Close only counts in horse shoes!

Mechanical Failures Put Maserati and Panoz in Fourth at Portland PORTLAND, Oregon, July 30, 2005 After running as high as third place through the first half of todays Grand Prix of Portland, Robin Liddell and Bryan Sellers had to settle for fourth in the #50 Panoz Esperante. In a similar manner, Fabrizio de Simone drove his #35 Maserati Corse MC12 past the #4 Corvette into third place on only the second lap of the race. But a track incident, untimely full-course caution and a faulty starter caused the Maserati to narrowly miss out on their second podium of the year. The #35 Maserati Corse MC 12 of Andrea Bertolini and Fabio Babini had placed third at Road Atlanta for Maseratis first North American podium since racing legend Juan Manuel Fangio won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1957. But ever since they have been plagued with mechanical difficulties. Former F1 driver, Mika Salo, subbing for Maserati Corse regular Bertolini, took over at the half way point in fifth place and raced to the finish, narrowly missing a third-place finish. But the most disappointing day belongs to the #50 Panoz Esperante of Bryan Sellers and Robin Liddell, GT2 winner at Road Atlanta earlier this year. Sellers took over from Liddell in third place only seconds behind the leading Porsche at the first pit stop. During his stint, Sellers thought he had a tire going flat, but the TV coverage indicated a blown engine by all the smoke coming from the rear of the car. A lengthy pit stop revealed the wheel arch had simply broken and fallen on the rear tire causing the tire smoke. A podium seemed out of the question but Liddell came close. But then, this wasnt a game of horse shoes and both teams will be looking for their second podium at the seventh round of the American Le Mans Series at Road America in Wisconsin on Sunday, August 21, 2005.