Honda Car Forum

The 10th anniversary of the Petit Le Mans sports car
classic Saturday at Road At-
lanta ended up being a survival test. The rate of attrition was staggering
on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn road circuit.

The 1000-mile endurance road racing
contest saw rough-and-tumble action with some of the world's most
expensive racing machines and, when the dust cleared, there was a large amount
of carnage and worn-out parts.

The No. 9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01a dodged
many spinning cars and flying pieces in one of the most grueling races in the
12-event American Le Mans Series.

At the conclusion of the Petit event, drivers
David Brabham, Stefan Johansson and Robbie Kerr brought
the Highcroft Acura home to the sixth position in the LMP2 category, following
a 23-minute pit stop to replace a
faulty starter in the middle of the nine-hour, 22-minute race.

The long pit
stop dashed the Highcroft team's bid for its fifth podium
finish of the 2007 ALMS season. In
the first three hours, Johansson led the LMP2 class and ran second overall
with the team's outstanding pit stops.
Brabham drove the Highcroft car as high as third Saturday.

At the finish, the
Highcroft Acura completed 365 laps.

The winning LMP2 team was the trio of Timo
Bernhard, Romain Dumas and American Patrick Long in the
No. 7 Penske Porsche.

Misfortune struck the other two Acura-powered prototype
organizations with Lowe's
Fernandez Racing
placing eighth in LMP2 and Andretti Green Racing in ninth.

The Lowe's
Fernandez team of drivers Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz ran in the top five
in the first three
hours of competition before Diaz was caught up a three-car crash. The Lowe's
Acura squad changed the entire
bodywork and right rear suspension in under an hour to return to action. However,
another suspension part broke
on Lap 87 and the team was forced to retire from the event.

The Sebring-winning
No. 26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01a from Andretti Green Racing, with drivers
Bryan Herta, Tony Kanaan and Vitor Meira, also was a victim of crash damage
when the No. 20 Dyson Porsche
struck Herta's mount and punctured the Acura's side radiator. The
result caused the water from the Acura 3.4-liter
V-8 to be lost and the AGR team's effort was finished after just 50 laps.

The 2007 American Le Mans Series is the debut season for the Acura prototype
sports-car effort that re-
corded one victory (Sebring) and ten podium finishes among the three teams.

The ALMS season finale is next on the agenda for the Acura teams, with a trip
to the Monterey Peninsula
on Saturday, Oct. 20, for the Monterey Sports Car Championship at the legendary
Laguna Seca Raceway.

Qualifying takes place on Friday, Oct. 19, with the four-hour
race set for 2:45 p.m. (PDT) on Saturday.
The live flag-to-flag television coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. (PDT), Oct.
20, on SPEEDTV.

PETIT LE MANS RESULTS

American Le Mans Series LMP2 Class

1. Penske Porsche No. 7


2. Dyson Porsche No. 20


6. HIGHCROFT RACING ACURA ARX-01a No. 9

8. LOWE'S FERNANDEZ ACURA LOLA No. 15


9. ANDRETTI GREEN ACURA ARX-01a No. 26

ALMS Point Standings (LMP2)

1. Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard - 216


2. Ryan Briscoe, Saasha Maassen - 167


3. Andy Wallace, Butch Leitzinger - 119

4. DAVID BRABHAM, STEFAN JOHANSSON - 115


5. Chris Dyson, Guy Smith - 113

6. ADRIAN FERNANDEZ, LUIS DIAZ - 95


7. BRYAN HERTA - 93

ACURA QUOTES:

DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Highcroft
Racing Acura ARX-01a): "During my first stint, it was
a bit tricky on the restart, going from the setup we had
from qualifying. I lost a lot of ground there. When the
car would start to hook up, we would have a yellow
[caution flag]. We were doing great considering the
competition we were up against. We had a fantastic
pit stop, beating the Penske car out of the pits early
on. We had several great stops and the guys should
be commended for that because that improved our position."

STEFAN JOHANSSON
(#9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01a): "We started out
pretty well, but then we
began having starter problems and we dropped in position. The car was difficult
to drive in those condi-
tions. Overall, the car was very light - which we knew before we started.
We did a long pit stop on a yel-
low to adjust the rear wing. It made some difference, but the car had very
low grip in general. With the
grip issues, you had to work a lot harder than normal with the steering. It
was just tough out there."

ROBBIE KERR (#9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01a): "It
was a fantastic race - it's
a shame we had
an issue with the starter motor which cost us so much in the overall race.
The traffic was okay - most of
the drivers out there are professionals and they give you more room if they
see you're a lot quicker. With
the other drivers who weren't so accommodating, you had to fight your
way past. In the larger picture, I
have really enjoyed my time with Highcroft and I hope I'll be back in
the future."

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ (No. 15 Lowe's Fernandez Racing Acura
Lola B06/40): "It
was a bad day for
us. We had a good plan and good strategy but unfortunately we couldn't
get to the end. This race is not
about speed; it is about getting to the end. We had a bad break when Luis had
nowhere to go. We had a
good car, and we were saving fuel and taking care of the equipment. It's
unfortunate our day came to an
early end."

LUIS DIAZ (No. 15 Lowe's Fernandez Racing Acura Lola
B06/40): "It
was a tough race for me. The
first lap [of my stint], I had an incident that I couldn't avoid. The
cars in front of me touched and one of
them spun. It didn't give me any room at all on the track and I made
contact. Then I was hit from behind.
I had quite a bit of damage to the car. We pitted and the guys did a great
job to fix the car quickly. When
I went back to the track, the car felt pretty decent. Unfortunately, the rear
wheel came off and that ended
our day. I feel bad for everyone because we did the right things today, but
this is racing. We didn't have
luck on our side today."

BRYAN HERTA (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura
ARX-01a): "This is incredibly
disappointing for
everyone involved with the XM Satellite Radio Acura. All of these guys have
worked so hard to get this
car ready and it's disappointing. I'll have to look
at the replay of the last incident because I arrived
at the brake zone and Chris Dyson was still be-
hind me. He must have tried to outbrake me but
I never saw him and he touched me. Unfortu-
nately it fatally damaged what was already a
pretty damaged race car from my earlier get-
together with Jan [Magnussen]. I'm glad he's
okay but I thought he was opening the door for
me. This isn't the way we wanted this day to go."

Upcoming: Monterey Sports Car Championships

Date: October
18-20, 2007

Location: Laguna Seca Raceway
Monterey, California

Track Type: 2.238-mile, 11-turn road circuit

Race: Final Round of 12 races,
2:45 pm,
American Le Mans Series

Distance: 4 hours