John Graham/Milka Duno, Reynard 01Q-Judd,
111.410 (1:19.458).
15. (43) Fredrik Ekblom/Dirk Muller, BMW M3 GTR,
111.085 (1:19.690).
16. (23) Lucas Luhr/Sascha Maassen, Porsche 911 GT3 RS,
110.708 (1:19.962).
17. (42) JJ Lehto/Jorg Muller, BMW M3 GTR,
110.649 (1:20.003).
18. (10) Bill Auberlen/Niclas Jonsson, BMW M3 GTR,
110.441 (1:20.157).
19. (6) Hans Stuck/Boris Said, BMW M3 GTR,
109.972 (1.20.497).
20. (22) Randy Pobst/Christian Menzel, Porsche 911 GT3 RS,
109.955 (1:20.508).
21. (45) David Donohue/Shane Lewis, Dodge Viper GTS-R,
109.482 (1:20.856).
22. (30) Michael Peterson/Johnny Mowlem/Timo Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 RS,
108.382 (1:21.678).
23. (52) Tony Burgess/Magnus Wallinder, Porsche 911 GT3 RS,
105.477 (1:23.928).
24. (44) Tom Weickardt/Kevin Allen, Dodge Viper GTS-R,
105.379 (1:24.005).
25. (69) Kye Wankum/Jeff Pabst, Porsche 911 GT3 R,
102.470 (1:26.390).
26. (15) Randy Wars/Grady Willingham, Porsche 911 GT3 R,
98.826 (1:29.576).
Created and Designed by John Favata
