Thursday - Feb 9, 2012 -
5:00 - Checkered flag on the 2-day ALMS Winter test. We had a very successful two days here at Sebring - getting our first run at the 2012 Porsches. We'll be back with you for the Sebring race, which gets the green flag at 10:30 am PT on Saturday, March 17. See you then!
4:51 - We are done with setup on the No. 45 for the test. The crew will do a few pit stops for practice and then the No. 45 will head back to the garage where the crew will do a set down and then put it in the box for the trip home to California. In the No. 44, looks like Lally will run out the final 10 mins of the test.
4:48 - Both cars again back in the pits. Patrick seems fairly happy with handling overall at the moment, rear grip is one of the biggest issues at the moment.
4:37- Both Porsches are back in the pits for feedback. The No. 45 has been trying some different shock settings this afternoon. Sebring is an extremely rough and bumpy course - the roughest of our season and is extremely hard on the tires. In the No. 44, Andy is also working with the engineers on suspension changes.
4:10 - Andy is in the pits giving feedback to No. 44 engineer Steve Conover.
3:36 - Andy Lally is in the No. 44 for his first run of the afternoon. Patrick is still in the No. 45. Marco and Joerg have headed off to the airport to catch their flight back to Germany (Darren Law headed back last night) so I expect they'll keep Patrick pretty busy for the rest of the 90 minutes of the session. Live timing and scoring is here http://scoring.americanlemans.com/scoring.php We are P4 in the afternoon session.
2:40 pm - The No. 45 is back on track for the afternoon session. Patrick Long is in the Porsche ready to head back out after pitting for a setup change. Seth Neiman is just engering the pits ready for his first stint of the afternoon. We've had relatively few problems this week, especially considering that this is the first run of the new cars in North America. It's very hard to tell at this point how close the cars will be in pace since I expect that no one on pit lane is really showing what they have yet - we'll probably not really see that until race day.
11:17 - The No. 45 is back in pit lane after a shock change in the garage. Seth Neiman is still out on track in the No. 44.
11:00 - the No. 45 is heading back to the garage for a bit -they'll be back out shortly to finish out the morning session.
10:55 - am - Patrick is now in the No. 45 and is heading out for his first stint of the day. Seth Neiman is back in the No. 44. All is well.
9:30 am - Marco is out of the No. 45 and the crew is getting ready to start a lengthy tire test. Andy Lally is now in the No. 44.
8:30 am ET - Good morning from Sebring. A bit chillier today by Florida standards but still pleasant. Day 2 of the ALMS winter Test is underway. Marco Holzer is in the No. 45 and Seth Neiman in the No. 44. Yesterday's session was the first time we've run the new 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. No major problems, but setup progress was very incremental - today we should be able to make more significant improvements.
4:08 - No. 44 is heading back into the garage - they are done for the day. No. 45 is still out on track.
3:48 pm ET - Both Lizard Porsches in the pits. Red flag. Just over one hour left in the afternoon session.
3:02 pm ET - Patrick continues in the No. 45. They are beginning to work through more refined setup changes now that they've complete the shakedown and the broad setup work. Patrick is currently fighting a lot of understeer but he's happier with the level of rear grip now than in the am.
2:22 pm ET - Good afternoon from Sebring, Florida. It's a beautiful day here - overcast skies for this morning's session have cleared for the afternoon. Both No. 44 and No. 45 are out on track - Andy Lally is in the No. 44 and Patrick Long in the No. 45. It's the inaugural run of the 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. We have a lot to still sort out, but first look at the cars has been very positive.
Recent Comments