2001 Sebring - 12-Hour

2001 was the third season for the American Le Mans Series. The rules for the series followed those of the legendary 24 Hour of Le Mans which meant there were four classes of cars competing.

Le Mans Prototype 900 (LMP900) – 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. Audi, BMW and Cadillac entered two factory supported cars. Privateer teams entered cars manufactured by Riley & Scott, Lola and Panoz.
Le Mans Prototype 675 (LMP675) – Introduced in 2001 was the LMP675 class for cars which could weigh no less than 675-kilograms. The rules for the vehicles were written so that the two LMP classes (LMP900 and LMP675) would be contending for the overall win.
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 engines limitation as the GTS class. These were also production-based cars such as the BMW M3, Porsche GT3RS and Chevrolet Corvette C5-R. Unlike the GTS entries, competitors in this category could not use carbon fiber brakes.

The 2001 ALMS schedule was comprised of ten events. Lowes Motor Speedway was initially included on the calendar but it was later cancelled. The opening round, the Grand Prix of Texas, was held at Texas Motor Speedway which was the only time in ALMS history that the opening event was not the 12 Hours of Sebring. After Sebring, teams travelled to Europe for race weekends at Donington Park, England and Jarama in Spain. The first stop back in North America was at Infineon Raceway and followed Portland International Raceway. Round seven was held in Canada at Mosport International Raceway. One week later the series was at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The penultimate event took place at Laguna Seca with the championship concluding at Road Atlanta for Petit Le Mans.

Round two at Sebring was the forty-ninth running of the event. Thirty-eight cars would compete in the 12-hour race around the 3.74-mile seventeen-turn road course.

After 12-hours of racing, all that had to be decided was which factory Audi would win. The No. 2 Audi R8 was first to return to the track after the final rounds of pit-stops but the team received a pit lane penalty for excessive speed. This allowed the No. 1 car driven by Rinaldo Capello, Michele Alboreto and Laurent Aiello to take the lead and overall win.

Franz Konrad shared his No. 26 Saleen S7-R with Terry Borcheller and Oliver Gavin. The Konrad team staged a race long duel with the No. 4 factory Corvette and won the GTS class by one lap. This was quite an achievement for the new Saleen S7R as it only debuted last fall at Laguna Seca. And, it did not show promise at the 2001 24 Hours of Daytona where it retired after only a couple of hours with a broken suspension.

LMP675 was expected to be a two car race between the Lolas of Roock-KnighHawk Racing and Gunnar Racing. Unfortunately, the Nissan-powered Lola B2K/40 of Roock-KnightHawk was the only LMP675 car to start the race. Sharing the driving duties was Claudia Huertgen, Mel Hawkins and Steven Knight. They retired after 105-laps with overheating problems.

The 4-liter V8 engine used by the GT class BMW teams was probably the most controversial issue during the 2001 ALMS season. At Sebring, only one of the four BMWs entered had the 8-cylinder motor. Porsche argued that the car was a prototype as the V8 engine was not available in the street version. ALMS rules were changed for 2002 requiring manufacturers to produce 100-cars and 1000-engines for a vehicle to compete without penalties.

BMW entered the 4.0-liter V8 BMW M3 for J.J. Lehto and Jorg Muller. The Porsche teams complained about the car’s straight-line speed but it had higher fuel consumption than the competition. The No. 42 was in contention for the GT class win until late in the race when the team was required to change brake pads. They finished tenth overall and third in the GT category.

The No. 4 factory Chevrolet Corvette C5-R of Franck Freon, Kelly Collins and Andy Pilgrim chased the winning Saleen the entire distance. The team took the GTS lead briefly late in the race but had to relinquish it after the last pit-stop to the winning Konrad entry.

Johansson Motorsport was owned by ex-CART and F1 driver Stefan Johansson. In 2000, he ran the uncompetitive Reynard 2KQ with Jim Matthews. At Sebring, he debuted the new Gulf Oil sponsored Audi R8. This was one of the two privately entered Audis. He shared the driving duties with Guy Smith. The duo started and finished fourth in LMP900 and overall.

The No. 10 Prototype Technology Group BMW M3 was shared by Bill Auberlen and Nic Jonsson. The pair qualified sixteenth overall and fourth in the GT class. Unfortunately, they were out of the race by the fifty-seventh lap with engine problems.

The No. 22 Alex Job Porsche GT3RS was driven by Randy Pobst, Christian Menzel and Timo Bernhard. They qualified second in class and after 12-hours of racing they were still on the same lap as their class winning teammates, which was good for a second in the GT category.

The No. 72 Courage C60 was driven by Laurent Redon, Jean-Christophe Boullion and future CART champion Sebastien Bourdais. The car was entered by retired French race driver Henri Pescarolo. Pescarolo had competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans a record thirty-three times - winning on four occasions. The team finished seventh in LMP900 and twenty-fifth overall.

The second privateer Audi R8 entry came from Champion Racing. The team had shown great potential in the season opener at Texas where they finished fourth. Ralf Kelleners, Dorsey Schroeder, and Andy Wallace were at the wheel for Sebring. They qualified third and completed the sweep of the LMP900 podium for Audi.

The new Panoz LMP07 was expected to be an Audi beater but never delivered. The car featured a Panoz 4-liter V8 with a paddle shift system. The No. 50 car was shared by David Brabham and Jan Magnussen and suffered through a myriad of issues at Sebring. Initially, problems were with the alternator, then power steering and finally the car was retired with a gearbox and clutch failure. They finished eighth in LMP900.

The No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R shared by Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Chris Kneifel qualified right behind the pole-sitting GTS Saleen S7-R. Starter problems, which began early in the event, prevented the Corvette from re-firing after pit-stops. The team was able to manage a third place finish in class and Fellows recorded the fastest race lap for the GTS cars.

Last year’s Sebring winners – Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro finished second just 0.482-seconds behind their teammates. This was the closest margin of victory in the history of the 12-hour event. However, this may be misleading as the lead Audi slowed to allow the No. 2 to close for a photo finish opportunity.

Sasha Maassen, Lucas Luhr and Emmanuel Collard drove the GT class winning Alex Job Porsche GT3RS. The Alex Job Porsches were locked in a tight battle with the new V8 powered BMW until late in the race. A problem changing brake pads during the last stop took the BMW out of contention.

James Weaver demonstrates his displeasure with one of the drivers of the Seikel Motorsport Porsche GT3RS or maybe he is waving to friends watching practice. Weaver shared the Dyson entered Riley & Scott Mk IIIC with Butch Leitzinger and Elliott Forbes-Robinson. The team took delivery of the car just 13-days before the event and struggled with a number of issues - they retired with overheating problems.

Needless to say, the No. 12 Callaway C-12R attracted a lot of attention. Unfortunately, the car failed technical inspection because of fuel that was outside the accepted specifications and after qualifying ninth in the GT class was moved to the back grid. The car shared by Vic Rice, Bob Mazzuoccola and Shane Lewis retired after only 50-laps with suspension problems.

The No. 30 Petersen Motorsports Porsche GT3RS was scheduled to be driven by Bob Wollek, Johnny Mowlem and Michael Petersen. The car qualified fourth in the GT class but did not start the race. The evening before the event, French veteran sports car driver, Bob Wollek died in a bicycling accident on a public road. Out of respect to Wollek, the car was withdrawn.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	LMP900	Capello/Alboreto/Aiello	Audi R8	Audi Sport	370	-
2	LMP900	Biela/Kristensen/Pirro	Audi R8	Audi Sport	370	-
3	LMP900	Wallace / Schroeder / Kelleners	Audi R8	Champion Racing	366	-
4	LMP900	Johansson / Smith	Audi R8	Johansson Motorsport	362	-
5	LMP900	Field / Dayton / Sutherland	Lola B2K/10	Intersport Racing	332	-
6	GTS	Gavin / Konrad / Borcheller	Saleen S7-R	Konrad Team Saleen	332	-
7	GTS	Pilgrim / Collins / Fréon	Chevrolet Corvette	Corvette Racing	331	-
8	GT	Maassen / Collard / Luhr	Porsche GT3RS	Alex Job Racing	326	-
9	GT	Pobst / Menzel / Bernhard	Porsche GT3RS	Alex Job Racing	326	-
10	GT	Lehto / Müller	BMW M3 GTR	BMW Motorsport	324	-
11	GTS	Fellows / O'Connell / Kneifel	Chevrolet Corvette	Corvette Racing	322	-
12	GT	Said / Stuck / Cunningham	BMW M3	PTG	318	-
13	GT	Bouchut / Goueslard / Dumez	Porsche GT3RS	Larbre Competition	317	-
14	GT	Caffi / Babini / Rosa	Porsche GT3RS	Seikel Motor Sport	312	-
15	GT	Foster / Wankum / Pabst	Porsche GT3R	Kyser Racing	306	-
16	GT	Alzen / Richter	Porsche GT3RS	Jürgen Alzen	306	-
17	GT	Kaufmann / Ortelli	Porsche GT3RS	Freisinger Motorsport	300	-
18	GTS	Messley / Altenburg / Hayner	Dodge Viper GTS-R	American Viperacing	298	-
19	GT	Alexander / Pickering / Gleason	Porsche GT3R	Cirtek Motorsport	293	-
20	GT	Smith / Horn	Porsche GT3R	Freisinger Motorsport	276	Starter
21	GT	Buckler / McGlynn / Earle	Porsche GT3RS	The Racers Group	271	-
22	GTS	Pardoe / Weickardt / Ellis	Dodge Viper GTS-R	American Viperacing	235	-
23	LMP900	Leitzinger / EFR / Weaver	Riley & Scott Mk III	Dyson Racing	205	Overheating
24	GT	Müller / Ekblom	BMW M3	BMW Motorsport	168	Engine
25	LMP900	Boullion / Bourdais / Redon	Courage C60 Peugeot	Pescarolo Sport	167	Engine
26	GT	Peter / Quester / Simon	Porsche GT3R	RWS Motorsport	127	Suspension
27	GT	Willingham / Neuhaus / Wars	Porsche GT3R	Dick Barbour Racing	121	Drive Shaft
28	LMP900	Magnussen / Brabham	Panoz LMP07	Panoz Motor Sports	109	Clutch
29	GT	Trinkler / Lally / Zacharias	Chevrolet Corvette	Trinkler Racing, LLC	108	Steering
30	LMP675	Hürtgen / Hawkins / Knight	Lola B2K/40 Nissan	Roock-KnightHawk	105	Overheating
31	GT	Wagner / Law	Porsche GT3R	Kelly-Moss	68	Drive Shaft
32	GT	Burgess / Bagnall	Porsche GT3RS	Seikel Motor Sport	60	Suspension
33	GT	Auberlen / Jönsson	BMW M3	PTG	57	Engine
34	GT	Lewis / Rice	Callaway C12-R	Aspen Knolls/MCR	50	Suspension
35	GT	Murry / Lazzaro	Porsche GT3RS	Kelly-Moss	47	Drive Shaft
36	LMP900	Graf / Salles	Panoz LMP07	Panoz Motor Sports	28	Chassis
37	GT	Baron / Hindery / Buitoni	Porsche GT3RS	Orbit	84	DQ: assistance
38	GT	Warner / Orti / Ziegelman	Porsche GT3R	Broadfoot Racing	64	DQ: illegal repair

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