GTS-R ALMS Race Monterey 5/10-5/12, 2013

daytonprowler

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American Le Mans Monterey :2tu::drive:

Live Qualifying:

5/10/2013 at 7:45 pm EDT on ESPN 3
Live Streaming:
5/11/2013 at 6:15 pm EDT on ESPN 3
Television Broadcast:
5/12/2013 at 4:00 pm EDT on ESPN 2
 

viper GTS-R

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Oh awesome! I have a car show that Saturday morning so I might actually make it home in time to watch the race! Thanks Randall!

BTW this is the LAST race before the big one at LeMans!

--RS
 

VENOM V

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I will be there, without my Gen V Viper but with my VCA brothers. Friday night dinner with the drivers and a number of SRT engineers, then the SRT hospitality suite and race Saturday. Life's good!
 

chikane

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the perfect track for srt to try and get that first win .. i'll be cheering for them
 

bushido

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I was out there today the whole place was dead. Not a whole lot of people. The Vipers were struggling today too. Hopefully the results will be better at tomorrows race..
 

avilab

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I used to go and watch the ALMS come to Laguna Seca, and as awesome as the cars looked and sounded, it always saddened me that so few people actually attended the race. I found myself looking around the bleachers constantly asking myself "where IS everyone? They should all be here at this glorious event!".
 
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daytonprowler

daytonprowler

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Hopefully this will be the view from the competitions driver's seat!

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tbsviper

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Nice picture and let's hope that is the comp's view.
 
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bushido

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SRT needs better drivers. Farnbacher is the ONLY one that's consistent,and goes flat out. The rest not so good ..
 

tbsviper

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The prototype action was great to watch. A very exciting race on a great track.
 

Camfab

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One thing you have to consider with these cars is that they are highly restricted. That is ALMS decides what restrictions are placed on the cars. When I watched the race a few weeks ago and saw the Z-4 rip by the Viper on the back stretch I was reminded of that issue. At VOI I recalled that the intake restrictions are smaller than my thumb. These restrictions basically castrate the Viper.
 

bushido

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One thing you have to consider with these cars is that they are highly restricted. That is ALMS decides what restrictions are placed on the cars. When I watched the race a few weeks ago and saw the Z-4 rip by the Viper on the back stretch I was reminded of that issue. At VOI I recalled that the intake restrictions are smaller than my thumb. These restrictions basically castrate the Viper.

the small intake restrictors are a handicap,but the corvettes intake restrictors are just as small. farnbacher not only pushes the car harder. he has a better ability of what adjustments are needed for the car for each track.
 
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daytonprowler

daytonprowler

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From Allpar.com

The No. 91 Fast & Furious 6 SRT Viper GTS-R, with Dominick Farnbacher and Marc Goossens at the wheel, finished fifth in the GT Class and 13th overall in Saturday’s American Le Mans Series race at the
Mazda



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Laguna Seca track near Monterey, California. Farnbacher and Goossens are tied for third in the GT driver standings.
“It was a good race for us if you look back at all the practice sessions, the qualifying,” commented Farnbacher. “We couldn’t really find a solution to close the gap to the front runners. We did a severe change for the race with a little bit of a risk because we didn’t know what it would do. I think it worked out pretty well. Bill (Riley, VP and Chief Engineer, Riley Technologies) did a good job on that.
“But the biggest thanks today are going to my pit crew. They did an incredible job on getting us back out on time all the time. They were very good. It’s well deserved. I’m happy and we are still in the title chase. Marc did a good job, brought it home in one piece and that’s what we wanted.”
Marc Goossens, was philosophical about the finish: ”We had a tough break on a pit stop during our driver change that cost us a few spots. A car drove through our pit box and collided with the guy who holds the lollipop for us and shows Dominic where to stop. So Dominic overshot the box and we lost two positions which is out of our control. Our pit crew did a great job all day and made up a lot of positions for us.
“The biggest problem on a track like Laguna Seca is that if you’re stuck behind traffic, you’re demanding so much from your
tires



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and your car that it hurts you further in the stint. At first, I had to fight harder than I should have been and then a yellow came out and I almost got taken out by a Ferrari who was three laps down. He got a penalty for it but it cost me track position and I got stuck behind two cars that I shouldn’t have been racing behind.
“On that last restart, we were in good position to hold fourth place. If it wasn’t for another Ferrari who jump-started us, he got going before the
green



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got called. (He) overtakes me, I overtake him in Turn 3 and then he tries to dive-bomb me in the last corner. The last thing that I wanted was to have any impact on the car and try to save fourth place. Our cars have to be shipped to Le Mans soon and I left the door open for him so we wouldn’t make contact. We would have made contact and both would have DNF’d. We didn’t need that and we would have had a massive amount of damage on the car. We can’t afford that at this point, knowing we’re going to Le Mans soon. The good thing is that we’re scoring points for the championship and the Viperwas flawless. There wasn’t a lot of passing. You had to race hard, traffic just made it difficult. The GT Class points are so close, you need to get as many as you can. The team worked great today. We had some issues in qualifying but changed so stuff for the race today and the car was better. We took the gamble of putting on a completely different setup for the race and it was the best it was all weekend. We have to be pleased by our effort.”
Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer weren’t so lucky: the No. 93 Pennzoil Viper, which finished third in the last ALMS event, had serious
transmission



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problems and finished last, credited with just 12 laps. Bomarito and Wittmer are now ranked 14th.
“When the race went green, the Viper accelerated really well in the straightaway,” said Wittmer.” Once we got down into the corner and into the downshifts, I lost second gear immediately. We assessed the issue and decided to stay out for a little bit and run without second gear. That only prolonged the problem into the other gears. So we opted to come into the paddock, make repairs and get back out for points.
“We made changes to the gearing in about 45 minutes and was still really motivated to get back out there and race. The car felt good, the chassis felt good. It’s a Viper and it always feels good when you’re driving it. We went back out to race and the car started to fail in gear on downshift and then eventually upshift. I went to an override situation which overrides all the electronics and forces you to drive old school, heel-to-toe downshifts. It was quite exciting. I had to be very cautious not to over-rev the
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and damage anything. That lasted about three laps until we lost all the gears. As they say, we had a gear box full of neutrals.”
The SRT Motorsports team remains in third place, but SRT dropped to fourth in the manufacturer standings, falling behind Ferrari.
 

Boxer12

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Encouraging race for the team's first time at Mazda. 91 showed strong race pace yet again which highlights the car and team's capabilities. The real prize is LeMans and that is yet to be ran. Obviously the restrictors make for some close competition. A few breaks can make the difference. The GT class is great fun to watch.. How does the Lollipop guy get hit in the pits? Tough break. Be careful out there boys!
 

Solid Red 98

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Thanks for the insightful race sum up datonprowler. I was present at the race Saturday and saw this all unfold. Anyone who criticizes any of the current SRT drivers obviously doesn't follow sports car racing very closely. These guys are serious professionals. The GT class in the ALMS is one of the most competitive classes in the world. The entire class was separated by a second in qualifying. There was a fair amount of unnecessary bumping that caused a lot of yellows and definitely worked against the 91 viper (as described in the allpar article). Overall SRT produced an outstanding result, charging from the rear and setting the second fastest lap of the race. Goosens and Farnbacher are right there in the hunt for the drivers championship. Go viper!
 

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