Alex Job Racing - Mid-Ohio practice

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
practice, June 28, 2002

hot times 

Alex Job Racing posted the second- and fifth-fastest GT times during 
opening-day practice for Sunday's American Le Mans Series race at Mid-Ohio 
Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.  The No. 23 McKenna Xybernaut Porsche 
of Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen was second in class with a time of one 
minute 27.955 seconds on the 2.258-mile road course, just short of the 
quickest class time of 1:27.444.  Timo Bernhard and Jörg Bergmeister were 
fifth fastest in the No. 22 Porsche (1:28.573).

"The track is the same, but last year was a little hotter," Luhr said.  "At 
the moment, we have too much understeer in the car, but I think we can fix 
that for tomorrow."  How does he keep cool?  "There is nothing you can do for 
it, just drink enough water."

rookie view

This is Jörg Bergmeister's first year racing in North America, so all tracks 
are new to him.  His first impressions of Mid-Ohio were favorable.

"I like it," he said.  "It's quite similar to Sears Point, up and down, with 
some blind corners."  [What does it take to go fast here?]  "A good car!  It 
takes a couple of laps to get used to the track because of the blind corners, 
and you need a good exit from the corners before the long straights.  I think 
that's what's important here."

tree jumping

Sascha Maassen had an adventure en route to Mid-Ohio.

"I came to America a little earlier to visit a friend and get prepared for 
the hot weather," he explained.  "I tried some mountain biking with him, and 
as I got more and more confident, I drove quicker and quicker.  There were 
some trees we had to jump on the track, and we did, but the last one I was 
too optimistic - I started jumping a little early and I came down before the 
tree and I rolled.  I was lucky I didn't hurt myself, and after that I was 
very careful.  It's much safer in the race car!" 

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Sylvia Proudfoot
403 287 3945
spur07@cs.com