Petit Le Mans: A fifth place finish kind of day at the million-horsepower circus
21 September 1999
Three Lynx racing drivers, two current and one alumnus, went to
Road Atlanta last weekend to participate in that million-horsepower circus
called the Petit Le Mans -- and all three of them finished fifth.
Lynx Racing's latest graduate, Memo Gidley, took a break from his
duties as driver of the #71 Herdez/Payton-Coyne car in the CART FedEx
Championship to make his debut as a sports car driver with the Panoz team.
The #1 Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S of David Brabham, Eric Bernard and
Andy Wallace won the 1,000-mile event when the leading BMW of Jorge Mueller
spun off with just 7 miles to go.
Gidley, fellow CART driver Jan Magnussen and Panoz regular Johnny
O'Connell were the drivers of the #2 Panoz, and considered themselves
fortunate to still be running at the end of the race as high water
temperatures meant that Jan Magnussen had to make two additional pit stops
in the last hour in order to top up the water level. A collision with a
slower car while O'Connell was exiting the pit lane, along with two
penalties for pit lane infringements meant that they finished the race some
11 laps behind the winning car.
"It was a wonderful experience with a thoroughly professional team
and a really great race car," said Gidley. "It was an education for me
also, because getting used to the car itself in testing is one thing, which
I was able to do pretty easily. But getting out there with so many cars
and so much speed differential between them is something else altogether.
It's a completely different kind of driving than CART cars, and I actually
learned quite a bit about judging traffic and modifying your driving rhythm
to suit the track and traffic conditions. This is probably my only race
for Panoz this year, but we all got on well together, and I'd love to do
something again with them next year."
Current Lynx Racing driver, Mike Conte, who competes with the team
in the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship, fielded his #17 Porsche RSR in
the GT Class through his own Contemporary Motorsports team. Conte, along
with co-driver Bruno Lambert, scored a podium finish at the 12 Hours of
Sebring earlier this year.
"Endurance races are a terrific challenge to both cars and drivers,
and just to finish one is a considerable accomplishment," said Conte. "The
Contemporary Motorsports team did a tremendous job to bring the car home
fifth, particularly considering the strength of the opposition, including
several semi-factory teams. With three races in a row, Atlantics at Laguna
Seca, the Porsche at Petit Le Mans and then the Atlantic season finale at
Houston, my driving skills are getting a real workout and it feels great!"
Sara Senske is the third member of the Lynx trio, and she was
competing not in the Petit Le Mans itself, but rather in a support race
called the Women's Global GT series. Created by Indy 500 driver Lyn St.
James and Don Panoz, owner of both the Panoz racing team and the Road
Atlanta track, WGGTS features the top female drivers from around the world
competing in identically-prepared Panoz Esperante sports cars.
Senske won the third round of the WGGTS, at Portland International
Raceway, from the pole. She also led every lap, drove the fastest lap of
the race and won by a margin of 27 seconds.
"It was a real crash-fest out there, and I took home a suitcase
full of hard lessons," says Senske. "The track was as slippery as an ice
rink when we went out, and all three of the top cars, including me, went
off. I got back on in eighth place and worked my way back up to fourth
when there was another crash and another full-course yellow. The whole
race came down to a one lap sprint at the end, and I just didn't have the
car to get back in front. A tough day, but useful in an educational
sense."
Editors Note: For hundreds of hot racing photos and racing art, be sure to visit The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.