Baltimore Grand Prix - 2/3 September 2011

[NightStalk3r]

As the commentators all agreed, "id have hit him harder"

[AndrewF31]

Circuit is nice and wide. But that mini-chicane mid-straight is funny. At least in V8 Supercars they have tyres.

[Deleted]

LMPC field already practising how to crash tomorrow...

[Livininthinair]

Im at work and dont have video - what happened?

[AndrewF31]

No Muscle Milk out there?

[Deleted]

Cytosport is still working out their electrical gremlins, meaning a fun afternoon for mr Dumas tomorrow. But well done Autocon - slower than three spec Orecas and five GTs...

Wondering if we're gonna get some further penalties from that lizard / risi idioticy...

[kober]

1:27.750 by Dyson's Lola, that's 5.5 seconds slower than IndyCar - not bad

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

As the commentators all agreed, "id have hit him harder"

At that point I really started to miss Hindy. Anyone who hits another car on purpose needs to have his license taken away.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by Livininthinair

Im at work and dont have video - what happened?

This: http://twitter.com/#%21/orangemen_nl...810433/photo/1

and this: http://twitter.com/#%21/orangemen_nl...192960/photo/1

Almost simultaneous!

[arakis]

coild someone post what happened between lizards and risi, I could watch it live

[Accident]

Originally Posted by arakis

coild someone post what happened between lizards and risi, I could watch it live

I dunno if there is a specific video of it yet, but basically about a lap before it happened Pat was quick and a few car lengths back from Milner, who seemed to be starting another flying lap, but Pat was quicker and seemed to kind of dive into 3 and bumped the Corvette, so it showed Pat was already getting frustrated.

Then I think it was the next lap, Pat was on another flying lap and coming up on the Risi car into turn 5. Melo was slow but stayed to the right, looked like he was trying to give Pat the inside line, but Pat slowed waaaay up and let Melo go back in front of him, then going into 6 tagged the right rear of the Ferrari and pushed the bodywork into the tire, stayed behind Melo for another corner going slowly, then as Milner passed again he pulled out from behind Melo and sped off. Melo tried to drive it back around to the pits and eventually cut the tire down and parked it in the run-off road at the hairpin.

In my opinion, it's hard to say exactly who was naughtier. I think going into 5 it's pretty tough to stay out of the way. I also understand why Pat would be frustrated if he thought it was on purpose or Melo didn't care, but specifically slowing up so that Melo could go back in front of him so he could give him a bump seems a little much. It may be that Melo didn't really give a damn, or wasn't paying attention, but it's also possible it's just a byproduct of a tight section of a street circuit.

[arakis]

or pat just being an a**hole

[Deleted]

Well there you go...

The No. 45 Porsche of Patrick Long, which was third on the provisional qualifying list, was subsequently excluded for "unjustifiable risk," moving the No. 3 Corvette up to fourth on the GT grid.

The No. 62 had its qualifying times disallowed and will therefore start the two-hour race from the back of the 30-car grid tomorrow, alongside the Porsche which was also penalized – both for “unjustifiable risk”.

[arakis]

risi moved to the back as well, same reason

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Well there you go...

Dumas, Flying Lizards and Risi all starting from the back of the field? Should be an interesting race to say the least!

[fieldodreams79]

Just finished watching the q'ing on E3 and if what you fellas say is true, Pat Long and FL got too harsh of a penalty; the guy got balked twice on a flyer. I guess its the "reaction" usually gets the penalty. Oh well.

Other than that, what a show! Good stuff all round in q'ing. And I love this track, btw. First real chance to see what this circuit is like as I couldn't pay too much attention to practice.

Really looking forward to the event tomorrow. Great circuit, great atmosphere, fast cars starting in the rear and more than a handful of drivers already teed off.

[arakis]

ok I just rewatched the Long Melo incident 7 times, its at the end of min 37 of the alms.com feed.

for the love of everything I do not understand what melo did to diserve that, he clearly moved out of the way as can be seen from this pic,


did Melo do something on a previus lap, because long had the pass made before the turn, then stoped mid turn and let melo pass, and then hit him in the next turn WTF

why didi melo get penalised

Pat should at least get a warning like magnesen and jorg did or like enge did.

[NightStalk3r]

There is only 1 quick line through that corner and melo was doordling along right in the middle of it.

Got to laugh at this comment in the Risi Qualifying report on alms.com

"Jaime Melo suffered contact from the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche towards the end of the 15-minute session – on what would have been his fastest lap."

Melo must have stopped for a cup of tea on his previous best lap if that is the case.

[arakis]

seriosly, you are justifiying him, what melo did at best was mild, what long did was just plain idiot driving. Melo got blocked 2 previus laps, you didnt see him banging everyone because of it, come one, its a street race, off course someone is gonna be blocking its the nature of the course.

[Coach Ep]

Madman Pat. He obviously didn´t set his best time on the lap he made contact - on purpose! - with Melo, so basically he threw out a 2nd row spot which would have given his team a fair shot at victory - especially on a street circuit. And he could have gotten another lap if he had just passed Melo and gone on with his job. Not saying that would have been faster than his previous one, tyres could have lost the ultimate pace, but still. Frustrations about a disappointing season starting to show?

[Deleted]

Just noticed that there was a late second adjustment from IMSA coming to this weekend, Corvette's fuel size restrictor is now at 38mm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gVDha3DH14
Some fabulous onboard footage with the #4, you can really feel the bumps (and kerb on the chicane)

[joeb]

The 52 LMPC got a penalty for avoidable contact in Q'ing, but got moved to the back of the LMPC grid not the whole grid.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Muscle Milk has been up all night fixing the problem and is almost ready, but not quite so no warm up for Cytosport, it will sure be an up hill battle for Cytosport come the race.

Also, I believe the TRG Porsche that crashed during practice is not expected to make the warm up session either.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

With Chris and Humaid driving the Dyson cars the entire session, Ricardo Gonzalez lead the warm up session overall by over a full second. However, the car in second was not LMP1 or LMPC, it was Vilander in the Risi Ferrari.

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by arakis

ok I just rewatched the Long Melo incident 7 times, its at the end of min 37 of the alms.com feed.

for the love of everything I do not understand what melo did to diserve that, he clearly moved out of the way as can be seen from this pic,


did Melo do something on a previus lap, because long had the pass made before the turn, then stoped mid turn and let melo pass, and then hit him in the next turn WTF

why didi melo get penalised

Pat should at least get a warning like magnesen and jorg did or like enge did.

What it looks like to me, is that Melo is on the racing line, dawdling along. Pat had to get off the racing line to pass him, but that corner is so tight, he would have never made it through going the speed he would have gone if he was on the racing line so he had to brake a lot harder, and him and Melo happened to meet at the same spot in the corner. Realistically, Melo should have been on the left side, the slow side of the track so that people on flyers could have taken the racing line through the corner.