And the rain falls…

Weather Map

Weather for Braselton, GA this morning.

BRASELTON, GA — It is still three hours before the start of the 1,000 mile Petite Le Mans at the Road Atlanta track Northeast of Atlanta — and the one thing that everyone knows is that rain will be the focus of the race. After a light rain during the night the skies opened up and drenched the picturesque track starting around 6 a.m.

The morning rain was near a cloud burst with traffic on the freeway into the track reduced for 45-50 mph speeds and a flash flood watch posted for the area. The forecast is for “liquid excitement” all day as ALMS teams prepare for the soggy slog around the red clay of the Georgia Hills.

This may be the rain storm the Audi team was waiting for at Le Mans, where the entire race was run on near balmy weather. The Peugoet team ran the perfect race and essentially left the Ingolstadt Army in its wake.

While Team Peugeot indicated that it was confident that the team had learned its lesson with respect to being able to run in the rain, they did not have to back of their words by racing in the rain.

At the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Peugeot was clearly a faster car on the dry track, but with a rain storm and other issues with the car holding the team, the Audis rallied during the night for the win. While the Audi has had its own issues at the Road Atlanta race, the rain must still be a confidence builder for those who have mastered the art of racing in the rain.

Midnight oil in excess at Road Atlanta

Members of the Drayson team work together to put the finishing touches on the teams new LMP1 Lola Judd car.

Members of the Drayson team work together to put the finishing touches on the teams new LMP1 Lola Judd car.

BRASELTON,Ga — There was plenty of midnight oil being burned on the eve of the 12th running of the Petite Le Mans here at Road Atlanta — and to give you an idea of the state of the sport these days — it was the Audi LMP1 team that was grinding away in the pits well into the evening while the Peugeot team, which had again won the qualifying battle, had everything buttoned up early.

The Peugeot 908 wasted little time in making it’s dominance known, laying down a lap that was one second faster than the best that the Audi R15 TDI could manage. The two Peugeot HDIs were one and two in qualifying while the two Audi R15 TDIs were three and four, mirroring in some ways the performance at Le Mans earlier in the season.

But there was plenty of work going on in other stables as well, as both of the Acura teams were in various stages of the preparation well into the evening as was the newly minted Lola Judd of Drayson which qualified ninth over all, and which the team is still sorting out. The Drayson Team also announced that it will run the full ALMS season in 2010 as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In the P2 competition, three teams, led by the Lola Mazda team of Leitzinger, Franchitti, and Devlin, are battle for the top position. The Lowes Fernandez  Acura Team, which has already clinched the ALMS series title was third fastest amongst the LMP2 competitors while the Porsche Spyder of Pickett, Graff, Maassen was second in this group.

In the highly competitive GT2 class, top times was turned in by the Doran Ford GT-R, followed by Corvette, BMW, Porsche, and Panoz with the LeMans winning Ferarri team being off the pace.

There were several teams without qualifying teams, most notably the MPP1 team of Brabham, Sharp, and Franchitti, which was being put back together after crashing hard earlier in the week, and the Jaguar XKR, which is making its debut in the GT2 class at Road Atlanta.

Vette driver Johnny O speaks of Le Mans and the move to GT2

The No. 63 Corvette in the chicane at Le Mans.

The No. 63 Corvette in the chicane at Le Mans, leading a Ferarri.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga — Johnny O’Connell and the Corvette team closed out an era of Corvette racing with a victory in the GT1 class at Le Mans and have dominated the field in GT2 in the ALMS.  With the win O’Connell became the only four-time American to win at Le Mans.

However the team is moving on to a new challenge as they take the vaunted ‘Vette from the GT1 class to the highly competitive GT2 class where the Porsche’s, Ferarris, and BMWs have been winners for decades. We caught up with Johnny between races and here is is what he had to say about Le Mans and the future of the Corvette in the GT2 class:

TRT: The 24 hours of Le Mans is a haughty adversaries it gives and takes as I am sure you have found out there. You won in your first trip the storied track and then this year as you closed out the CR.6 history at the track with a near perfect race. Can you reflect on the nine years that you have competed at Circuit de La Sarthe — the wins, the near wins, and what racing there means to you.

 Johnny O: I first raced Le Mans in 1994 with Nissan in the IMSA class they had and won.  Since then I have been back every year since 1998.    Winning there is the most important accomplishment any driver can achieve. Most drivers are just blessed to be in the race, and my memories there will always be amongst my best in racing. As the only American to have 4 wins there… I know it’s something that I will always cherish and consider one of my greatest accomplishments.

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