Petit Le Mans - Practice Sessions - Race week

Friday Oct. 3 - Morning Practice

10:05 am - Checkered flag. The No. 45 and No. 44 will head back to the garage. The No. 46, which is still in the gravel off course, will be brought back on a roll back. Once it is back in the garage, the crew will be able to assess the damage and start on repairs. Qualifying begins at 3:25 this afternoon.

9:58 - Seth Neiman is out in the No. 44, taking over for Lonnie. The No. 46 is still in the gravel, where it will probably remain until the end of the session. In the No. 45, Joerg is still in the car, and is currently P3 in the session. The No. 11 Viper has a puncture and has pulled off course. We will probably go red again. No - the car is far enough off that they will stay green to finish out the session.

9:55 - No. 46 is in the gravel. Johannes radios in that the car took a hit head on into the wall. Johannes is out of the car and appears to be fine. Johannes radioed that the throttle stuck - the replay shows him going straight off course into the gravel.

9:52 - The No. 2 Audi was going backwards on course after spinning and narrowly avoiding a collision with the No. 12 Intersport. He is going again with no apparent damage.

9:51 am - Green flag. What a mess this session has been. The engineers have not had any time to do any setup changes given the number of red flags. 13 minutes remaining.

9:47 - Lonnie Pechnik is in the No. 44. Joerg is still in the No. 45 and Johannes van Overbeek now in the No. 46. Joerg radis in the Intersport just blew a tire but was able to continue and is working slowly back to the pits. The tire and related bodywork scraps will need to be removed from the track so red flag.

9:46 - Ok we are going again. The Acura is on the rollback and heading back to its garage. Green flag. 16 minutes left in the session.

9:36 am - Red flag. Major incident with the No. 26 XM Acura and the Intersport No. 12 protoype. The No. 26 XM Acura has significant damage and is undrivable. The driver is out of the car and appears to be fine.

9:33 am - Green flag. About 30 minutes left to go.

9:30 am - Joerg Bergmeister takes over from Marc Lieb in the No. 45. Still red flag but it should be a short one as they pull the No. 15 Acura out of the gravel. The No. 46 checked out OK and was sent back out.

9:29 am - The No. 15 Acura is in the gravel in Turn 7. Red flag. Things are definitely not getting off to a good start this morning. We have only 30 minutes left in the session and the tires are not even yet up to temp on the cars.

9:27 am - In the No. 46, Patrick is back in the pits.

9:26 am - Green flag.

9:21 am - The No. 46 is in the wall after impact from one of the Dyson Spyders near Turn 1. The No. 46 is in the wall. Driver is fine, rear car damage. He is deep in the gravel. The daamage does not look too extreme from the TV, but the car will surely be full of gravel which will take the crew some time to clean out. The crew advises Patrick to try and start the car and drive it back but to keep offline to minimize the amount of gravel on the track. Car chief Bill Rader advises Patrick to return to the pits and they will assess if the car can finish out the session or if they need to return to the garage.

9:18 am - Green flag. The No. 44 crew cleared Darren to head out again. They refilled the water, but did not see any problems. They advise Darren to let them know if there are any other alarms.

9:17 am - When the No. 46 arrived in the pits, the driver side door glass was missing. The crew is replacing the door.

9:15 am - In the No. 44, Darren pits for the crew to check out the car - he received a water temp alarm and said he smells coolant. Red flag - looks like it was to remove a large piece of bodywork debris from the track, apparently off of the No. 15 Lowe's Acura.

9:14 - Green flag. The session started 10 minutes late, but we are going now. 10:05 checker.

9:00 am - We have the 5 minute warning. Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 headed out to get in line. In the No. 45, Marc Lieb also headed out. Darren Law is also in line in the NO. 44. RAce control just notified us that there may be a slight delay as they finish some wall repairs on the course.

8:50 am - Good morning from Road Atlanta. We are just a few minutes away from this morning's practice session. It's another beautiful day here in Braselton, Georgia. It looks like it will be sunny and warm with some high clouds and low humidity. It's still cool on the track after temperatures dipped into the 40's last night. This morning's sesion is our only track time today before qualifying this afternoon. The No. 44 is back together after a rebuild following yesterday's incidents in morning and afternoon practice. I hear it warming up in the garage behind me - a good sign. The No. 46 and No. 45 are in their pit stalls waiting for the call to line up at pit out. Both Patrick Pilet and Johannes van Overbeek are out in the pits getting ready for their turn at the No. 46. In the No. 45, Marc Lieb will be the first driver out for the morning. Darren Law is now in the No. 44 and is heading into the pit lane from the garage.

****
8:34 pm - Joerg radios in that he has the bobble and has switched to reserve fuel. He is called into the pits. Engineer Stefan Pfeiffer confirms that they are done for the night. It doesn't look like the No. 44 will make it out tonight so we are done for the day. We'll be back with you on Friday for morning warmup at 9:05 am ET. ** Jennifer

8:20 - Red flag, debris online in turn 10. The No. 46 has completed their laps and will head back to the garage. I can see that the No. 44 is almost back together in the garage but I don't know if they will make it back out in the session - just 35 minutes left.

8:15 pm - Wolf pits in the No. 45 for driver change to Joerg Bergmeister. In the No. 46, Patrick Pilet has completed his third lap.

8:10 pm - Johannes is back in the pits for driver change to Patrick Pilet.

8:08 pm - Green flag. Wolf Henzler is in the No. 45, taking over for Marc. Johannes will stay in the No. 46 and complete the remaining two of his three laps.

8:00 pm - Red flag. Debris in turn 8. Johannes was able to get one lap in, I think. Both he and Marc are heading in.

7:57 - Green flag.

7:53 pm - Red flag... to remove the No. 21 Panoz from the gravel. The No. 46 is now in the pits getting ready to go out for its 3 laps each for Johannes and Patrick.

Oct 2 - Evening practice - 7:45 pm - Tonight's evening practice will run until 9:00 pm. Each driver is required to do 3 laps at night tonight. The No. 45 is out on track with Marc Lieb currently behind the wheel. The No. 46 is just about to head out. The No. 44 is still in the garage with the crew still focused on trying to get that car out on track in time for the session after this afternoon's impact with the wall...

** Checkered flag on the afternoon practice session - Oct. 2 - we'll see you back in a few hours for night practice which starts at 7 pm ET. ** Jen

4:03 pm - Jaime Melo in the No. 62 has the fastest time of the session with a 1:19.302. Jeoerg in the No.45 is fourth and Patrick in the No. 46 is 8th.

3:57 pm - Patrick is out again for the last few minutes of the session. Joerg is also out again. 5 minutes left in the session.

3:52 - Joerg pits for a setup change. Less than 11 minutes left in the session.

3:49 - No. 46 pits for a setup change. Patrick Pilet is still in the car.

3:47 pm - No. 45 is in the pits for new tires. Joerg is currently P2, Patrick in the No. 46 is P 7.

3:37 -The No. 44 will be returned back to the garage after the session for what will unfortunately, be major repairs. No. 46 is in the pits for a setup change. Patrick Pilet is in the car. Joerg is out in the No. 45.

3:32 - Seth is off in the No. 44 in the esses. The driver appears to be fine but there's damage to the front and the rear. It's a tough break for the No. 44 crew who had a rebuild after this morning's incident. I don't yet know what happened that caused the incident, although Seth radioed that he was cut off.

3:22 - the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche went off track and reentered just behind Johannes in the No. 46. Luckily there was no contact.

3:21 - Neiman is in pit lane in the No. 44 for a setup change.

3:17 pm - Looks like the GT2 Corvette went off course as it is going slow on track and is completley covered with dirt.

3:14 pm - No. 45 is called into the pits for a front shock change. In the No. 46, Johannes radios in that he'd like to come in for a setup change.

3:05 pm - Green flag on the session. Seth Neiman is in the No. 44 and Wolf Henzler in the No. 45. Johannes van Overbeek is in the No. 46. The front of the No. 44 was rebuilt after this morning's incident with the Autocon prototype. Neiman reports that the car seems loose, but so far, no major issues. Johannes is currently P2 in the No. 46, Wolf Henzler is P5 in the No. 45.

3:00 pm - The cars are lining up to head out for this afternoon's practice session. We have 1 hour on track this afternoon, then another 2 hours this evening, starting at 7 pm.

Oct 2 -
** See you this afternoon at 3:05 for our second session of the day **
11:28 - Red flag - again. And checkered flag on the session. We don't know yet the reason, although the No. 44 is missing its front bumper and quite a bit of left front damage, so it appears to have been involved in the incident. Driver of the No.44 is fine.

11:25 - Green flag. Johannes van Overbeek is in the No.46, Seth Neiman in the No. 44, and Wolf Henzler in the No. 45. Just five minutes left in this morning's session.

11:16 am - Red flag. Impact in turn 1- not sure yet which car was involved, although Johannes (now in the No.46) radioed in that he saw Patron/Highcroft prorotype in the wall.

11:04 am - Darren is in the pits for driver change to Seth Neiman. He is currently in P4.

11:00 - Lieb is in the pits in the No. 45 for a setup change. Patrick Pilet is also in the pits for a setup change.

10:53 - Darren Law is in P3 in the No. 44. Marc Lieb in P3 in the No. 45 and Patrick Pilet in P 7 in the No. 46.

10:49 - Green flag.

10:46 - Red flag to remove a piece of debris from the track.

10:33 - Green flag and we are running again. Red flag was to remove the No. 48 prototype from the track - not sure what the issue was with them.

10:31 am - Red flag on the first lap of the session. We did not see any incidents but there are reports of a lot of oil from the previous session.

Oct 2 - 10:30 am - Good morning from Road Atlanta. It's another gorgeous fall day here - cool and breezy with low humidity. Today is Thursday, October 2 - and the day we get the most on track time prior to this Saturday's race. We have three sessions today: 10:30-11:30 am, 3:05 to 4:05 pm and 7 to 9 pm. This evening's practice is, obviously, night practice - and each driver must complete three laps during the night session.

Darren Law is in the No. 44, Patrick Pilet is in the No. 46, and Marc Lieb is in the No. 45. All three Lizard Porsches are in the pits, with engines on ready to head out to the line to pit out.

*******
Oct 1 Test Session complete
2:40 pm - Checkered flag. We'll be back with you tomorrow! For a full schedule, see the schedule tab on the Lizard Home page. ** Jen

2:35 pm - Five minutes left in the session. The No. 44 is heading back to the garage - there is apparently a hole in the muffler and the crew does not want to risk a fire. That leaves the No. 45 as the last Lizard Porsche on track with Marc Lieb behind the wheel.

2:25 pm - Lonnie Pechnik takes over the wheel from Darren Law in the No. 44 for his first spin on the trck. Marc Lieb will also take over from Wolf Henzler in the No. 45. Lieb is a guest driver for this race - he was part of the winning trio at Sebring - Bergmeister, Henzler and Lieb won in GT2 at the season opener in March.

2:00 - No. 46 is heading back to the garage. It will probably not be back out in this session. No. 44 is in the pits for a driver change to Darren Law. No. 45 is in the pits for driver change to Wolf.

1:53 pm - Joerg is in the pits for a setup change. He will stay in the car for now. In the No. 46, Johannes is still sitting in the pits.

1:45 pm - No. 45 is currently P4, No. 46 P 6, and No. 44 P 14. The No. 46 has been in the pits for a good 10 minutes now - Johannes is reporting an engine misfire on restart and the engineers are trying to determine the cause.

1:38 pm - So far, so good in the session. No. 46 is in the pits and the crew is making some chassis ride height and aero adjustments. The No. 44 is also in the pits - they appear to be working on his brakes. Bergmeister, van Overbeek and Neiman are all still in the car.

1:22 pm - Joerg is P2 in the session so far. The JMB Ferrari (No. 99) is currently P1. All three cars are cycling rapidly through setup changes, directed by engineers Craig Watkins (No. 46), STefan Pfeiffer (No. 45), and Sebastien Constans (No. 44).

1:15 pm ET - Good afternoon from Road Atlanta. It's a beautiful day here, the first official track session of the week before this weekend's Petit Le Mans. All three Lizard Porsches are on track - Johannes van Overbeek is in the No. 46, Seth Neiman is in the No. 44 and Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45. This is the first session of the week - we have three sessions on Thursday, one practice session and qualifying on Friday, then the race on Saturday.