The Last Turn Clubhouse has a great post-race review on Laguna Seca. It’s another response to great/unfortunate GT2 finish debate.
A Single Class Returns
This race was good in spite of itself. We’ve been pessimistic this season (other than at Sebring and Petit le Mans), frequently pointing out that a thin field exposes a race to the risk of a cruise-to-the checkered flag if just one or two entries is lost. The latter happened, but thankfully, the former did not.
Simon Pagenaud was running away early after a slow prototype got in between the de Ferran Acura ARX-02a and David Brabham’s Patrón Highcroft duplicate machine. Within just a few laps the margin was on the far side of thirty seconds with Brabham’s No. 9 in third. Of course, a full course caution would correct that, if only for a while. Other problems intervened, and the expected challenger finished four laps down. But then the unexpected happened. The race’s fourth – and last – full course caution fell at just about halfway, and when the green was given to the closed-up field, a prototype race at the front was on.
The final race (watch our play-by-play) to the 2009 American Le Mans Series ended with a lot of controversy regarding the GT2 class battle between Flying Lizard Motorsports, Joerg Bergmeister and Corevette Racing’s Jan Magnussen. It is eerily reminiscent of Joerg’s loss to Rizi Ferrari/Melo in 2007 at Sebring but without the crash. We see it as racing with an unfortunate end, yet a thrilling one. If Jan had never bumped Joerg in the first place, would we be talking about this? Did it tarnish the sport? No. Did it tarnish ALMS? No. Will GT2 be all the rage in 2010? You can count on it!
Since we are both Porsche fans and big Flying Lizard fans, we’ve asked some of our motorsport friends to contribute their un-biased thoughts. We even went as far as inviting Keith Cornett of CorvetteBlogger.com fame! Rounding out the list, motorsport photographer, Darren Pierson, Riley Racing’s Jameson Riley, Chris Bailey host of fastmachines.com radio, professional driver Michael DeNino and last but not least, the Declan Brennan of Radio Le Mans. There’s even a special appearance by Oliver Gavin! They are in no particular order but Jameson Riley will be up first, since he started it!
We’ve tried to break down the last 15sec of the race with a non-biased view. We feel it came down to hard racing, no one wanting to give it up and an unfortunate ending. There have been penalties given out. *We are not professional drivers but we do play one on twitter. Next up, we have some special guest chime in with their thoughts, so look for that later on.
1:58 – #3 tries to go around outside at turn 1 and clearly bumps #45 comping out to unsettle Joerg.
2:00 – Joerg clearly on racing line. Mags losens and drops wheels.
2:45 – At the corkscrew, commentator guarantees a “placing a fender on him”
2:59 – Second to last corner, Joerg with 1-2 car gap. Commentators say Jan is “to far back” and “dive-bomb”
3:05 – Mags bumps Joerg and unsettles the Porsche, again. Berg loses it a bit but gathers. Mags said he “parked” but there is no sign of braking or nose diving.
3:08 – Berg has a car to 1/2 car on him until about 3:10 they might be even and Berg pulls away to the right.
3:09 – 3:12 they slowly come together, with no deliberate turning into each other.
3:12 – This is the big “come together” yet they both seem to be equal in terms of lead.
3:12 – Joerg is moving to the right, its hard to see Mags, but he is obviously going right as well. This is where the spin sets up.
3:13 – Joerg brakes (watch lights) and Jan spins out.
3:14 – Mags hits wall, yet both look to be equal as the line is right there. Jan finishes 1 sec behind Joerg.
If you recall, we partnered with Jameson to both help his effort and bring you the opportunity to have your name, image, brand etc on a race car for as little as $10.
Jameson Riley of Riley Racing will be competing in the Funcup Spa 25 Hour race in July. As a LIVESTRONG member, sponsoring him will help in his cause. For only $10, your name, logo, etc. could be on a funcup beetle, racing on the infamous Spa Francorchamps circuit. Help Jameson out, click here to sponsor him!
Jameson Riley of 
