Team Trans Sport Racing completes its first race in the American Le Mans Series
BOSTON, MA - The Mobile 1 12 hours of Sebring, which was the first round of the 2007 American Le Mans Series, is in the record books. Team Trans Sport Racing ("TSR") was proud to take part in what was the 55th running of this most prestigious American race and although the team's finishing position was not as high up the ladder as the team had hoped, it was certainly not indicative of the performance or potential of the team.
Sebring was TSR's first race as an ALMS entrant and its first with the new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (997) in the GT-2 class. Plus, since Sebring is a 12-hour race it represents a huge challenge for any team. The TSR driver line-up featured Terry Borcheller (USA), 2001 ALMS GT1 Champion, Mark Basseng (DE), an experienced endurance racer with multiple wins in Porsches, and Tim Pappas (USA), the team owner who also has 5 years of showroom-stock endurance experience. Each driver performed extremely well and as a result the car came home in perfect condition.
Team Trans Sport's RSR was fitted with Yokahama tires, which is significant because the team will act as the Japanese tire producer's sole development partner in ALMS. Both Trans Sport and Yokohama hope to use the data generated at Sebring to make another jump in performance. The collective goal of podium finishes in 2007 is something that both groups are taking very seriously. The 54 car ran as high as 6th place well into the 12-hours, behind only the factory sponsored Porsches and Ferraris. At around the tenth hour the team made the tough decision to retire the car for safety reasons, which were brought about by front shock failures. The problem began in the sixth hour of the race, but the team soldiered on, driving the car on the spring and bump stops. Sebring's notoriously rough surface made it too risky to run any longer, despite consistently quick lap times, without risking a complete suspension failure.Tim Pappas, team principal said, “We ran extremely well and I’m proud of all the hard work that went into getting the car ready for Sebring. We ran right behind the leaders, which clearly shows that we possess the speed to run with anyone. Unfortunately, we’re down a bit on mechanical grip, but we knew that coming in. Our partners at Yokohama are already working hard to produce the next evolution of the Advan tire we ran at Sebring. We expect a completely new tire for Houston, which I’m confident will be an improvement. No matter what, the challenge to beat the manufacturer that has been developing tires since the ALMS began in 1999 is not going to be easy, nor will the performance gap be closed overnight. This is a long term project."
The team struggled with grip issues on Thursday and Friday, but an all-night effort before race-day yielded a solid car with no performance problems that was able to run consistently in the middle of the pack. If not for the issues with the shocks, Team Trans Sport may have cracked into the top five. The GT2 series featured some of the most exciting racing of the day and the closest finish in the history of the Mobil 1 12-hours of Sebring. Just 0.2 seconds separated 1st and 2nd place at the finish with lead changes occurring in the last two corners. (After 12 hours!) Mika Salo (Finland), the former Ferrari and Toyota Formula-1 driver drove the winning GT2 Class car for Risi Competizione along with Jaime Melo (Brazil) and Johnny Mowlem (UK), who noted,"It was really tight with the No. 45 car (of Jorg Bergmeister), we were absolutely flat out the entire way. GT2 is the best racing in this series. It's going to be like this all year, so we have to improve so we don't have any more finishes like this." Melo drove the Ferrari to victory in the last corner, punting Bergmeister who temporarily lost control and the victory for team Flying Lizard. The Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring was televised live on Speed in the US as well as throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia. Team Trans Sport Racing will travel to St. Petersburg (USA, FL) in two weeks for the next round of the American Lemans Series.
For more information, contact Jessica Saller, Team Trans Sport PR Manager at (215) 732-3200.