Honda Car Forum

Acura's battle for the
2008 American Le Mans Series
LMP2 class titles in the Petit Le
Mans at Road Atlanta ended Saturday in a mass of crash damage after the 1,000-mile
endurance classic.

Ready to challenge the three-car assault of Roger Penske's
Porsches, the
four Acura teams prepared for a
flat-out 10-hour challenge on the tight 2.54-mile, 12-turn road circuit northeast
of Atlanta.

However, at the conclusion, Gil de Ferran, Scott Dixon and Simon
Pagenaud brought home the only Acura
to finish when the No. 66 Panasonic ELS de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b
prototype placed fifth in the LMP2
division at the checkered flag.

A series of incidents eliminated the No. 9
Patrón Highcroft Acura ARX-01b
of Scott Sharp, David Brabham
and Dario Franchitti in the first hour; the No. 15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura
ARX-01b of Adrian Fernandez, Luis Diaz
and Michel Jourdain Jr. at the halfway point; and Acura's strongest effort,
the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio Andretti
Green Acura ARX-01b of Franck Montagny, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti, in
the final hour of competition.

After an impressive 1-2-3 finish last month
at Detroit, Acura's chance
for the LMP2 manufacturers' title took
a major hit Saturday. Acura had entered the Petit Le Mans with a four-point
lead, but now, with the final round set
for Laguna Seca on Oct. 18, Acura trails Porsche by eight points. The Penske
Porsche of Ryan Briscoe and Helio
Castroneves captured the Saturday's prestigious ALMS event.

The XM Acura,
with Montagny, the Detroit winner, at the controls, looked to be in a position
to win the
LMP2 class. However, Georges Forgeois spun his Lola entering Turn 12, causing
a massive crash that took out
Montagny and Patrick Pilet. Montagny had charged from fourth to second and
led briefly before his final pit stop.

The day started poorly for the Patrón
Highcroft team, battling for the team point title, when Sharp's Acura
hit the inside wall in Turn 11. The damage was too extensive to continue.

The
Lowe's Acura ran consistently in the top five for six hours, but Diaz's
mount was hit by a lapped GT
car in Turn 3. The collision knocked the Lowe's car into the retaining
wall and its rear suspension was damaged.

The de Ferran contingent battled
through some loose body work, ignition problems and an early spin to
finish its first 10-hour event. The Indianapolis-based team entered the ALMS
campaign at mid-season in Utah.

De Ferran ran the first three hours and 20
minutes, his longest driving stint since his winning the Indy 500
in 2003. The two-time CART champion fought an ill-handling car in the first
two hours before handing the Acura
over to the current Indy 500 and IndyCar Series championDixon. Dixon drove
over three hours, as did Pagenaud,
to score Acura's top - five finish.

PETIT LE MANS (LMP2 Class)

1. Penske Porsche No. 5

2. Penske Porsche No. 7

5. DE FERRAN PANASONIC ACURA ARX-01b No. 66

7. AGR XM SATELLITE RADIO ACURA
ARX-01b No. 26

8. LOWE'S FERNANDEZ ACURA ARX-01B No. 15

9. PATRÓN HIGHCROFT
ACURA ARX-01b No. 9

UPCOMING ALMS RACE:

Event: Monterey Sports Car Challenge

Track: Laguna Seca

Monterey, CA


(2.238 miles, 11 turns)

Date: Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008

2:45 p.m. (PDT)

Distance: 4 hours

TV: SPEED-TV, Oct. 4, 11:00 a.m. EDT

Acura Contacts:

Tom Blattler, 317-525-5692


T.E. McHale, 310-783-3169

AMERICAN
LE MANS SERIES POINTS (LMP2)

Drivers

1. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas 181

2. David Brabham, Scott Sharp 163

3. Patrick Long 117

4. Sasha Maassen 109

5. Marino Franchitti, B. Leitzinger 98

6. Guy Smith, Chris Dyson 84

7. Adrian Fernandez, Luis Diaz 75

Manufacturers - Engine - Chassis

1. Porsche - 192 - 192

2. ACURA - 184 - 184

ACURA QUOTES:

FRANCK MONTAGNY (#26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b):
" One car spun to the right, another spun to the left, I tried to go between
the
two to avoid contact but a piece of debris hit my car and that was it. It
broke
the front suspension and there was nothing for me to do. It is just unfortunate
because we had a chance to be there challenging for the LMP2 win at the
end. The XM Radio Acura crew did a great job all weekend. They worked
hard yesterday to repair the car for qualifying after the morning incident
and
gave Tony [Kanaan], Marco [Andretti] and me a great car for the race."

TONY
KANAAN (#26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b): "It is not
easy out there. The hours in the gym are paying off here. I had a lot of
fun
out there, but it is a tough race. When we started the race, I thought to
my-
self, 'is this 20-lap race or a 10-hour race?' It was a good battle
with the
Porsches. They are a little bit quicker in the straights, but we are better
in the
corners. Right now, we have to take advantage in traffic and use our strategy
for the end. I think we have something for them later. The Porsches have
to
change tires every stop and we don't. So we'll make up time on
our stops."

MARCO ANDRETTI (#26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b): "It
was unfortunate. The XM Radio Acura was really good. We definitely had the
best strategist behind us to put us in a really great position at the end.
We
had the car to win. It's a bummer."

DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Patrón
Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-
01b): "It's a real shame to end the race this way after the guys
did such a
tremendous job to repair the car and get it back into such good shape. Scott
was doing great and everything was looking promising. Naturally everyone
is
gutted, but now we will just focus on repairing the car and coming back
stronger to hopefully win at Laguna Seca in the final race of the season."

SCOTT
SHARP (#9 Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b):
"
The Patrón Highcroft Acura was running great. I was taking it easy and
trying to get through the traffic but making good progress. I got through
Turn
10A and then got on the throttle. It's not a tough corner, but the car
started to go into a lazy spin then it began to slide and I couldn't
help but
hit the inside wall. It was like something broke or a tire went down, it
was a very odd feeling and very strange. It is a tough day for our
Patrón Highcroft team. They worked so hard to get the car back together
on Thursday after an early crash and now this incident."

DARIO FRANCHITTI
(#9 Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b): "It
is too bad that our race ended so early. I was looking
forward to driving the Patrón Highcroft Acura so much. It was great
to be back in the American Le Mans Series. It would have been fun to
race against my brother, [Porsche driver] Marino, for the first time. But
we didn't get the chance for that today."

SIMON PAGENAUD (#66
Panasonic ELS Surround Acura ARX-01b): "It was fun
to drive with Scott [Dixon]. He brought a lot to
the team. I enjoyed racing at night. Our last set of tires were very good
and the car was working well. I had a couple of close calls. In one
of them, I just missed one of the crashes. I had stuff in my helmet. I actually
thought I blew a tire when I drove through a lot of debris. But,
overall, this was a good race for the whole team. It was our first endurance
race and we learned a lot from it. It was a good learning experi-
ence for Sebring and next year."

GIL de FERRAN (#66 Panasonic ELS Surround
Acura ARX-01b): "We had a very
difficult first stint. We had two issues. We
started the race with not quite enough downforce and the car was very, very
difficult to drive early in the race. We also sustained some dam-
age, which really affected the balance a lot. I had a lot of oversteer on
the car and eventually that caused me to spin. We lost two laps on
that incident which is unfortunate. We repaired the car, changed the back
end, fixed the damage, and put some more downforce on the car
and it was handling pretty well after that. It was not looking too bad. It's
a shame that we lost a couple of laps."

SCOTT DIXON (#66 Panasonic
ELS Surround Acura ARX-01b): "It was a blast
for me. I had a great time with the team and Gil
and Simon. The Acura is a tremendous car to drive. I hope they will have
me back again, maybe Sebring. I have won at Indy and Daytona
[24 Hours], so I would like to win at Sebring, too. Not many people have
won all three. We had a little trouble with the ignition in the pits.
But after that, the car ran great. I want to thank Gil for the chance to
race with the de Ferran team. It was a fun time."

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ
(#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b): "The
incident that Luis [Diaz] had with the backmarker was
unfortunate. Traffic has been very, very difficult. We were hoping that the
car would be its best at night because the three of us were
really struggling to stay on top of the car and we barely managed to stay
on the lead lap. This track has caught out a lot of people and
caused a lot of damage. It is not an easy place. I have always said that
dealing with traffic is the hardest part about racing in this series.
Once in awhile, it will bite you and it bit us today. It has been a tough
year for us and we have to come on top of it for next year because
there is just one more race."

LUIS DIAZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura
ARX-01b): "It was a very
bad day for me. I feel bad for all of the guys that worked hard to
give us a competitive car today. I got together with a Ferrari. I made passes
there before and nothing happened and it seemed to be very bad
timing this time. I feel bad and I hope we have a better race in Laguna."

MICHEL
JOURDAIN JR. (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b): "The incident
was unfortunate and it could have happened to
any of us. This is the toughest track I have ever driven in my life for traffic.
On my stint, I was a little bit too conservative at the beginning in
traffic and I lost some time. From there, I felt like I was staying with
those guys but then I started losing them. I wish we could have had the
first win but we didn't have the speed today like Adrian said and that
makes it even harder in traffic. I really hope that the team does well in a
couple of weeks in Laguna. For sure, I feel like I am much better prepared
for Sebring next year after running this race."