27.09.2003 THIRD STRAIGHT WIN FOR DAVID BRABHAM AT MIAMI AS FERRARI CLAIM 1-2-3 FINISH IN THE GTS CLASS
The
two red Ferrari 550 Maranellos of the Care Racing supported Prodrive Ferrari
team finished 1st and 2nd in class in today’s hot and
steamy Miami street race. The victory for car 80 means that David Brabham has
now taken full points in the last three rounds of the series. The team’s four
drivers were joined on the podium today by Mimo Schiattarella and Emanuele
Naspetti of the Rafanelli Team, making it an all-Ferrari GTS podium for the
first time ever.
It was an incident packed race for all competitors, but both Prodrive Ferraris managed to stay out of any major trouble, including a slippery track surface at the end of the race because of rain.
Darren Turner, who was partnering David Brabham this weekend in place of Jan Magnussen (fulfilling a prior race commitment in Denmark) did an excellent job for the team in his first street race and only his second ALMS start. He started the race in car 80 and held off strong charges from both his Ferrari team mate and the Corvette of Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell. Brabham’s class lead was lost at the first round of pit stops, but re-gained under one of five full course caution periods by choosing to pit for fuel only. Valuable time was gained by not taking on fresh Michelin rubber, and the car was able to exit the pits ahead of its competitors.
Tomas Enge and Peter Kox also had a relatively trouble free race, and were able to close the gap to their team-mates towards the end of the race as they had taken on new tyres in the second pit stop, thus allowing the team to take its second consecutive 1-2 racing finish.
David Brabham (AUS), car 80: “It’s a great 1-2 for the team and I’d like to thank Frederic [Dor, of Care Racing] and the team management for the way it all finished up, and also Darren who did a great job standing in for Jan. Towards the end of the race it was very slippery in the last couple of turns and onto the pit straight and we had to be a bit careful, but we kept it on the track. That’s our job, after all.”
Darren Turner (GB), car 80: “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that we’ve won, but I’m really enjoying the whole experience. I really enjoyed the race and used the practice sessions to build up to speed. Although I was struggling with the heat a bit, and pleased when it was time to change drivers, I was actually a bit upset that they put David in the car so early and I didn’t get the chance to go back out again!”
Tomas Enge (CZ), car 88: “It was a shame that we had to finish the race using team orders as I had a quicker car towards the end, but I understand from the team’s point of view that it was important to finish both cars and in 1-2. Also, with Petit Le Mans coming up in a few weeks, we could not afford any mistakes and risk any damage.”
Peter Kox (NL), car 88: “I think the Corvette was pretty fast at the beginning of the race but I am happy with my start and have made up a bit for not being able to qualify so well yesterday.”
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Official Race Results, Grand Prix Americas, Miami Bayfront Park Street Course / 1.15 miles, September 26-27, 2003 / Miami, Florida Pos Class Pos Car No. Class Drivers No. Laps Diff Total Time Best Time In Lap Make Status ,1 1 38 LMP900/GTP Herbert / Lehto 157 2:42:06.617 49.260 9 Audi R8 Running, 2 2 1 LMP900/GTP Biela / Werner 157 40.642 2:42:47.259 49.405 127 Audi R8 Running, 3 3 10 LMP900/GTP Beretta / Saelens 155 --2 Laps-- 2:42:59.466 50.656 129 Panoz LMP01/EPP Running, 4 1 80 GTS Brabham / Turner 154 --3 Laps-- 2:42:59.359 52.366 5 Ferrari 550 Maranello Running, 5 2 88 GTS Kox / Enge 154 1.778 2:43:01.137 51.571 100 Ferrari 550 Maranello Running, 6 1 20 LMP675 C. Dyson / Wallace 152 --5 Laps-- 2:42:48.821 51.377 16 Lola EX257/AER Running, 7 1 23 GT Maassen / Luhr 151 --6 Laps-- 2:42:39.308 53.632 127 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 8 2 16 LMP675 Weaver / Leitzinger 150 --7 Laps-- 2:43:03.901 50.513 104 Lola EX257/AER Running, 9 2 35 GT Kelleners / Lazzaro 150 2.281 2:43:06.182 54.199 76 Ferrari 360 Modena Running, 10 3 60 GT Liddell / Caffi 149 --8 Laps-- 2:42:32.727 54.539 125 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 11 4 30 LMP900/GTP C. Field / Durand 149 27.246 2:42:59.973 52.274 17 R & S MKIII C/Elan Running, 12 5 12 LMP900/GTP Lewis / Drissi 148 --9 Laps-- 2:42:10.247 51.495 39 R & S MK III C/Lincoln Running, 13 4 31 GT Petersen / Stanton / Mowlen 148 51.393 2:43:01.640 55.149 5 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 14 5 28 GT Gregoire / Salazar / Alexander 146 --11 Laps-- 2:42:47.635 54.718 123 Ferrari 360 Modena Running, 15 3 0 GTS Naspetti / Schiattarella 145 --12 Laps-- 2:42:37.806 52.574 6 Ferrari 550 Maranello Running, 16 6 24 GT Bernhard / Bergmeister 143 --14 Laps-- 2:40:23.786 53.762 14 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 17 7 33 GT Pumpelly / Lally / Kapudija 143 2:15.849 2:42:39.635 54.944 112 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 18 8 63 GT Lewis / Borcheller 143 2:37.388 2:43:01.174 55.404 111 Ferrari 360 Modena Running, 19 3 18 LMP675 Workman / Bradley 142 --15 Laps-- 2:40:34.793 55.763 3 Lola B2K/40/Nissan Running, 20 4 37 LMP675 Jon Field / Dayton 142 1:42.561 2:42:17.354 54.478 5 Lola EX257/AER Running, 21 9 66 GT Buckler / Wagner 142 2:31.932 2:43:06.725 54.801 125 Porsche 911 GT3RS Running, 22 10 42 GT Jay Policastro / Joe Policastro 138 --19 Laps-- 2:42:56.555 57.597 14 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 23 11 67 GT Ehret / Zwart 136 --21 Laps-- 2:42:42.257 55.710 35 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 24 6 11 LMP900/GTP Jeannette / Maxwell 135 --22 Laps-- 2:21:56.757 51.082 129 Panoz LMP01/EPP Running, 25 12 29 GT Earle / Neuhaus 133 --24 Laps-- 2:38:37.351 57.505 31 Ferrari 360 Modena Running, 26 13 68 GT Gleason / Bunting 125 --32 Laps-- 2:42:40.221 56.660 44 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 27 4 3 GTS Fellows / O'Connell /Pilgrim 122 --35 Laps-- 2:42:40.666 51.795 5 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R Running, 28 14 79 GT Jackson / Murry 113 --44 Laps-- 2:42:21.963 55.408 29 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Running, 29 15 61 GT Warnock / Atapattu 107 --50 Laps-- 2:06:58.856 57.252 4 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Accident, 30 16 03 GT Foster / Nyberg /Skelton 68 --89 Laps-- 1:22:32.169 58.830 9 Panoz Esperante GT-LM/Elan Mechanical, 31 5 2 GTS Konrad / Nearn 62 --95 Laps-- 1:11:47.271 53.478 9 Saleen S7R Mechanical, 32 17 40 GT Auberlen / Jonsson 58 --99 Laps-- 1:09:46.270 54.276 23 BMW M3 Overheating, 33 18 43 GT Baron / Lieb 41 --116 Laps-- 40:49.038 54.133 37 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Accident, 34 5 56 LMP675 Bucknum / Willman / McMurry 40 --117 Laps-- 39:48.363 53.204 8 Pilbeam MP91/Willman 6 Accident, 35 6 71 GTS Belloc / Weickardt 16 --141 Laps-- 19:24.920 53.762 10 Dodge Viper GTS-R Mechanical, 36 19 41 GT de Quesada / Bleustein 15 --142 Laps-- 15:18.528 57.535 12 BMW M3 Gearbox, 37 7 4 GTS Gavin / Collins 0 -.--- -.--- - Chevrolet Corvette C5-R DNS |
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