2000 Mosport

The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was created by Don Panoz and debuted in 1999. Panoz aligned the ALMS rules with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) which is the organiser of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The partnership with the ACO allowed ALMS teams to earn automatic entries in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Teams that enter the full season are awarded points towards team championships. The championship-winning teams receive an automatic entry to the 2001 24 Hours of Le Mans but the cars must conform to Automobile Club de l’Ouest regulations for LMP, GTS and GT categories.

In 2000, there were three classes:

Le Mans Prototype (LMP) – These were the purpose-built race cars powered by a 6.0-liter normally aspirated or 4.0-liter turbocharged engine. The vehicles could weigh no less than 900-kilograms. In 2000, Audi announced its intention to run a two-car factory effort. BMW and Cadillac also entered two factory supported cars. Privateer teams entered cars such as the Riley & Scott MK III, Lola B2K/10 and Panoz LMP-1 Roadster.
Grand Touring Sport (GTS) – This class included production-based cars such as the Dodge Viper GTS-R, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, Saleen S7-R and Porsche 911 Turbo. The vehicles were permitted to use 8.0-liter normally aspirated or 4.0-liter turbocharged engines. These cars could weigh no less than 1,100-kilograms.
Grand Touring (GT) – The GT cars were also restricted to an 1,100-kilogram weight rule and had similar engine limitations as the GTS class. These were also production-based cars such as the BMW M3, Porsche GT3R and Chevrolet Corvette C5-R. Unlike the GTS entries, competitors in this category could not use carbon fiber brakes.

In its second season, the ALMS held twelve events at several new venues. The series opened in March with the 12-Hours of Sebring and ended in December at Adelaide, Australia. In between, there was a race in Canada, England and Germany with the remainder of the events taking place in the United States.

Mosport International Raceway hosted round six of the American Le Mans Series. The 2000 globalmegawheels.com Grand Prix of Mosport had a total of twenty-nine entries. Teams would compete for two-hours, forty-five-minutes around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.

Round six of the 2000 American Le Mans Series was contested at Mosport International Raceway. Leading the field of twenty-six starters into Mosport’s very quick corner one is the pole-sitter, Frank Biela driving the No. 78 Audi R8. Dropping in behind Biela is the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster of the second fastest qualifier, Jan Magnussen. Falling into to third place is Biela’s teammate, Allan McNish in the second Audi R8.

Audi Sport North America introduced the new R8 at Sebring and took a one-two finish. The cars were not scheduled to return to North America until after Le Mans. In their first visit to Sears Point, they continued their winning ways. At Mosport, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello car qualified third. McNish started the contest and remained in contention. Capello led the last thirty-five and was able to fend off a challenge from the BMW for victory.

Karl Wendlinger and Olivier Beretta, won four of the first five rounds. At Mosport, it appeared that they may have finally met their match when the Chevrolet Corvette C5.R of Ron Fellows captured the class pole. During the race, they swapped the lead with the Corvette. With less than six minutes left in the event, Wendlinger took the lead and he was able to hold off a charge from the Corvette for the class victory.

The No. 23 Alex Job Racing-prepared Porsche 911 GT3R ended the Dick Barbour team’s domination of the GT category. In every session, Randy Pobst and his teammate, Bruno Lambert were faster than the competition. Pobst earned the class pole by 0.845-seconds. The only time the pair lost the category lead was during pit-stops. At the end of two-hours, forty-five-minutes of racing they had lapped the GT field for their first ALMS win.

The No. 78 Audi Sport North America Audi R8 topped the timesheets in both qualifying sessions with Frank Biela earning the pole position. Biela’s co-driver was Emanuele Pirro. Biela drove the first stint and gave up the lead when he pitted for intermediate tires. A miscue on his second stop dropped him a lap behind the leaders. Pirro drove the final leg and was catching the front-runners when he made contact with a backmarker and retired.

At Mosport, the Corvette was finally looking like a GTS contender. Ron Fellows qualified the C5.R on the pole - 0.728-seconds quicker than the Wendlinger/Beretta Viper. Driving the car with Fellows was Andy Pilgrim. Fellows led the class during the first half but an error during a pit-stop dropped the Corvette to second. Pilgrim made up the deficit and was leading when he was passed by Wendlinger. He challenged Wendlinger but came up shy by 0.353-seconds.

BMW Prototype drivers Jorg Muller and J.J. Lehto were victorious at Charlotte and Silverstone. However, the return of the Audi R8s was providing them with a challenge. In qualifying, Lehto could not match the pace of the Audis and Panoz and started fifth. The damp conditions during the race appeared to favour the BMW and allowed Muller to catch the leading Audi but at the finish, he came up short of first place by 0.184-seconds.

Hans Stuck and Boris Said were seeking redemption at Mosport. They finished first in the GT category at the previous round in Infineon Raceway but were disqualified when the BMW’s fuel cell failed the post-race inspection. During qualifying, Stuck was the fourth quickest in class. He and Said chased the race winning Alex Job Porsche and despite some contact which required an extra pit-stop, they finished second in GT and tenth overall.

The Dick Barbour team swept the first five rounds. Dirk Muller and Lucas Luhr scored three GT wins while their teammates, Sascha Maassen and Bob Wolleck were victorious two-times. At Mosport, this streak would come to an end. Maassen and Wolleck were the quicker of the two entries with Maassen qualifying second in class. Unfortunately, it appeared that the duo was doomed from the start. After contact during the event, they finished third.

The second Dodge Viper GTS.R entered by Viper Team ORECA was raced by Americans, Tommy Archer and David Donohue. The pair scored their first victory of the season in the previous round at Infineon Raceway. At Mosport, they qualified third in the GTS category and thirteenth overall – immediately behind their teammates and points leaders, Karl Wendlinger and Olivier Beretta. They finished on the same lap as the class leaders in third place.

The second BMW V12 LMR was driven by Bill Auberlen and Jean-Marc Gounon. In qualifying, Auberlen was seventh fastest. Despite the slick conditions during the race, Auberlen and Gounon were able to stay out of trouble. The retirement of the No. 78 Audi and the two Panoz moved them up the race order. At the checkered flag, they were one lap behind the leaders but grabbed the final spot on the Prototype podium.

The Prototype Technology Group entered three BMW M3s at Mosport. The No. 10 BMW was shared by Brian and Peter Cunningham – no relation. Brian was the fastest of the BMWs and was gridded third in class for the start of the contest. During the race, they tried to maintain the pace in the tricky conditions but lost touch with the GT leaders. The pair finished two laps behind the category winners - fifth in class.

Jan Magnussen performed the qualifying duties for No. 1 Panoz Motor Sports team and was second quickest. Sharing the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster with Magnussen was David Brabham. In the race, Magnussen led after the first round of pit-stops but was soon passed by the Audi of Allan McNish. He was back in the lead for a second time when he crashed the Panoz in turn one on lap-40. The damage was severe and the team retired the car.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	LMP	McNish / Capello	Audi R8	Audi Sport North America	94	-
2	LMP	Lehto / Müller	BMW V12 LMR	BMW Motorsport	94	-
3	LMP	Gounon / Auberlen	BMW V12 LMR	BMW Motorsport	93	-
4	GTS	Wendlinger / Beretta	Dodge Viper GTS.R	Viper Team ORECA	91	-
5	GTS	Fellows / Pilgrim	Chevrolet Corvette C5.R	Corvette Racing	91	-
6	GTS	Archer / Donohue	Dodge Viper GTS.R	Viper Team ORECA	91	-
7	LMP	Smith / Johansson	Reynard 2KQ	Johansson-Matthews Racing	90	-
8	LMP	O'Connell / Katoh	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster	Panoz Motor Sports	89	-
9	GT	Pobst / Lambert	Porsche 911 GT3R	Alex Job Racing	89	-
10	GT	Stuck / Said	BMW M3	Prototype Technology Group	88	-
11	GT	Wollek / Maassen	Porsche 911 GT3R	Dick Barbour Racing	87	-
12	GT	Lewis / Wagner	Porsche 911 GT3R	MCR/Aspen Knolls	87	-
13	GT	Cunningham/Cunningham	BMW M3	Prototype Technology Group	87	-
14	GTS	Brown / Rice	Porsche 911 GT2	Roock Motorsports	87	-
15	GT	Fitzgerald / Nagel	Porsche 911 GT3R	Alex Job Racing	86	-
16	GT	Mowlem / Murry	Porsche 911 GT3R	Skea Racing International	86	-
17	LMP	Biela / Pirro	Audi R8	Audi Sport North America	85	Accident
18	GT	Bundy / Willingham	Porsche 911 GT3R	Skea Racing International	83	-
19	GT	Tumminelli / Orcutt	Porsche 911 GT3R	The Racer's Group	78	-
20	GT	Buckler / Collin	Porsche 911 GT3R	The Racer's Group	77	Off Course
21	GT	Wankum/Doff/Bartling	Porsche 911 GT3R	Kyser Racing	67	-
22	GT	Burgess / Buttiero	Porsche 911 GT3R	White Lightning Racing	45	Accident
23	LMP	Magnussen / Brabham	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster	Panoz Motor Sports	40	Accident
24	LMP	Simo / Matthews	Reynard 2KQ	Johansson-Matthews Racing	18	Accident
25	GT	Müller / Luhr	Porsche 911 GT3R	Dick Barbour Racing	12	Accident
26	GT	Simo / van Overbeek	BMW M3	Prototype Technology Group	11	Accident
27	LMP	Schiattarella/de Radigues	Lola B2K/10	Team Rafanelli SRL	0	Did Not Start
28	LMP	Schubot / Bourbonnais	Lola B2K/10	Phil Creighton Motorsports	0	Did Not Start
29	GTS	Lacey / Wilkins	Porsche 911 GT2	Multimatic Motorsports	0	Did Not Start

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