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17 Mar 2013, 16:12 (Ref:3220066) | #476 | ||
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Enjoyed the Motors coverage and the ALM stream when thy were off air. Of course having JH and JS as commentators was perfect.
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17 Mar 2013, 18:08 (Ref:3220140) | #477 | ||
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Unfortunately, I had too much to do yesterday that I missed the first half, and was distracted through the rest. I did get to enjoy from dusk to the end uninterrupted. Not an epic Sebring but good to see the Corvette's back on the top step.
Penalties seemed to be handed out too easily. |
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17 Mar 2013, 19:26 (Ref:3220171) | #478 | |||
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As far as WEC goes, I think it will be close between Toyota and Audi, but Toyota will win overall. The GTE-Pro field is EXTREMELY tight in the WEC this year. I think the only weak links are Bruno Senna, Ko-Bash, and Beretta. It may take both Ko-Bash and Senna some time to get used to the car... Senna is definitely going to play second fiddle to Fred Makowiecki in the #99. With Ko-Bash and Beretta, I'm really not sure who's going to be the faster. Beretta really seems to get slower and slower every year. He was the slowest of the Corvette guys, and now the slowest of the Pro Ferrari drivers. He's never been lightning fast, but very consistent, I might add. |
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17 Mar 2013, 21:15 (Ref:3220231) | #479 | ||
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Beretta will be racing in ALMS, only at Le Mans with the main team. |
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17 Mar 2013, 23:11 (Ref:3220291) | #480 | |
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18 Mar 2013, 00:41 (Ref:3220312) | #481 | |||
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Chris |
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18 Mar 2013, 02:12 (Ref:3220326) | #482 | |
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A.) Kyle Marcelli and Jeroen Bleekemolen both deserve faster rides—though both are on good teams (Bleekemolen is on about every team at one time or another in a season) both show excellent speed and judgment, IMO.
B.) I didn’t get to see or hear very much of any of the various broadcasts of the race, so I cannot comment—though I can say that Hindy and the RLM crew cannot do a bad job at calling a race. From trackside, the race was exceptional, because there was always action. Even with a bigger field some other years, there didn’t seem to be as much non-stop passing and battling as there seemed to be this year. Only four cautions, and they were spaced out widely enough that everyone got a chance to really run. Of course, because to was multi-class there was a lot of overtaking based on disparate speed potentials—they weren’t always battles for position—but from trackside, a Viper or Aston Martin which is a lap of a few down still looks cool fighting to get its lap back, even if it is ten places behind the car it is chasing. P2 might have been decided halfway though by accident and mechanicals, but on track the cars were wonderful to watch. Same with PC, though I missed the very end of that. I also missed the final laps of the GTC battle, but what I saw on track was actually exciting, and usually GTC Porsches don’t do a lot for me. It was a matter of context, I guess—they were part of a great race full of great cars, so I paid more attention and saw that hey, those are real race cars really racing. The #4 Vette seemed to be almost as fast as some of the PC cars on several occasions; that car Really works well right now. And it will need to—the Vipers were amazing, the Ferrari always has been, the Astons were at least as fast, and the BMWs seem to have the handling and I am sure they will find the top speed. The fact that Audi had won the race before it started was irrelevant. It was like there was this great race going on, and every minute and a half these quiet white and silver sharks blasted through it at ridiculous speed. For anyone who missed Sebring, I’d strongly suggest trying to get to Petit. |
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18 Mar 2013, 05:46 (Ref:3220351) | #483 | ||
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Not too sure about that, the strongest point of the Z4 GT3 has always been handling, it has NEVER been the fastest GT3 car in a straight line. By a long way. And it seems as if the GTE offspring has inherited this trait.
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18 Mar 2013, 05:57 (Ref:3220353) | #484 | |
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That Aston #97 set the only 1:59 during the race and it was early. The 91 Viper had a 2 minute flat but did that much later in the race. It's a shame the two of them ran into issues, they would have made the race a LOT more interesting at the end in GTE. Rebellion beat MMilk like I thought. Audi wasn't even worth watching except that the pace of the 2013 car seems only as good or slightly better than 2012s.
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18 Mar 2013, 13:09 (Ref:3220546) | #485 | |||
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18 Mar 2013, 13:45 (Ref:3220569) | #486 | ||
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You are absoltely correct. AJR is a strong team in GTC, and with Bleekemolen paired to Cooper's talents they will be tough to top all year.
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18 Mar 2013, 16:29 (Ref:3220658) | #487 | ||
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Jeroen is probably one of the top sports car drivers in the business rite now, including factory drivers in any class. He's stupid fast, excellent with car development, excellent dealing with sponsors & fans, excellent with strategy, very easy to get along with in the trailer, great at helping his co-drivers and supremely smart in the car.
He's one of two drivers I've never heard anyone say a single negative thing about (including competitors). But, there's still a reason why the races have to be run before you can collect your hardware. :-) -mike |
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18 Mar 2013, 17:02 (Ref:3220670) | #488 | |||
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19 Mar 2013, 02:27 (Ref:3220956) | #489 | |||
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19 Mar 2013, 11:44 (Ref:3221122) | #490 | |||
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19 Mar 2013, 11:52 (Ref:3221125) | #491 | ||
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19 Mar 2013, 12:08 (Ref:3221129) | #492 | ||
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The Netherlands is not a big market for Porsche. That was one of the reasons according to Michael Bleekemolen (his father). He said that during the 24h of Daytona while doing Dutch commentary.
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19 Mar 2013, 12:50 (Ref:3221148) | #493 | |||
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If Audi was to do the same, Tom K wouldn't have a seat anymore. |
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20 Mar 2013, 00:13 (Ref:3221479) | #494 | ||
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I haven't had a chance to comment since the race was run on Saturday and I just wanted to say that I was really pleased to see Corvette win the GT Class as I am a big fan but I was even happier to see the Falken Porsche make the podium!! Congratulations to Corvette and Risi (really happy to see them back). Especially congratulations to Falken since you guys have been great supporters of the forum and all of us piston-heads and have been so patient to answer all of our questions with class. Keep up the good work and good luck for the rest of the season.
DK |
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20 Mar 2013, 03:48 (Ref:3221523) | #495 | ||
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Jeroen just does have a certain je ne sais quoi about him, likeable and intelligent and quick in anything from the off like the heroes of yore. I wouldn't have thought that him being Dutch would bother Porsche, though they do like drivers from Germany, Austria and France I never thought that was because they only cared about selling cars there! I remember reading that the shootout process to get a factory ride was quite intense. The drivers were given purposely beastly 911s to drive at Weissach with the intention being that you didn't just have to be fast, you had to be able to figure out how to fix the setup in order to be fast. Wonder if he's ever been invited?
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20 Mar 2013, 05:32 (Ref:3221531) | #496 | ||
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20 Mar 2013, 09:32 (Ref:3221593) | #497 | |||
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Still, he's a fantastic driver, fast and adaptable, he has driven everything from P1s to GTCs I think. |
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20 Mar 2013, 09:49 (Ref:3221607) | #498 | ||
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The question is also weather Jeroen want's to drive for the factory. I can imagine that being a Porche-driver, you can not drive other cars in races you want to. And Jeroen drives a lot of races around the globe, in a lot of different cars and brands. This year for instance he also drove and won the Dubai 24h in a (near factory) Black Falcon Mercedes. And last year, according to http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/jero...emolen/career/, he drove over 40 races in no less than 20 championships. In cars from cup-Renault Clio's to a New Zealand Supertourer Ford Falcon, a lot of cup-Porsches and Mercedes SLS-es in several championships to the Rebellion Le Mans racer. Maybe he does not want to give that up.
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20 Mar 2013, 12:31 (Ref:3221688) | #499 | ||
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Interesting point, 1:58.4 was the GTE pole time in 2012 and 1:58.8 in 2013 whilst the last GT1 pole in 2009 was a 1:57.8. Can imagine just how fast the GT1s would be nowadays following similar development.
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20 Mar 2013, 14:06 (Ref:3221733) | #500 | |
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Another interesting point is that Corvette took the GT1 pole at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans at a 3:47.6
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