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Miami, Florida (6 Oct, 2002) -
The
long-delayed (from April) 'Grand Prix Americas' in Downtown Miami was
not quite
what the ADT/Champion Audi R8 team had hoped for in their "home" race,
as a pitstop gone bad destroyed any chance of the solid finish that
had looked
to be on the cards early on. Johnny Herbert, who qualified and started
third in
the two-hour, 45-minute American Le Mans Series race, managed to work
his way
up to the race lead, but a black flag penalty cost the team several
positions,
leading ultimately to a fifth-place finish. Joest Racing's #1 Audi R8
of Frank
Biela and Emanuelle Pirro took the race win, simultaneously clinching
the 2002
LMP-900 Manufacturers' title for Audi.
The Miami race weekend was an abbreviated one, as the support status
of the ALMS
race (CART headlined) meant all practice and qualifying were held on
Friday, with
the race itself late on Saturday. Though Miami's skies were clear and
blue, the
weather was oppressively hot and humid, which made for difficult
working conditions
for the teams. The weather was hard on the track itself too, causing a
section
of newly-laid asphalt to start coming up after just half a day's
practice.
Fast in early practice, the ADT/Champion Audi was not surprisingly
bested by both
factory Audi R8's in final qualifying, which was delayed while the
track underwent
repairs. But the team were optimistic for race day, Crew Chief Brad
Kettler and
Team Strategist Ed Wheeler having planned a single pit stop strategy,
in which
Herbert would stay out as long as possible before pitting for the
mandatory driver
change and enough fuel to finish the race.
All worked out well, as most of the leaders chose to pit during an
early-race
full-course caution period. Herbert stayed out, taking the lead and
stretching
out a 20-second lead, before finally pitting at the one hour,
23-minute point
when another opportune caution period presented itself. Herbert out,
Johansson
in, enough fuel to last the distance and fresh Michelin rubber on the
front only,
and it looked to be a quick stop and back out to fight back to the
lead.
But during the stop the left side wheel gun's air hose had come undone
from the
overhead boom, and as Johansson blasted out of the pits the left side
of the rear
wing caught the dangling air hose, ripping it from the overhead boom
as the car
departed. Nobody hurt and the wheel gun quickly replaced, but the
incident was
a violation of IMSA regulations, and so Johansson (unaware of the
entire incident
at the time) was black-flagged. The stop-and-go penalty and time lost
on track
meant Johansson - instead of challenging for the lead - was lucky to
hold on to
fifth place as the checkers fell.
Although the ADT/Champion team won the IMSA Cup as highest-finishing
privateer,
the fifth-place finish dropped Johnny Herbert from third to fifth in
LMP-900 Drivers'
points with just one race remaining. |
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