2003 Laguna Seca

2003 was the fifth 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.

Le Mans Prototype 900 (LMP900) – These were the purpose built race cars powered by a 6.0-liter normally aspirated or 4.0-litre turbocharged engine. The vehicles could weigh no less than 900-kilograms. Audi supported two teams. Privateers entered cars manufactured by Riley & Scott, Lola, Dallara and Panoz.
Le Mans Prototype 675 (LMP675) – Introduced in 2001 was the LMP675 class for cars that could weigh no less than 675-kilograms. The rules for the vehicles were written so that the two LMP classes (LMP900 and LMP675) would contend 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 Ferrari 550 Maranello. The vehicles were permitted to use 8.0-litre normally aspirated or 4.0-litre turbocharged engines. These cars could weigh no less than 1,100-kilograms.
Grand Touring (GT) – The GT cars were also restricted to a 1,100-kilogram weight rule. This category also included production-based vehicles. Competitors raced cars such as the BMW M3, Porsche GT3RS and Ferrari 360 Modena. Unlike the GTS entries, teams in this category could not use carbon fiber brakes.

The ALMS schedule included nine North American events in 2003. The opening round was the 12 Hours of Sebring. It was followed by the first of two races at Road Atlanta, Sonoma and the series second visit to Trois Rivieres. The second Canadian event was held at Mosport, next up was Road America, then Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Miami street circuit and finally, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Round seven of the 2003 American Le Mans Series took place at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The race was scheduled to be 2-hours and 45-minutes in length around the eleven-turn 2.238-mile road course.

One of the Dyson Lolas was quickest in practice but when it counted in qualifying the Team Joest Audi R8 driven by Frank Biela captured the overall and LMP900 pole. Sharing the No. 1 Audi with Biela was Marco Werner. The race was relatively uneventful with the pair leading 115 of the 120-lap contest. This was the team’s fourth victory of the 2003 season.

For the seventh time this year, an Alex Job Racing Porsche topped the GT qualifying time sheet. Setting the quickest time and establishing a new lap record was Sascha Maassen in the No. 23 entry. Maassen and his co-driver Lucas Luhr had a relatively easy run after their teammates, Jorg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard suffered an alternator issue. They won the class by a one-lap margin.

The No. 3 Corvette C5-R of Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell was gridded fourth in GTS for the start. Fellows and O’Connell and their teammates in the second Corvette Racing entry were no match for the Ferraris. At the conclusion of the event, they finished third in class - one-lap down to the class winners. However, the Enge/Kox Ferrari failed the post-race inspection and Fellows and O’Connell were awarded second in GTS.

Butch Leitzinger driving the No. 16 Lola EX257 which he would share with James Weaver was the quickest in practice. The team was knocked off the top of the times sheets in qualifying but Weaver was the fastest in LMP675. He was able to stay in touch with the leading Audi early in the race but lost almost a minute when he went off-course. Despite this incident, the duo finished second overall and first in class.

With the arrival of Lolas EX257 in the LMP675 class, the older B2k/40 models became all but obsolete. Essex Racing entered a Lola B2K/40 co-driven by Jason Workman and Scott Bradley. They qualified eighteenth overall – behind the quickest GT Porsche. But Workman and Bradley had reliability on their side and as the result of attrition in the LMP675 category, they took the runner-up spot in the class.

The No. 88 Ferrari 550 Maranello shared by Tomas Enge and Peter Kox was just – 0.060-seconds slower than their teammates and started second in GTS and eleventh overall. During the race, they moved to the front of the class and took the GTS victory, finishing fifth overall. However, the post-race technical inspection uncovered an issue with the air intake box which caused it to fail the stall test - the team was disqualified.

The No. 4 Corvette out-qualified their teammates. Oliver Gavin and Kelly Collins were gridded twelfth overall and third in GTS. The two Corvette entries could not match the pace of the Prodrive Ferraris. At the checkered flag, Gavin and Collins finished fourth in GTS but an incident during the race damaged the air box on the winning Ferrari. The car failed the technical inspection and the duo was moved to third in class.

The Audi R8s dominated the LMP900 class and the ‘best of the rest’ was the Panoz LMP01s. The No. 11 Panoz was withdrawn after it was severely damaged in practice. The team’s second entry was driven by Olivier Beretta and David Saelens. The duo started third in LMP900. They inherited second in class when the Champion Audi encountered a problem and would maintain the position until the finish.

The Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Porsche GT3RS driven by Johnny Mowlem and Craig Stanton was the third quickest GT car in qualifying. Stanton jumped into an early lead but spun while being passed by the Joest Audi and one of the Dyson Lolas. The pair dropped down the race order but drove hard to improve their position and were third in class at the checkered flag.

Starting third overall and second in the LMP900 class was the No. 38 Audi R8 driven by Johnny Herbert and J.J. Lehto. In the morning warm-up, there was an electrical problem that required the crew to replace the ECU wiring harness. Less an hour into the race, Herbert pitted for what appeared to be routine stop but the Audi was taken behind the wall for a new transmission. They returned to finish third in class.

The No. 35 Ferrari 360 Modena GT struggled with reliability issues earlier in the season but those problems had been resolved and the team was posting some excellent results. Sharing the driving duties were Anthony Lazzaro and Ralf Kelleners. They were gridded fourth in the GT class. They could not maintain the pace of the Alex Job Porsches but were able to move into second by the conclusion of the event.

The Ferrari’s traded fast times all weekend but it was the No. 80 Prodrive entry qualified by Jan Magnussen that would start on the GTS pole - in the process, he set a new lap record. Magnussen and his co-driver David Brabham lost a position to their teammates during the contest and were second in class at the finish. However, the first place Ferrari was disqualified and the duo was awarded the GTS victory.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	LMP900	Biela / Werner	Audi R8	120	-
2	LMP675	Weaver / Leitzinger	Lola EX257	120	-
3	LMP900	Beretta / Saelens	Panoz LMP01	118	-
4	LMP900	Herbert / Lehto	Audi R8	115	-
5	LMP900	Lewis / Drissi	R & S MK III C	113	-
6	GTS	Magnussen / Brabham	Ferrari 550 Maranello	113	-
7	LMP900	C. Field / Sutherland	R & S MKIII C	112	-
8	GTS	Fellows / O'Connell	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	111	-
9	GTS	Gavin / Collins	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	111	-
10	GTS	Naspetti / Schiattarella / Auberlen	Ferrari 550 Maranello	110	-
11	GT	Maassen / Luhr	Porsche GT3RS	108	-
12	GTS	Belloc / Weickardt	Dodge Viper GTS-R	108	-
13	GT	Kelleners / Lazzaro	Ferrari 360 Modena	107	-
14	GT	Mowlem / Stanton / Jonsson	Porsche GT3RS	107	-
15	GT	Liddell / Caffi	Porsche GT3RS	106	-
16	GT	Buckler / Wagner	Porsche GT3RS	106	-
17	LMP675	Workman / Bradley	Lola B2K/40	106	-
18	GT	Gregoire / Salazar /Alexander	Ferrari 360 Modena	105	-
19	GT	Lewis / Borcheller	Ferrari 360 Modena	105	-
20	GT	Gleason / Bunting	Porsche GT3RS	104	-
21	GT	Bernhard / Bergmeister	Porsche GT3RS	104	-
22	GT	Schrom / Ehret	Porsche GT3RS	104	-
23	GT	Jay Policastro / Joe Policastro	Porsche GT3RS	103	-
24	GT	Rice / Warnock	Porsche GT3RS	103	-
25	GT	Earle / Neuhaus	Ferrari 360 Modena	101	-
26	LMP675	Jon Field / Dayton	Lola EX257	101	-
27	GT	Hindery / Baron	Porsche GT3RS	98	-
28	GT	Foster / Nyberg /Skelton	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	95	-
29	GT	Jackson / Murry	Porsche GT3RS	84	-
30	LMP675	C. Dyson / Wallace	Lola EX257	40	Engine
31	GT	Negri / Frisselle	Porsche GT3RS	36	Gearbox
32	LMP675	Bucknum / Willman / McMurry	Pilbeam MP91	26	Motor
33	GT	Pumpelly / Lally	Porsche GT3RS	16	Transmission
-	GTS	Kox / Enge	Ferrari 550 Maranello	-	Disqualified

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