Petit Le Mans – Muscle Milk first, DeltaWing damaged

Hostilities began at Road Atlanta for the 2012 edition of Le Petit Le Mans, final round of the ALMS (American Le Mans Series) and theELMS (European Le Mans Series). La première séance d’essais libres a été dominée par la HPD ARX 03a du Muscle Milk Pickett Racing confiée au trio Romain Dumas-Klaus Graf-Lucas Luhr. L’auto affublée du n°6 a bouclé un tour du circuit géorgien en 1’10 »680. Elle devance de 0 »296 la Lola B12/60-Toyota Rebellion Racing au volant de laquelle on retrouve Nicolas Cheers, Neel Jani and Andrea Belicchi. The Swiss team, which comes straight from Mount Fuji, can be optimistic after this performance. “It's difficult to navigate traffic, underlines the first named. But we are in the rhythm, and everything seems ok. Andrea had a very good ride. We usually operate with a grid of 28 to 30 cars and tracks wider than that of Road Atlanta. There are few GTs in Europe (At WEC. Editor’s note). We need to reacclimate ourselves to this. You can't afford to attack all the time, or you may get into big trouble. We will win by playing with the settings, and we, the drivers, will gain experience in each session. » The top three is completed by the Lola B12/60-Mazda Dyson Racing (1'11"851) of Chris Dyson-Guy Smith-Steven Kane.

ELMS competitor who came to compete in the final round of the European series, Oak Racing set the best time in the LM P2 category in 1'13"270. The Morgan-Nissan of Olivier Pla-Bertrand Baguette-Jacques Nicolet precedes by 0”14 the HPD ARX 03b Level 5 Motorsports n°055 (Tucker-Bouchut-Diaz), which is fighting for the LMP2 title in ALMS with Conquest Racing, whose the Morgan-Nissan sees David Heinemeier-Hansson and Martin Plowman take turns at the wheel. The latter is...seventh, ahead of the Nissan Deltawing (1'13"686) which, unfortunately, was the victim of a spectacular accident (see here the video). “I had nowhere to go, déplore LeSaffre, alors au volant de la Porsche impliqué dans l’incident. My steering wheel was straight, and he came to hit me. The traffic is heavy, and there are many corners where you should not overtake, even if you are in P1. You have to be patient. » Looking at the images, however, it appears that the Porsche is moving to the right before hitting Ben Bowlby's creation.

In GT, although having already won all the available crowns, Corvette Racing continues its domination in the category. The No. 4 of Richard Westbrook-Tom Milner-Oliver Gavin was the fastest in 1'19"991. She precedes the Flying Lizard Motrosports Porsche 997 GT3 RSR of Patrick Long, Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet, which lapsed in 1'20"144. “The objective is to have a perfect weekend, and to finish the race with victory, emphasizes Long. We want to win Petit Le Mans. » The two follow Ferrari 458 Italia Extreme Speed ​​Motorsports, that of Sharp-Van Overbeek-Vilander preceding the sister car.

In the GTE Am category, which only brings together ELMS participants, the best time goes to the Ferrari 458 Italia AF Corse of Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Matt Griffin, in 1'21"948. It is 1”200 ahead of the Porche 997 GT3 RSR Imsa Matmut Performance of Pilet-Pons-Armindo.

Finally, the LM PC and GTC categories were respectively dominated by the Oreca 09 FLM Core Autosport of Bennet-Braun-Gonzalez in 1'14"908, and by the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Alex Job Racing of MacNeil-Keen-Von Moltke in 1'25"220.