Yee-haw! Hold on to the saddle, we’re goin’ racin’ in Texas.
The 15:45 start of Saturday’s race coincided nicely with close to ideal conditions. Although it had been heating up through the day, the temperatures under sunny skies were still not as extreme as they were on Thursday, before the storms of qualifying day set in. There remained a light steady breeze. The spectator count, while not great, is adequate considering that the race is up against a competing religious event—of course, I am referring to the University of Texas Longhorns football game. That match actually begins a few minutes after the checkered flag so that the truly intrepid can catch both. While the Muscle Milk HPD was the odds on favorite at the Circuit of the Americas, few expect the Horns to hook Kansas State downtown.
Qualifying was moderately chaotic given the variable conditions and its legacy includes several teams with relatively little dry running time and several quick cars starting from the back for not making the minimum time. They include both of the Extreme Speed HPDs, giving Level Five a good head start in the LM P2 class. Starworks, RSR, and PR1 were in a similar situation in the PC class, but that still left five tightly bunched Chevrolet LS1 powered Orecas starting at the front. The only GT car to suffer the ignominy of starting at the rear is the oft-troubled Risi Competizione Ferrari. The No. 56 BMW also went to the back—a change of tires in their case. All of the “rain penalty” cars started with their fast drivers.
While Lucas Luhr pulled easily away in front with the No. 6 HPD, Bill Auberlen (No. 55 BMW), from the GT pole, mildly balked the others in the class and was given a furled black flag for his indiscretion. Several of the back row starters came into the pits within the first few laps to swap to their points-hungry lead drivers; Bruno Junqueira handed the No. 09 PC Oreca over to David Heinemeier Hansson, Dane Cameron gave the the No. 52 PR1 entry to Mike Guasch, and after getting a slight push into one of the broad runoff areas, Anthony Lazzaro stopped to give the No. 01 P2 class HPD to Scott Sharp. Another of those to start at the back, Ryan Dalziel, surged ahead with the No. 5 Starworks PC class entry. By lap 7 he was up to second in class, slipping past Tomy Drissi (No. 7 BAR1), Jon Bennett (No. 05 Core) and just behind Chris Cumming (No. 8 BAR1).
As is often the case, the real action was in GT. Jonathan Bomarito (No. 93 Viper) quikly charged past the No. 06 Core Porsche of Colin Braun and the “slower” of the two BMWs, the No. 56 car of John Edwards (who otherwise had a good start). Bomarito next challenged the Corvette of Jan Magnussen (No. 3) and the two nearly made contact in a tight dice. Their small kerfluffle briefly allowed Tommy Milner past in the other Corvette and this group moved to the front. The fast Austin circuit is just not that suited to the BMWs and both Edwards and Auberlen dropped a tad behind. Bomarito eventually slipped past the Corvette pair to take the class lead.
The all-Porsche GTC class was developing into a fierce two-horse fight between Henrique Cisneros (No. 30 NGT) and Ben Keating (No. 66 TRG). Dalziel stopped to hand over to John Pew, completing the early driver changes. At the half-hour mark Luhr had a 15 second lead over the Lola-Mazda of Chris McMurry. Johannes van Overbeek had a solid lead in LM P2 with the No. 02 Extreme Speed HPD. He had charged forward from the start, not stopping like the other late starters. His charge through the field was one of the highlights, working past the Level Five pair, Scott Tucker in No. 551 and Guy Cosmo in No. 552.
Others with good starts included Matteo Malucelli, who had worked the No. 62 Ferrari up to third in class. Dominik Farnbacher in the other Viper (No. 91) also moved to striking distance behind the Corvettes.
Janos Wimpffen
