Sebring Blog (This centers on Horag Racing's drive in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 17. Please don't judge it too harshly. It's just a blog!)

Hour 1: Didier Theys started the race from pit road due to a penalty we received for not adhering to the schedule. Although that put us half a lap behind right away, it only took Dider 15 minutes to be about where we would have been anyway as far as track position goes, because we qualified 12th overall and he was already 13th overall in 15 minutes (lap eight). So far Didier's fastest lap was lap five, which he did in 1:55.647 (115.19 mph). There was contact between the Lowe's car and some white car ahead of him on lap nine, but he didn't get involved. On lap 10 he had the two Corvettes ahead of him, but three laps later (25 minutes into the race) he had them taken care of. At that point (25 minutes gone, lap 13), he's 11th overall and he's right behind Luis Diaz, who is in tenth. We're one lap down to leader Rinaldo Capello. So, Didier has nicely taken care of the penalty and except for being one lap down, so far, so good. My scanner isn't picking the team up for some reason so I'll be bopping back and forth from the pits to the pressroom a lot today. Luckily I can see our pits from the pressroom window if I stand up, turn around, and lean over two guys. The order of driver rotation will be Didier, Fredy and then Eric. It's a beautiful day; the Michelin guys tell me the air temperature is 62 and the track temp is 67. Also, I found out that the contact on lap nine was between Luis Diaz in the white car and Ben Devlin in the No. 8 Lola, but there wasn't any damage. They're lucky. OK; now it's 45 minutes in and Didier is in the top 10 because Sascha Maassen pitted his LMP2 No. 6. At 49 minutes in (10:54 a.m.) Didier pitted for fuel only. It was a fast stop and I totally missed it because I was getting the guys from lepaddock.net to see if they could figure out what was going on with my scanner. They couldn't. The stop took 1:37.014. The No. 6 has a brake line leak and went to the paddock for repairs. That means we're eighth in LMP2 and not ninth. We're 3 laps down but some cars ahead of us haven't made their first pit stop yet. OK; at the end of Hour 1 (32 laps complete) Didier is eighth in LMP2 and tenth overall, 3 laps down to leader Timo Bernhard. Ben Devlin is ahead of him in the No. 8 in ninth overall and seventh in LMP2. Johnny O'Connell is behind him in the class-leading GT1 car. We're the only car that is 3 laps down at the moment. Devlin is two laps down and O'Connell is four laps down. Didier's best lap at the end of Hour 1 was our lap 25.

Hour 2: Well, Didier is flying. About a minute after the one-hour mark he ran a 1:55.472 (115.37 mph) on his lap 30 for our fastest lap to date. Travis Braun (yes, Colin's younger brother) just stopped by to see me. He's doing some stuff for AutoWeek and he's also doing some stuff for the Indianapolis Star's Web site in May, so that's cool. I pitched him on an idea I have for Ian Baas, and he was receptive. He's also going to take the recommendation I made on staying at Anita Milliken's apartment in Indy for the month of May. Let's see where we are now. OK; it's an hour and 18 minutes into this race and Didier is in seventh place in LMP2 and ninth overall. The No. 20 Dyson LMP2 car had a problem with its radiator and it's dropped back. Six LMP2 cars are directly ahead of us in the overall standings. We're still on a lap by ourselves, three laps down to leader Rinaldo Capello, at 1:24 in. Ben Devlin is ahead of us in eighth overall and he's two laps down. It would be nice to somehow get that lap back and go after Devlin. Didier is running faster than he is. His lap 39 is now his fastest lap at 1:54.372 (116.48 mph). Didier always does his best. He's a real pro, which is one of the many reasons I like working with him so much. The No. 2 Audi (Frank Biela) had a flat tire (the Brits would never say that; they call it a puncture) and he's lost two laps because of it, putting him in the middle of the top LMP2 cars in sixth overall an hour and a half into the event. I'm going to head to the pits and see if I can catch Didier getting out and Fredy getting in, as I think that might be coming up pretty soon. OK; I'm back. Didier got out and Fredy got in at 11:46 a.m., 1:41 into the race. The car also got two tires and fuel. Didier Theys: “Things are OK. We made a modification in practice that is helping. We have a little too much understeer, but we think as the track gets more slippery, it will come to us.” Then I told him that it only took him 15 minutes to take care of that penalty. All he said was “Good!” but he smiled and winked so I know he was happy about that. Eric wasn't down there; he's resting I'm sure. OK; at the Hour 2 mark Fredy is in eighth place overall and sixth in LMP2. We're four laps down to the leader, the No. 1 Audi of Tom Kristensen. The No. 15 Lowe's LMP2 car of Adrian Fernandez is in front of us but it's only 2 laps down. The No. 37 Intersport Lola LMP1 car of Clint Field is behind us overall and is five laps down. So far our fastest lap of the race was our lap 47 when Didier ran a 1:54.353 (116.50 mph). We've made two pit stops so far that totaled 3:17.848. If we can stay out of the pits and just keep turning laps, we'll be OK. It is still w-a-y t-o-o e-a-r-l-y. The press lunch consisted of a bag of Fritos. Since I skipped breakfast, I have to find something to eat or I'll have a headache. But I might not have time for that now, because Fredy will only do one stint. I better get down there. OK; Fredy got out and Eric got in at 12:41 p.m., or 2 hours and 36 minutes in. The car got fuel and tires. Fredy Lienhard: “That wasn't too bad for an old man. The car is good. The biggest problem for me was the traffic. I didn't want to do anything that might hurt the car. I did a few passes of slower cars that were good. Others, I lost too much time in passing them. But overall it was a good stint for me. No problems.” Graham Rahal just got in the Rahal Letterman Porsche, which was in the pits the same time we were. They're in the stall directly to our right when you're facing the track. Tom Milner got out. I didn't get a chance to talk to Graham yet this race. I know they had some problems early. I waved to Ralf Kelleners earlier in the week, and I also talked to Bobby Rahal a bit a couple of days ago. It seems like it was a lot longer than that. I've written six stories since I arrived.

Hour 3: At the Hour 3 mark Eric is in eighth place overall and sixth in LMP2. We're eight laps down to the leader, the No. 1 Audi of Tom Kristensen. Adrian Fernandez is ahead of us in the Lowe's 15. It's only 3 laps down though. Oliver Gavin is behind us in the class-leading GT1 car, which is also eight laps down, 1:03.212 behind us. Our fastest lap is still Didier's lap 47. Around 3:07 into the race there was a big sigh in the pressroom because Tracy Krohn crashed hard and is sitting in the middle of the track. I think he's in Turn 13. The No. 44 car has damage too. This is going to bring out our first full-course caution at 1:15 p.m. (3 hours and 10 minutes into the race). I was able to get an $8 bacon cheeseburger for lunch. I ordered a bacon, egg and cheese bagel but they said that was going to take a half hour so I got the cheeseburger instead. I also almost got sick to my stomach on that trip downstairs when I saw some guy whose legs were completely tattooed. I guess that's what I get for looking at guys. Barbara Lally and I also e-mailed back and forth; that's Andy's mom and one of my best friends. Andy hasn't gotten in the Dyson 20 yet; Butch Leitzinger is still in it. It's two spots ahead of us.

Hour 4: At the Hour 4 mark Eric is still in the car and running laps of 1:56 or 1:57 and change. We're in eighth overall, sixth in LMP2, 8 laps down to the leader, Allan McNish in the No. 1 Audi. Romain Dumas is ahead of us both in class and overall in the No. 7 Porsche. He's six laps down. We've had four pit stops so far totaling 6:34.234. Our fastest lap so far is still Didier's lap 47 of 1:54.353. Behind us is the leading GT1 car, Olivier Beretta's Corvette No. 4. It's nine laps down. At 2:32 p.m., four hours and 27 minutes into the race, Eric pitted and Didier got in. We also got four Michelin tires and fuel. Eric van de Poele: “ Our car has an understeer. We also have a problem with the electronics that is giving us intermittent problems with shifting. My seat was uncomfortable too. But the weather is very nice!” Our friend Andy Shupack of Porsche came through again. He drove me to my car in his golf cart so I could move it closer to the pressroom. Of course I had to argue with the gatekeeper to let me park in the spot I'd seen when we drove by in the golf cart, but that's typical and didn't really faze me. I have a really good spot now. Barbara Lally called too, as she usually does when Andy's racing. We've been doing this a long time. She said Greg Creamer just gave Andy a nice plug on SPEED, and I'm to thank him the next time I see him. The guys on the Horag crew say there might not be anything wrong with my scanner. They might not have given me the correct frequencies. Humm. So far Ralf Kelleners has the quote of the race. Our friend Martin Raffauf from Doran Racing is on the Rahal Letterman team this weekend. I asked him what happened to that car at the start, and he said Ralf ran into somebody in front of him and damaged the radiator. He added that Ralf's version over the radio at the time was a bit different. “Somebody just ran into the front of me!” Ralf reportedly said at the time.

Hour 5: At Hour 5 Didier is in eighth place overall and sixth in LMP2. We're 10 laps down to the leader, Allan McNish in the No. 1 Audi. There are two LMP2 cars that are six laps down ahead of us: Luis Diaz is sixth overall in the 15 and Helio Castroneves is seventh overall in the No. 7. Andy Lally is ahead of Diaz in fifth overall; he's only five laps down. At eight minutes after the hour we have a new best lap. Didier just ran a 1:54.019 (116.84 mph) on our lap 148, and he's just completed 149 laps as I type this. I guess that quick neck message he got before his stint helped. Or perhaps it was the banana he ate; I don't know. Around 3:25 p.m. (5 hours and 20 minutes in), Didier brought our car into the pits for fuel only. A minute later Duncan Dayton coasted into the pits with no power in the Highcroft Acura. They will replace a lot of electronics. Now they've announced that Andy Lally's car is stuck in fourth gear. Andy Wallace is driving it now. Didier has a new fastest lap: on lap 150 he ran a 1:53.503 (117.37 mph). Timing and scoring is stuck at 5:37 into the event. Didier came into the pits for fuel only at 3:54 p.m. (5 hours and 49 minutes into the race.)

Hour 6: At the six-hour mark Didier is eighth overall. I can't give you more details because I was in the pits and the pressroom personnel say there will be no Hour 6 report because of the computer problems. They'll regroup and put something out at Hour 7. The reason I was in the pits was because around that time Didier had an extended pit stop due to a problem with the car's electronics. The team reset the power steering system and they hope that problem is solved. The problem that Eric mentioned with the shifting remains; I think it's mainly when shifting up. When the car was in the pits and the crew was working on it, Fredy noted that all the fast driving in the world doesn't help when things like this happened. But he said he had a good stint, and that he's back. That's good! With six hours and 30 minutes gone in the race Didier is in 11th place overall and seventh in LMP2. He's 21 laps down to leader Frank Biela in the No. 2 Audi. Tenth overall and sixth in LMP2 is David Brabham in the Highcroft 9, which is 19 laps down. Behind us is the third place GT1 car, an Aston Martin driven by Antonio Garcia. So, that long, unscheduled pit stop cost us three positions overall, one in class, and 11 laps. Timing and scoring doesn't know what our fastest lap was at the moment. The last time I could get a report it was Didier's lap 150, but I don't know if that's correct or not. It would be really nice if we could get back into the top 10.

Hour 7: At the Hour 7 mark Didier is in 11th place overall and seventh in LMP2. He's 21 laps down to the overall leader, the LMP1 No. 2 Audi of Frank Biela. We've completed 198 laps and that last one looked pretty good to me! It might have been our fastest yet. Ahead of us in tenth overall and sixth in LMP2 is Sascha Maassen in the No. 6, which is 18 laps down, or 3 laps ahead of us. Behind us overall is Antonio Garcia's Aston Martin in 12th overall. I don't like Aston Martins (Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, 2005), especially if they're green. Behind us in class is Chris Dyson in the No. 20 in 15th overall, which is 25 laps down to the leader. Officially they say our best lap to date was our lap 190, done in 1:55.439 for an average speed of 115.40 mph. Didier was in then. Three minutes after the seven-hour mark we had our second full-course caution for debris in Turn 13. That was due to Adrian Fernandez (No. 15 LMP2 car) and Rinaldo Capello (the Audi that is leading the race) making contact there. They both continued. At 5:14 p.m., nine minutes after the seven-hour mark, Didier came in and Fredy got in the car. The car got four tires and fuel. Now Didier and Fredy are chatting in the pit area, and I interrupt, as usual. Didier Theys: (5:25 p.m.) “We had no power steering, but now that's fixed. We have no paddle shifting; that happened a long time ago. It's an electronics problem somewhere that is all related. “The track conditions and the traffic are OK; normal for Sebring.” Do you think we'll finish? “I don't know; it's too early to tell.” The green comes back out at 5:30 p.m., or seven hours and 25 minutes in. With seven hours and 35 minutes gone Fredy is in 12th place overall with 209 laps complete. He's 21 laps down to the leader, Emanuele Pirro in the No. 2 Audi. We're in seventh place in LMP2. Ahead of us in 11th overall is Liz Halliday in the No. 63 GT1 Aston Martin, who is on our lap. Ahead of us in class is the No. 6 of Sascha Maassen, who is four laps ahead of us and 17 laps down to the leader. Our fastest lap was Didier's lap 198 at 1:54.716 (116.13 mph). We're at lap 209 now and we're under a full-course yellow. Fredy is still in. I guess Tracy Krohn's wreck isn't as bad as it originally looked. His car is still rolling and he's driving. I called Dave Reininger quickly to tell him that Dario Franchitti is leading LMP2 and is second overall in the race. He and his wife, Laura, are on Long Island today and they don't have a TV there. He is Dario's spotter in the IRL. He was glad to hear it. At least three people, all caterers that I meet on the elevator that goes to the suites, have asked me if I'm really hot in my driver suit. Everybody that is in the pits during an ALMS race has to wear a driver suit, which is a stupid rule as far as I'm concerned but I have to comply because it's their game, not mine. Actually this is the most comfortable I've ever been in this suit. It's just about perfect weather conditions here today. OK; we're getting somewhere. It's almost at the hour 8 mark and we're back in sixth place in LMP2 because Sascha Maassen's car has drifted back in the standings. I don't know why. Fredy is still in the car and we're still four laps behind the Highcroft 9, now driven by Stephan Johansson. Fredy is ahead of Liz Halliday now too. I'm going down to the pits because I bet Fredy will come in soon. They attributed my last quote to Fredy in the pit notes when it was actually Didier. I'll have to straighten that out.

Hour 8: Fredy Lienhard is 10th overall and sixth in LMP2. He's 22 laps down to the overall leader, Emanuele Pirro in the No. 2 Audi. He's five laps down to the car that is fifth in LMP2, the Highcroft 9 of Stefan Johansson, who is ninth overall. He has two laps over the car that is seventh in LMP2, the Porsche of Guy Smith. OK; we had a full-course caution and Fredy pitted and Eric got in at 6:12 p.m., or 8 hours and 7 minutes into the race. That was a really crowded pit stop because the cars flanking our pits came in at the same time, under yellow. Graham Rahal was getting into his car that time; we waved but couldn't talk. I couldn't get good shots that time because I had to stand behind our crew; there wasn't room at either end of our pit stall because everybody was pitting at once. I think the yellow was due to a fire in a Ferrari driven by Jose Maria Lopez. It stopped in turn 10; the driver is OK. Fredy said that he had problems with shifting that stint. I said I know, but other cars are having problems too, so if we can just keep going we can still do well. He nodded. With 8 hours and 30 minutes gone Eric is 11th overall and sixth in LMP2, 22 laps down. With 8 hours and 38 minutes gone Eric just ran our fastest lap of the race. It was on lap 233, which we just completed, and it was a 1:54.266 (116.59 mph). He is trying to get at least one lap back so we can get fifth in LMP2 currently held by Butch Leitzinger's No. 16, which is ninth overall and 21 laps down to our 11th overall and 22 laps down. Go Eric! Leitzinger's car has been having alternator problems so we're not the only ones with an electrical gremlin.

Hour 9: OK; this thing is 75 percent done. Eric is in 11th place and I think he's going to be back in the top 10 soon. But right now he's 11th and sixth in LMP2, 23 laps down. Liz Halliday is between us and the car ahead of us in class, which is Butch Leitzinger in the 16, which is 3 laps ahead at 22 laps down. The kids up here were just teasing me about me falling asleep and snoring loudly at the Rolex 24 this year. I told them to be careful; I might do it here too. I also told them a World of Outlaws story that they seemed to enjoy. OK; 10 minutes past the nine-hour mark Eric is in the top 10. He's tenth overall, still sixth in LMP2. Leitzinger still has two laps on us. They changed their alternator about a half-hour ago that cost them about 20 minutes. I just got my e-mails are ready for the story I'll need to write when this is over. I'll check on my stationery file and my Sports Systems Services log-in too. It's just like a pitstop; you need to have everything ready when it's time to write on deadline. It's not as easy as you might think. Besides trying to make sense of all that happens, the press room is very noisy. It's very hard to think. Somewhere in this blog I wrote about Andy Lally being in the 20. That's not right; even I know that. It's the 16. Please remember that nobody is editing this blog and I'm not even re-reading it much; I'm just typing away. Please take everything with a grain of salt; I'm only human. Somebody said that our car had contact with the 16 around lap 215 and it caused a flat on the 16. Andy Wallace was driving the 16 at the time. Funny how none of my drivers mentioned it. Humm. Maybe it was somebody else. Eric pitted at 9:56:45 into the race. He's got to be tired. Didier will get in again. Eric is tenth overall and sixth in LMP2, 26 laps down. Andy Lally in the 16 is in ninth overall and fifth in LMP2, 21 laps down.

Hour 10: At the 10-hour mark Didier has just gotten back in the car. He's still tenth overall, sixth in LMP2, 26 laps down to leader Marco Werner. We're four laps behind the LMP2 car that is ahead of us, the Dyson 16 with Andy Lally driving, which is ninth overall and fifth in LMP2, 22 laps down. The leader of LMP2 is Tony Kanaan in the 26, who at the moment is leading the whole race. Timing and scoring says our best lap was now lap 263, at 1:54.149 (116.71 mph). Eric would have been in then. Nine minutes after the 10-hour mark we just ran our lap 278. At the 10-hour mark Didier was in and he'd just completed our lap 274. Gee; it's well after 8. I should think about getting something for supper. I don't think I'll take too many more photos since it's dark now. 8:49 p.m. Supper is over. It consisted of two slices of pizza at $4 each. I ate the first one while waiting for the elevator, which tells you something about the speed of Sebring's elevator. But at least they let the press use the elevator here, unlike the folks at Mid-Ohio, so I'm not complaining. Oh yes, Happy St. Patrick's Day! I saw bagpipers practicing in what had been the Star Mazda paddock when I arrived here this morning. That seems like a long time ago.

Hour 11: At the 11-hour mark Eric is back in the car. We're in tenth place overall and sixth in LMP2. We're 27 laps down to the leader and we're six laps down to the car ahead of us both overall and in class, which is Andy Lally in the 16. We got back in the top 10 when the 63 Ferrari pitted. If we drop out now I may cry. I'm heading to the pits for the finish. Race result story will be next.

More later, Linda