ALMS GT2 Finally
 

Bergmeister vs. Magnuson.

Wow.

OMG. that was racing. The berg-meister put magnussen into the wall at the checkered flag, that was the most intense couple of laps I've seen in decades.

Prolly get penalized but so what. The corvette was bumping him, bending the rules, trying to run the Porsche off the road and he ends up punted. live by the sword, die by the sword.

I'd have to agree. What great racing, just wish it wouldn't have ended that way. Seems like Magnusson gets into these kind of scuffles alot lately.

In years past, I could like Magnusson and Bergmeister both and as they were in separate classes, there was no conflict.

I've got to say, Magnusson blew the race. He was faster and with some patience he could have passed Bergmeister at an opportune moment. Magnusson decided to play "NASCAR" and bump Bergmeister around and pass illegally. Bergmeister aggressively defended his position and I don't blame him.

Magnussen has always been "dirty" for a sportscar or open wheel racer (not so under Nascar type racing as legion points out).

Bergmeister obviously didn't appreciate when Melo drove him to the wall on the last corner @ Sebring 2 seasons ago and "got away w/ it". He also obviously didn't like Magnussen bumping him in the middle of the last corner today.

ALMS has already shown they condone this behavior @ the end of the race based on Sebring. If they don't allow it today (especially since Magnussen appears to have tried to spin Bergmeister out) then they really look like *********s.

How about the intreview with Bergmeister afterwards? His voice was shaking, he even said he was still shaking. Fantastic finish. Glad Magnussen wasn't hurt.

What a finish! Mags was pulling out all the stops and Bergi was having none of it. Mags had used the pitlane to pass on the inside through One and the stewards made him give up the position (without a stop-go) on the next-to-last lap. Then the Red Mist took over for the Dane and he made some Berserker moves on that last lap. Bergi brake-checked Mags in Eleven and Mags just drove into him. Trying to go up the inside using the non-homologated Vette motor's torque seemed like a good idea at the time, but when Bergi defended the Vette was too unstable to push him off and instead shot across the track. Mags crossed the finish in second place, perpendicular to the racing line. I was in Pit Lane when Bergi got out of the car. He was shaking like a leaf and his car was damaged on three corners. The Vette fared much worse...

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The irony is that the Bergmeister/Long/Flying Lizards Porsche had already sewn up the Championship and Corvette will need to run a new (homologated) engine for 2010. Fortunately nobody got hurt!

I agree - play by the sword, pay by the sword. I hate to see a crash like that, but he precipitated it himself.

The ALMS Revised Race Report, signed at the bottom by the Race Director, Chief of IMSA Timing, and the Chairman of the Stewards indicates that the race was officially won by Bergmeister/Long. They signed it, so my guess is that they consider it a racing incident.

Here it is:
http://www.americanlemans.com/events/current/results/09%20Laguna%20FinalRace.pdf

Magnussen has one of the best reps in sports car racing, and was noted for his smooth driving style when racing the big Panoz. He was aggressive here. Too bad no one wants to play with Chevrolet in GT1. At one time Porsche might actually rise to the challenge, but the have to sell SUVs and Panmeras now.

Magnusson was outta control. Perhaps emboldened by that light penalty for the pit lane pass? Stop & go would have prevented that crazy ending. His impatience may have been his undoing. The race report (thanks for the direct link) shows Magnusson as getting the fastest lap in GT2.

Radio le Mans coverage was superlative! Hearing it live yesterday was fantastic. Seeing it was even better today - Bergmeister was pale as a sheet! Lizards did an awesome job, great end to a great year for them.

I musta rewound that finish a dozen times yesterday! Amazing!!!

From what i saw it surely looked like Bergmeister was more than reasonable in his actions. I mean trying to shove him off line on the very last turn....that was lame as hell as was the pit lane move.

Loved the announcer bit on the pit lane gig...."right now neither driver is certain what happened there..." "OH NO, both drivers know exactly what happened!"


And good riddance to GT1. If you're gonna put a tube frame under a car i'd just as well see a LMP body on top of it.

It was a great race, my Father was over from England and we drove down to Laguna Seca to watch.

The end was really exciting, the noise, the LMP1 and LMP2 running nose to tail the last few laps, never certain who was going to be leading the next lap around - gripping stuff !

GT2, can I say it? , but OMGGGGGGGGGGGG!!

Talk about nail biting, Corvette getting closer and closer, the excited commentator over the loud speakers "Magnassun is past - 4 wheels on pitout, will that be allowed?" Corvette and Porsche sreaming towards us - Damnnnnnnn Corvette in the lead, we think it's all over now, but no Corvette has to give back postion!!! Can the Lizard hold on, again they come around Porsche in the lead,we think it's all over now, smiles all around, suddenly commentator excited again, we can't quiet hear what's been said - Fireworks, what the hell is going on!!

Porsche comes through, one light on side of car - They Wonnnnnnnnnnnnn !!!

We suddenly realize how damn cold it got and ran to the car for some heat lol

And did the Ferrari screw themselves earlier in the race? I saw something about it on SPEED report but wasn't paying attension. Did they lose the championship because of it?

Not to hijack, but what did the Corvette teams have to do to their cars to get them to run in GT2? Did they have to add weight or a restrictor plate or something?

They simply had to start running real Corvettes, rather than tube frame race cars that look like Corvettes.

This is a good thing IMO (real corvettes and not a tube frame race car with body/sticker package xx on it).

I surely hope the new classing makes for good racing in ALMS next year. I have become a Rolex/Grand Am fan even though they too have their share of tube framed imposters (most notably the RX8) and even though their prototype cars aren't NEARLY as sexy as the LMP cars (it is a personal dream to do a few laps in such a car one day...even a lower powered one) because the racing has just been better. But darn if yesterdays race didn't have all the good stuff!!! Deep braking, cars running two wide, using slower traffic....!!!

And how about the bit where Magnuson looked to have Bergmeister boxed in behind the presumably slower 911 when Magnuson took the outside line....(don't recall which corner it was)? Man that was some good ****!!! I just KNEW the corvette was gonna pull Bergmeister big time but the other 911 actually out accelerated both guys and gave Bergmeister the room to run his line full speed!!!!

Woohooo good racing is fun to watch!!!

Damn right!!!!!

I couldn't believe what I saw when he nearly made the overtake on the outside line, Magnussen was so close to pulling it off too.

I really love this series, LMP cars sliding in between the GT2 cars, great to watch

The Ferrari clipped the Jag on it's left front breaking a radiator trying to pass, (looked like complete driver error), knocking it out of the race. So yes it ended the chance at the championship.

Steel brakes vs. ceramic, things like that also.

They had to run a smaller engine too IIRC.

I believe they are running a non-homologated engine that is smaller than the standard 6.0 in the Z06...and they have to "homologate" it next year. Not sure what that means. (Will street 'Vettes get smaller engines?)

I heard the announcers talking about that. It sounded like they would have less horsepower but who knows. I guess the RSR's had to add 25 Kilos to the cars?

Well well well. IMSA decided to apply hindsight and have now issued 2-race suspensions to both Magnussen and Bergmeister for "avoidable contact" in the last laps of Saturday's race. Read that at this link: Bergmeister and Magnussen placed on probation for last-lap ALMS wreck - Racer.com

I don't like how it all went down, but IMSA have been rather lax with enforcement. See, e.g., Sebring 2007!

But the win still counts right?

I presume so. It's actually not specified in the article from racer.com, but I'd think if they issued a revised race report with changed results, we'd be hearing allll about it, right?

I'm looking at the IMSA and American le Mans series websites and don't see anything about it in either place. I'm going to assume the results stand unless we hear otherwise.

Here we go, from SpeedTV.com:

The controversial finish sent shock waves through the paddock afterward, but IMSA made no adjustments to the final results. They instead elected to place Bergmeister and Magnussen on probation.

Link: AUTO-RACING - ALMS: Magnussen, Bergmeister Placed On Probation - SPEEDtv.com

Personally I'm glad the put them both on probation. I don't want the series turning into CRASHCAR. What would be next, phantom cautions with 4 minutes left in races??
But yes they have to be consistant.

(And Speed TV is a whole nother gripe but we'll save that for later ;) )

My wife and I watched that. Best racing we've seen in a long time. We both agreed that Magnussen seemed driven to win at any cost. A little crazy at the end, like maybe something more was involved in Jan's enthusiasiam. That has got to bump ratings a bit. Not like a yawner F-1 race!

I imagine it's one of those crashes where you pick a side based on what you drive....

But if I were in Bergmeister's shoes, I'd probably have done the same... Remember Sebring with Melo in the Ferrari squeezing him in the wall on the last lap? Very similar to this, and IMSA did nothing....

This time Magnussen nudged him just enough to make him lose traction in the last corner (oopsie), you cannot accelerate when you are busy catching the back end of the car, and IMSA would most certainly not had done a damn thing either if Jorg had just let it be - the corvette would have surely outdragged the Porsche before the line thanks to that lovetap...

So all in all, nicely done by Flying lizards... Bring on 2010, I really like GT2 now with the bimmers, jags, ferrari, porsche, Vette, this is the most interesting class, no doubt !

Don't forget that the Panoz is going to be evolved for next year with more development. Also Ford is thinking about supporting the Doran Ford GT (as well as possibly adding a 2nd car). The GT has the potential to be very fast in capable hands, as evidenced by the pole at PLM

AUTO-RACING - ALMS: Laguna Seca Post-Race Notebook - SPEEDtv.com

That's the most important consideration. And probably why Magnussen wasn't angry with Jorg.