Porsche Driving LeMans Race Coverage Article 5

6/14

5:36 am PST

"PREDICTIONS FROM THE PIT BALCONY"

PREDICTIONS FROM THE PIT BALCONY

Submitted by Pete Albrecht

With eight 911 GT1s and last year's Joest-Porsche prototype winner in the race, Porsche has to be the odds-on favorite. But Le Mans is never easy, and anything can happen in 24 hours.

The weight and restrictor plate based handicap system instituted by the Le Mans organizers is so effective that this year, overall victory could go to either a prototype or a GT1 machine. It was close last year and promises to be even closer in 1997, with one less Joest entry and six more Porsche 911 GT1s nipping at its heels, plus a strong bid from Nissan.

Reinhold Joest has what it takes to win, but this year he has only one car. In qualifying, Brundle in the Nissan GT1 was able to beat Alboreto's best in the Joest, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Joest was experiencing gearbox problems in prequalifying, finding some foreign particles in the transmission. The parts supply for these boxes is limited, and rather than burn up its supply of parts chasing the Nissan (after all, Joest is exempt from prequalifying thanks to last year's win), Joest held back its two brand-new transmissions for race day.

For 1997, both works and privateer Porsche 911 GT1s have been contesting the FIA GT series. The first three events on the calendar were less than auspicious for the factory. In the first race at Hockenheim on April 13, BMW-McLaren swept the first three places, followed by Stuck/Nielsen and Kelleners/Dalmas in the works Porsches. At the rain-shortened Silverstone race on May 11, Stuck and Boutsen managed only a fifth behind the works BMW-McLarens, a Mercedes, and a Gulf BMW-McLaren. Due to a testing accident at Spa-Francorchamps, Porsche did not contest the third race at Helsinki on May 25. Although the car was destroyed, driver Yannick Dalmas sustained only minor injuries (two broken fingers) and is expected to drive a factory GT1 at Le Mans. Helsinki was won by J.J. Lehto in a works BMW-McLaren, followed by the Roock Racing 911 GT1 three laps in arrears.

In prequalifying, Dalmas, last year's Le Mans polesitter, set a time about a second and a half behind Brundle's surprising Nissan GT1, so the Porsches are definitely strong contenders this year. Stuck, in the other works car, was about 7 seconds behind Brundle, and might have done better but for a crash attributed to a steering problem. The spread between the fastest and slowest 911 GT1s is less than 8 seconds. Look for Stuck/Boutsen/Wollek in #25 to be in the top three, closely followed by Collard/Kelleners/Dalmas in the sister #26 works car.

Nissan is a definite threat to Porsche's dominance. The three R390 GT1s are fielded by TWR. Tom Walkinshaw and his team are no strangers to Le Mans, having won here in 1988 and 1990 with the Silk Cut Jaguars. Nissan also has a cadre of experienced pilots on retainer, including Martin Brundle, Gianni Morbidelli, Ricardo Patrese, and Eric Van de Poele. Look for the #21 and #22 cars to be battling the Porsches near the front, with #23 as spear carrier.

The two independently entered Ferraris are a long shot. Fast but fragile, if they can hold together they have an outside chance at a podium finish. Expect bursts of speed from the #3 Ferrari 333 SP of Gianpiero Moretti/Didier Theys/Max Papis and #4 of Michel Ferte/A. Campos/C. Nearburg, punctuated by long pit stops. For a while it looked as if Derek Bell, five times the winner of this race, would have the third seat in the Moretti car, but as it stands now he doesn't have a ride. Son Justin is driving an Oreca Viper, though.

The Porsche-powered Courage cars are a very long shot indeed. Emmanuel Clerico set fastest prototype time in Saturday prequal, but the fact that Lehto was five seconds quicker in a GT1 BMW-McLaren is a sign of what might happen in the race. On Sunday, the quickest Courage, the newer C41 in the hands of Didier Cottaz, was again more than 4 sec. behind the fastest time of day, Brundle in the Nissan GT1. Mario and Michael Andretti will drive the #9 Courage C36, along with Olivier Grouillard.

Kremer made it into the field with both of its Porsche-powered Spider K8 prototypes. The cars are outdated and considerably slower than the Joest car.

BMW-McLaren joins battle with six cars in GT1, from the factory Team BMW Motorsport, operated by Schnitzer, and Gulf Team Davidoff, fielded by the Grand Touring Cars operation. J.J. Lehto set Saturday's fastest prequal GT1 time at 3:45.973 sec. BMW expected to win last year, even chartering a special train from Munich to carry guests and executives to share the victory. The ancient Greeks had a word for this, and the word is "hubris." This year, they are out to even the score. No word yet on whether they rented another train. BMW has several experienced hands on board, including J.J. Lehto, John Nielsen, and Nelson Piquet. Expect a hard-fought Porsche-BMW battle for GT1 honors and overall victory.

Unlikely victors in GT1 are the two Lister Storm GTLs, with mid-mounted Jaguar power, the Panoz GT1s with Ford motors, and the Lotus GT1s. Look for them to run mid-pack behind the prototypes, Porsche GT1s and BMW-McLarens.

The GT2 category is anything but a catchall for also-rans. Expect some of the hardest fought battles to take place in the back of the field, where the GT2s are slugging it out, away from the limelight of the prototype/GT1 battle. Nearly half the field consists of rear-engined Porsche 911 GT2s; the other half is split between front-engined cars using big American engines. We have Saleen Ford Mustangs, Dodge Vipers, a Callaway Corvette, and the two Chevy-powered Marcos. Roock Racing won the class last year, and Andy Pilgrim in a Roock car set fastest GT2 prequalifying time on Sunday, about a second and a half faster than Saturday's best Viper time by Tommy Archer. Roock has two GT2s running (plus a GT1). The Vipers are formidable; Viper Team ORECA, based in France with heavy support from Chrysler in the States, is no stranger to Le Mans, having built and fielded the 1991 winning Mazda 787B. In a dress rehearsal for Le Mans, an ORECA Viper finished third in class at this year's 24 Hours of Dayton, and came in first and second in GT2 at the European GT opener at Hockenheim. In Le Mans prequalifying, less than five seconds separate the fastest 12 cars. With so many cars of two radically different configurations (small, rear engined, high revving Porsches vs. large, slow-turning but torquey American motors), all running similar lap times, it's going to be a real dogfight.

Coming up next, on Wednesday and Thursday, June 11 and 12, from 7 PM to 9 PM and then 10 PM to 12:30 AM, evening and night practice. Times set in practice determine grid position for the race, which begins at 4 PM on June 14.

6/14	5:36 am PST	"PREDICTIONS FROM THE PIT BALCONY"
PREDICTIONS FROM THE PIT BALCONY Submitted by Pete Albrecht With eight 911 GT1s and last year's Joest-Porsche prototype winner in the race, Porsche has to be the odds-on favorite. But Le Mans is never easy, and anything can happen in 24 hours. The weight and restrictor plate based handicap system instituted by the Le Mans organizers is so effective that this year, overall victory could go to either a prototype or a GT1 machine. It was close last year and promises to be even closer in 1997, with one less Joest entry and six more Porsche 911 GT1s nipping at its heels, plus a strong bid from Nissan. Reinhold Joest has what it takes to win, but this year he has only one car. In qualifying, Brundle in the Nissan GT1 was able to beat Alboreto's best in the Joest, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Joest was experiencing gearbox problems in prequalifying, finding some foreign particles in the transmission. The parts supply for these boxes is limited, and rather than burn up its supply of parts chasing the Nissan (after all, Joest is exempt from prequalifying thanks to last year's win), Joest held back its two brand-new transmissions for race day. For 1997, both works and privateer Porsche 911 GT1s have been contesting the FIA GT series. The first three events on the calendar were less than auspicious for the factory. In the first race at Hockenheim on April 13, BMW-McLaren swept the first three places, followed by Stuck/Nielsen and Kelleners/Dalmas in the works Porsches. At the rain-shortened Silverstone race on May 11, Stuck and Boutsen managed only a fifth behind the works BMW-McLarens, a Mercedes, and a Gulf BMW-McLaren. Due to a testing accident at Spa-Francorchamps, Porsche did not contest the third race at Helsinki on May 25. Although the car was destroyed, driver Yannick Dalmas sustained only minor injuries (two broken fingers) and is expected to drive a factory GT1 at Le Mans. Helsinki was won by J.J. Lehto in a works BMW-McLaren, followed by the Roock Racing 911 GT1 three laps in arrears. In prequalifying, Dalmas, last year's Le Mans polesitter, set a time about a second and a half behind Brundle's surprising Nissan GT1, so the Porsches are definitely strong contenders this year. Stuck, in the other works car, was about 7 seconds behind Brundle, and might have done better but for a crash attributed to a steering problem. The spread between the fastest and slowest 911 GT1s is less than 8 seconds. Look for Stuck/Boutsen/Wollek in #25 to be in the top three, closely followed by Collard/Kelleners/Dalmas in the sister #26 works car. Nissan is a definite threat to Porsche's dominance. The three R390 GT1s are fielded by TWR. Tom Walkinshaw and his team are no strangers to Le Mans, having won here in 1988 and 1990 with the Silk Cut Jaguars. Nissan also has a cadre of experienced pilots on retainer, including Martin Brundle, Gianni Morbidelli, Ricardo Patrese, and Eric Van de Poele. Look for the #21 and #22 cars to be battling the Porsches near the front, with #23 as spear carrier. The two independently entered Ferraris are a long shot. Fast but fragile, if they can hold together they have an outside chance at a podium finish. Expect bursts of speed from the #3 Ferrari 333 SP of Gianpiero Moretti/Didier Theys/Max Papis and #4 of Michel Ferte/A. Campos/C. Nearburg, punctuated by long pit stops. For a while it looked as if Derek Bell, five times the winner of this race, would have the third seat in the Moretti car, but as it stands now he doesn't have a ride. Son Justin is driving an Oreca Viper, though. The Porsche-powered Courage cars are a very long shot indeed. Emmanuel Clerico set fastest prototype time in Saturday prequal, but the fact that Lehto was five seconds quicker in a GT1 BMW-McLaren is a sign of what might happen in the race. On Sunday, the quickest Courage, the newer C41 in the hands of Didier Cottaz, was again more than 4 sec. behind the fastest time of day, Brundle in the Nissan GT1. Mario and Michael Andretti will drive the #9 Courage C36, along with Olivier Grouillard. Kremer made it into the field with both of its Porsche-powered Spider K8 prototypes. The cars are outdated and considerably slower than the Joest car. BMW-McLaren joins battle with six cars in GT1, from the factory Team BMW Motorsport, operated by Schnitzer, and Gulf Team Davidoff, fielded by the Grand Touring Cars operation. J.J. Lehto set Saturday's fastest prequal GT1 time at 3:45.973 sec. BMW expected to win last year, even chartering a special train from Munich to carry guests and executives to share the victory. The ancient Greeks had a word for this, and the word is "hubris." This year, they are out to even the score. No word yet on whether they rented another train. BMW has several experienced hands on board, including J.J. Lehto, John Nielsen, and Nelson Piquet. Expect a hard-fought Porsche-BMW battle for GT1 honors and overall victory. Unlikely victors in GT1 are the two Lister Storm GTLs, with mid-mounted Jaguar power, the Panoz GT1s with Ford motors, and the Lotus GT1s. Look for them to run mid-pack behind the prototypes, Porsche GT1s and BMW-McLarens. The GT2 category is anything but a catchall for also-rans. Expect some of the hardest fought battles to take place in the back of the field, where the GT2s are slugging it out, away from the limelight of the prototype/GT1 battle. Nearly half the field consists of rear-engined Porsche 911 GT2s; the other half is split between front-engined cars using big American engines. We have Saleen Ford Mustangs, Dodge Vipers, a Callaway Corvette, and the two Chevy-powered Marcos. Roock Racing won the class last year, and Andy Pilgrim in a Roock car set fastest GT2 prequalifying time on Sunday, about a second and a half faster than Saturday's best Viper time by Tommy Archer. Roock has two GT2s running (plus a GT1). The Vipers are formidable; Viper Team ORECA, based in France with heavy support from Chrysler in the States, is no stranger to Le Mans, having built and fielded the 1991 winning Mazda 787B. In a dress rehearsal for Le Mans, an ORECA Viper finished third in class at this year's 24 Hours of Dayton, and came in first and second in GT2 at the European GT opener at Hockenheim. In Le Mans prequalifying, less than five seconds separate the fastest 12 cars. With so many cars of two radically different configurations (small, rear engined, high revving Porsches vs. large, slow-turning but torquey American motors), all running similar lap times, it's going to be a real dogfight. Coming up next, on Wednesday and Thursday, June 11 and 12, from 7 PM to 9 PM and then 10 PM to 12:30 AM, evening and night practice. Times set in practice determine grid position for the race, which begins at 4 PM on June 14.