PSR: Schneider/Ludwig and Mercedes Win at Sebring
21 October 1997
Sebring, FL-In a display reminiscent of Porsche's dominance of sportscar racing in the middle 1980's the Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK of Bernd Schneider and Klaus Ludwig just drove away from the rest of the field. Finishing almost a full lap in front of the second place McLaren BMW of Peter Kox and Roberto Ravaglia the Mercedes team dominated the three hour race in every aspect. Starting in second place behind the pole-sitting McLaren BMW, of Lehto and Soper, the Mercedes team quickly dispensed the idea of being in second place. The weather conditions for the race went from dry to wet, back to dry and finally ended in a drizzle. The weather conditions did not seem to affect the Mercedes racecar in any way, shape or form. The only time that the race was really close was during the first thirty minutes of the race and during the last pit stop/ driver change. The racing behind the top two finishers was where things became interesting. The Panoz team achieved their best finish of the year by grabbing third place from the Porsche team of Dalmas and Wollek. The Panoz and Porsche teams struggled over the third place finish during the last hour of the race. The Panoz eventually pulled out a 19 second margin Rounding out the top five in GT1 was the McLaren BMW of Gounon and Raphanel two laps down to the Mercedes. In the GT2 class Chrylser Viper drivers Philippe Gache and Olivier Beretta defeated their teammates Justin Bell and Tommy Archer by just eight seconds. Bell and Archer made a push for the lead with thirty minutes to go but just could not make up the difference. Porsche drivers Ni Amorim and Uwe Alzen finished in third place one lap down. GT1 Finishing Order (Top Five) Pos. Driver Marque Laps #1 Bernd Schneider/Klaus Ludwig Mercedes CLK 70 #2 Peter Kox/Roberto Ravaglia McLaren BMW 70(2min 18 seconds) #3 David Brabham/Perry McCarthy Panoz 69 #4 Yannick Dalmas/Bob Wollek Porsche 911 69 #5 J-M Gounon/P-H Raphanel McLaren BMW 68 GT2 Finishing Order (Top Five) Pos. Driver Marque Laps #1 Phillippe Gache/Olivier Beretta Chrysler Viper 67 (11th over-all) #2 Justin Bell/Tommy Archer Chrysler Viper 67 (12th over-all) #3 Ni Amorim/Uwe Alzen Porsche 911 GT2 66 (14th over-all) #4 Cor Euser/Harald Becker Marcos LM 600 65 (15th over-all) #5 Wido Roessler/Wolfgang Kaufmann Porsche 911 GT2 64 (17th over-all) GT1 Championship Standings Pos. Driver Points #1 Bernd Schneider 62 #2 Lehto/Soper 59 #4 Klaus Ludwig 41 #5 Nannini/Tiemann 34 GT1 Manufacturers Championship Pos. Marque Points #1 AMG Mercedes 100 #2 Team BMW Motorsport 85 #3 Gulf Team Davidoff 33 #4 Porsche AG 23 GT2 Championship Standings Pos. Driver Points #1 Bell 60 #2 Gache/Beretta 56 #4 Hurtgen/Eichmann 55 #6 Amorim 44 #7 Archer 26 GT2 Manufacturer's Championship Pos. Marque Points #1 Viper Team ORECA 116 #2 Roock Racing 73 #3 Konrad Motorsports 15 #4 Marcos Racing 13 #5 Krauss Motorsport 11 David Treffer -- The Auto Channel
