|
Bowmanville, Ontario - VICI Racing’s interest
in this afternoon’s ALMS Grand Prix of Mosport ended
rather abruptly after less than three quarters of an
hour after the #18 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR hit the tire
barriers in Turn 2 following a right hand rear
suspension component failure. It was a disappointing
end to a race that had promised so much, and Marc
Basseng, who was in the cockpit for the first and
second stint, had been running a very fast, smooth
race pace right from the start.
Race day had dawned warm in Bowmanville, Ontario,
with patchy clouds overhead and mild humidity. With
the 25- minute morning warm-up safely completed the
pre-race festivities got underway after lunch,
ending with the traditional ‘Gentleman start your
engines’ being called here by Canadian movie star
Dan Aykroyd. There were a few spots of rain before
the start and a very brief shower which sent the
teams up and down the pitlane scurrying to prepare
rain tires for an eventuality that the race might
turn wet. However, a few minutes after the scheduled
start time of 3:05 PM the cars took the green flag
for the beginning of the 2 hour 45 minute race in
dry and sunny conditions, although a few dark clouds
still lurked on the horizon.
Marc made a very good start and retained his seventh
place on the grid position in GT2; he was able to
maintain a quick pace that saw the #73 Tafel Racing
Ferrari F430 GT and the #44 Flying Lizard
Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR dropping back in his
wake. As Marc lapped in the 1:21 and 1:22 bracket
the 29-year-old German opened up his advantage over
these two Michelin-shod cars to 10 seconds by lap 6,
to 15 seconds by lap 10, and to 20 seconds by lap 13
(with 18 mins of racing completed). The #73 and #44
were locked in battle together; meanwhile Marc’s
cushion in front of them grew to 25 seconds by lap
17.
On lap 22 (3:35 PM, 30 minute of racing) Marc came
in for the first planned routine pit stop of the
afternoon, changing all four tires and adding fuel,
but remaining in the car. He exited the pits after a
smooth, fast stop, dropping down behind the #73, #44
cars in the running order, as well as the #007
Drayson-Barwell Aston Martin Vantage GT2.
|
