The 51st Annual Mobil 1
12 Hours of Sebring
Presented by Dodge
March 12-15, 2003
Wednesday Practice Report
A factory Bentley and a privateer Lola-MG set the fastest times Wednesday as American Le Mans Series cars held their first official practice sessions for Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Qualifying to set the starting field will be held on Thursday.
The Bentley Speed 8 driven by Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith led the morning practice session with a lap of 1:49.980 on the historic 3.7-mile circuit and that time proved to be the fastest of the day as the track slowed under the hot Florida sun during the afternoon session.
The Dyson Racing Lola EX257-MG made history in the afternoon as it became the first car from the LMP 675 class for smaller Prototypes to lead a practice session in the American Le Mans Series. Andy Wallace, who will co-drive in the race with James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger, set the quick time of the session with a lap of 1:51.192, which was also second-fastest of the day.
The ADT Champion Racing Audi R8, which had been the fastest car in unofficial testing on Monday and Tuesday, was third-fast on Wednesday with a lap of 1:51.231. Emanuele Pirro, JJ Lehto and Stefan Johansson will share the Florida-based car.
Rounding out the top five times of the day were a 1:51.884 posted by the Infineon Team Joest Audi R8 of Frank Biela, Marco Werner and Phillip Peter, and the second Dyson Lola-MG steered by Didier de Radigues, Chad Block and Chris Dyson.
Leading the GTS class for production-based cars was the Veloqx Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello of Anthony Davidson, Darren Turner and Kelvin Burt, which turned a lap of 2:00.408. Next among the extremely-close times in the class was a 2:00.721 posted by the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R of Oliver Gavin, Kelly Collins and Andy Pilgrim, just ahead of the second Veloqx Prodrive Ferrari of Tomas Enge, Peter Kox and Jamie Davies at 2:00.735.
Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen, winner of the GT class at Sebring the past two years, set the fastest time of the day in that class with a lap of 2:06.559 in the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Marc Lieb was second in class with a lap of 2:06.865 in the Orbit Porsche that he will share with Leo Hindery and Peter Baron, just ahead of the second Job machine of Jorg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard at 2:07.235.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will start at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 15, at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway. Ticket information is available online at www.sebringraceway.com or by calling (863) 655-1442, or toll-free in Florida (800) 626-RACE. Four classes of American Le Mans Series cars will compete in the event, and some 60 cars are expected to take the green flag.
Wednesday’s combined practice times:
1
7
LMP900/GTP
Kristensen / Capello /Smith; Bentley Speed 8
1:49.980
2
16
LMP675
Weaver / Leitzinger /Wallace; Lola EX257-MG
1:51.192
3
38
LMP900/GTP
Pirro / Lehto /Johansson; Audi R8
1:51.231
4
1
LMP900/GTP
Biela / Werner /Peter ; Audi R8
1:51.884
5
20
LMP675
C. Dyson / de Radigues /Block ; Lola EX257-MG
1:52.093
6
9
LMP900/GTP
Kane / McCarthy /Salo; Audi R8
1:52.224
7
15
LMP675
Nielsen / Shimoda; DBA-03S-Zytek
1:52.282
8
8
LMP900/GTP
Herbert / Brabham /Blundell; Bentley Speed 8
1:53.484
9
36
LMP900/GTP
Matthews / Goossens /Magnussen; Riley & Scott MkIIIC-Yates
1:53.867
10
10
LMP900/GTP
Beretta / Jeannette /Papis ; Panoz LMP01
1:54.218
11
37
LMP675
Jon Field / Dayton /Durand; Lola EX257-MG
1:54.429
12
27
LMP900/GTP
Theys / Lienhard, Sr. /van de Poole; Dallara-MG
1:54.891
13
77
LMP900/GTP
Andrews / Keen /Oberto; Lola B2K10-Judd
1:55.150
14
11
LMP900/GTP
Leuenberger / Graham /Maxwell; Panoz LMP01
1:56.079
15
12
LMP900/GTP
Lewis / Drissi /Cosmo; Riley & Scott MkIIIC-Lincoln
1:57.641
16
01
LMP900/GTP
Dumas / Stirling /Herta; Reynard-Cosworth
1:58.997
17
80
GTS
Davidson / Turner /Burt; Ferrari 550 Maranello
2:00.408
18
30
LMP900/GTP
Field / Sutherland /Macaluso; Lola B2K10-MG
2:00.412
19
4
GTS
Gavin / Collins /Pilgrim ; Chev. Corvette C5-R
2:00.721
20
88
GTS
Enge / Kox /Davies ; Ferrari 550 Maranello
2:00.735
21
87
LMP900/GTP
Ziegelman / Roussel /James ; Norma M20002-Ford
2:01.000
22
3
GTS
Fellows / O'Connell /Freon; Chev. Corvette C5-R
2:01.283
23
2
GTS
Konard / Seiler /Nearn; Saleen S7R
2:02.683
24
0
GTS
Naspetti / Schiattarella /Cecotto; Ferrari 550 Maranello
2:03.298
25
71
GTS
Weickardt / Altenburg; Dodge Viper GTS-R
2:05.677
26
18
LMP675
Paterson / Workman /Devlin; Lola B2K40-Millington
2:06.530
27
23
GT
Luhr / Maassen ; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:06.559
28
17
GTS
Hezemans / Kumpen /Belloc; Pagani Zonda GR
2:06.782
29
43
GT
Hindery / Baron /Lieb; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:06.865
30
24
GT
Bernhard / Bergmeister; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:07.235
31
31
GT
Mowlem / Jonsson /Stanton; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:07.863
32
35
GT
Borcheller / Lazzaro /Kelleners; Ferrari 360 Modena
2:08.568
33
60
GT
Masarati / Warnock /Liddell; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:09.204
34
07
GT
Fomenko / Daoudi /Lechner Jr. ; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:09.480
35
83
GTS
Erodos / Chaves /Pickering; Saleen S7R
2:09.939
36
42
GT
Policastro,Jr. / Policastro,Sr. /Fitzgerald; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:10.240
37
68
GT
Gleason / Bunting /Wagner; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:10.293
38
66
GT
Buckler / Pace /Salazar; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:10.370
39
79
GT
Jackson / Murry; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:10.405
40
34
GT
Bennett / Franchitti /McGarrity ; Ferrari 360 Modena
2:10.536
41
28
GT
Gregoire / Babini /Pescatori ; Ferrari 360 Modena
2:10.613
42
53
GT
Rosa / Caffi /Chiesa ; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:10.626
43
63
GT
Whitehead / Zacharias /Davis; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:11.307
44
40
GT
Said / de Quesada /C.Jones ; BMW M3
2:11.331
45
6
LMP900/GTP
Campbell-Walter / McKellar,Jr.; Lister Storm LMP
2:11.871
46
03
GT
Skelton / Nyberg /Foster; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:11.970
47
67
GT
Schrom / Ehret /Rice; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:12.655
48
48
GT
Hugenholtz / Simon /van Schoote; Spyker C8 Double 12R
2:12.789
49
41
GT
Stanton / May /Barff; TVR
2:13.493
50
29
GT
Earle / Garbagnati /Scotton; Ferrari 360 Modena
2:13.679
51
61
GT
Hayden / Fisken /Donaldson; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:15.376
52
39
GT
Sherman / Longhi /Assentato; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:15.515
53
52
GT
Collin / Shep /Lloyd; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:15.567
54
78
GT
Vance / Forgeois; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2:24.189
55
33
GT
Lally / Ivankovich /Pumpelly; Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2003 Sebring Index
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