The 2009 ALMS season came to a close last night with a four-hour race into the sunset at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. While several championships still needed to be decided going into the race, much of the attention during the weekend was given to Gil de Ferran, who was competing in the last race of his career. His uniquely-liveried Acura ARX-02a not only looked fantastic, but it was quickest by a slim margin in qualifying. It seemed everyone hoped de Ferran would go out on top, but the sister Acuras in P1 and P2 were determined to make it difficult. In GT2, it was anyone's guess who would come out on top. A Corvette put down the quickest qualifying lap, but both the Flying Lizard Porsche team and the Risi Competizione Ferrari would be fighting hard to secure the championship. Would Gil de Ferran win his last race as a driver? Would the Corvette manage to hold off the Porsches and Ferrari? If you don't plan on watching the tape-delayed race on SPEED TV this afternoon at 2:30 pm EST, then read on to find out.
The ALMS race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend is Gil de Ferran's final race of his career, and he plans to go out on top. The Brazilian captured pole position yesterday in his Acura ARX-02a, which features a unique livery to honor Jim Hall, the man who de Ferran first raced for. The milk white paint and number 66 roundels mimic Hall's legendary Chaparral race cars, two of which were on hand at the track. Gil de Ferran's qualifying time of 1:11.206 was less than a tenth of a second off the class record, which was followed closely by fellow Acura driver David Brabham. Brabham and the rest of the Patron Highcroft Racing team need only to complete seventy percent of the race to wrap up the LMP1 championship.
The Lowe's Fernandez Racing LMP2 Acura team continued its season-long dominance by capturing its fourth pole of the season and hopes to record its eighth victory this year. Although the team secured the class championship at Petit Le Mans two weeks ago, it hasn't secured sponsorship for the 2010 season and hopes to make a good final impression.
In the hotly-contested GT2 category, Corvette Racing continued to prove that it will be a top contender no matter what class it competes in. Jan Magunessen edged out the Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 in qualifying for Corvette's first ever GT2 pole position. The main battle will be between the Ferrari and the Flying Lizard Porsche GT3 RSR, both of which are still in contention for the championship.
Gil de Ferran hasn't had quite enough of winning just yet. The accomplished former racing driver and team manager announced today that he's coming out of retirement to contest the American Le Mans Series. With Team Penske, de Ferran won back-to-back CART titles in 2000 and 2001, the Indy 500 in 2003 and set the record for the fastest qualifying lap on a closed circuit with a 241.43mph average speed at the California Speedway in 2001. Having retired at the end of 2003, Gil served as sporting director for Honda's F1 team from 2005 until this past season.
To contest the ALMS this season, de Ferran will be driving for his own team in a fourth factory-backed LMP2-class Acura ARX-01b. Although he hasn't yet announced his second driver, he has signed on John Anderson, a veteran crew chief, as general manager.
