Accidents make life difficult for Pirelli-shod teams

J3 Racing Porsche Gains Second Podium of ALMS Season Lexington, Ohio, May 22, 2005 - After scoring two podium finishes at Road Atlanta last month, including the inaugural victory for the Panoz Esperante in GT2, the Pirelli-shod teams were looking to continue their momentum at Mid-Ohio today. The #35 Maserati Corse MC 12 of Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio De Simone had placed fifth at Sebring and third at Road Atlanta for Maserati's first North American podium since racing legends Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra had won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1957. With a further weight penalty reduction at Mid-Ohio, De Simone was able to qualify the MC12 third in GT1, within 0.35 seconds of the record-setting Corvette. The Panoz Esperantes also showed their speed potential in GT2 by qualifying third and fourth; Bryan Sellers bringing the #51 Panoz within 0.21 of the lead Porsche. Unfortunately, all three cars had to start the race at the back of the grid for various reasons: the Maserati to replace all four tires after spinning out during qualifying while the #51 Panoz was found to be too high during tech inspection and Marino Franchitti was an 11th-hour replacement for the injured Bill Auberlen in the #50 Esperante. Seven minutes into the race, the Maserati was penalized for contact with the Dodge Viper only to be virtually eliminated from contention at the 1:19 mark as the #2 Audi R8 punted the MC12 off the course and into the gravel pit at turn #11. Sellers had his own close encounter as he was sandwiched between the spinning #24 AJR Porsche and then Tboned by the #2 Audi at the 0:23 mark. None of the cars recovered to compete. Robin Liddell was able to motor from dead last to second in the GT2 class at the one-hour mark only to finish fourth just behind the Pirelli-shod #79 J3 Racing Porsche of Justin Jackson and Tim Sugden, the team's second podium of the season after placing second at Sebring. So, it's on to Le Mans on June 18 and then Lime Rock for the fourth round of the ALMS on Monday, July 4, where all the Pirelli-shod teams are looking forward to continued progress and hopefully more podiums.