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Russ Bond Motorsport Report: Diesel Fumes

The only thing hotter than the Audi R10TDI exhaust on Saturday's Acura SportsCar Challenge of St. Petersburg, was the temper of Audi driver Allan McNish.

McNish, who started on the second row of the event in his R10TDI was penalized for “jumping the start”. The rule in ALMS is that you can't get out of line before the start finish line on the original start. McNish was up against the wall on the inside of the track.

Why was that you might ask? Well, the off pole Porsche Ryan Briscoe had pushed him all the way down there in an attempt to thwart the pass. So, how did McNish get penalized,yet Briscoe didn't? Welcome to the ALMS.

But wait, it gets better. Into the first turn, Marino Franchitti puts his Acura three-wide, with Marino on the inside. He goes in the grass, across the curb and body slams not one, but both Porsche Spyders – yet gets no penalty. Again, welcome to the ALMS.

No, no, hang on, I'm not done yet…

Later on, after Franchitti has damaged his rear wing and missed the radio call to pit, who shows up on his rear wing – Briscoe. Briscoe goes to the inside to make a pass, he is at Franchitti's

Marco Andretti rebounded from Homestead with a fourth at St. Pete. (Photo: Indy Racing League)

door, so he's got the position and Franchitti turns in on him and bang… Franchitti is in the wall. Here's the best part. Franchitti gets out of the car and gives the quote of the race, “My brother told me Briscoe was 'braindead'.”

Yeah, couldn't have been that a) you body slammed him in turn one on the opening lap, or b) that he actually pitted when he was supposed to and had fresh tires, or c) the Porsche was faster than the Acura in the first place, or d) he had the position and you turned in when you shouldn't have.

Anyhow, the brilliant Audi R10TDI marched home to an easy victory overall in LMP1. The Porsche duo ended up one, two in LMP2, while the sole Corvette C6R won GT1 and the Sebring-winning Ferrari F430 took GT2.

Now, I don't wish to bash the ALMS, but I think if you don't have

The IRL held its first roadrace of the year at St. Pete. Helio Castroneves took the win. (Photo: Indy Racing League)

enough cars to fill the podium positions in each class, maybe its time to look at those classes. Two of the four classes fell into this category at St.Pete. LMP1 is ruled by Audi, but the only two cars entered in the class were the R10TDIs... no wonder Audi is considering pulling out of the series.

In GT1, the two Corvettes were the only entries. It's not like someone is going to show up at the next round in Long Beach and challenge either of these classes, but someone with an aging LMP1 or GT1 car could, and guess what, they'd be on the podium… that's just not right.

It will never happen, but I'd like to see the Corvettes 'dummied down' so that they could get in the battle of the GT2 class, or open up the performance of the GT2 cars so they could meet the GT1 Corvettes on pace. In the Prototypes, just keep the same rules, but let the LMP2 spec cars run to those rules, and the diesels

Ricky Rudd talked about Martinsville to all the rookies, including AJ Allmendinger and Juan Pablo Montoya. (Photo: Rusty Jarrett, Getty Images)

run to the LMP1 rules, and call it LMP, end of story.

Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg results:

St. Petersburg, Fla.

1. (3) Allan McNish, Scotland; Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Audi AG/R10/TDI (1, P1), 114.
2. (7) Marco Werner, Germany; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi AG/R10/TDI (2, P1), 114.
3. (2) Ryan Briscoe, Australia; Sascha Maassen, Germany; Porsche RS Spyder (3, P2), 114.
4. (1) Romain Dumas, France; Timo Bernhard, Germany; Porsche RS Spyder (4, P2), 114.
5. (6) David Brabham, Australia; Stefan Johansson, Sweden; Duncan Dayton, North Salem, NY; Acura/ARX-01a (5, P2), 114.
6. (4) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Lola/B06-43/Acura (6, P2), 113.
7. (11) Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Creation/CA06H/Judd (7, P1), 112.
8. (13) Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6.R (8, GT1), 111.
9.

Michael Waltrip was bumped by his own employee at Martinsville. (Photo: Jason Smith, Getty Images)

(16), Finland; Ferrari 430GT Berlinetta (9, GT2), 109.
10. (19) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Jörg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (10, GT2), 108.
11. (9) Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Andy Wallace, England; Porsche RS Spyder (11, P2), 108.
12. (21) Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Panoz Esperante GTLM (12, GT2), 107.
13. (20) Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (13, GT2), 107.
14. (17) Robin Liddell, Scotland; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (14, GT2), 106.
15. (18) Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (15, GT2), 10àø 6.
16. (22) Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Terry Borcheller, Gainesville, GA; Marc Basseng, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (16, GT2), 104.
17. (24) Ralf Kelleners, Germany; Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (17, GT2), 100.
18. (8) Guy Smith, England; Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Porsche RS Spyder (18, P2), 98.
19. (23) Ross Smith,

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson talk before the Martinsville race. The two ended up dueling for the win. (Photo: Jeff Gross, Getty Images)

Plano, TX; Scott Maxwell, Canada;Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Panoz Esperante GTLM (19, GT2), 97.
20. (15) Tim Bergmeister, Germany; Tomas Enge, Czech Republic; Ferrari 430GT (20, GT2), 87, Accident.
21. (5) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Bryan Herta, Valencia, CA; Acura/ARX-01a (21, P2), 84.
22. (10) Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Michael Lewis, San Diego, CA; Lola/EX257 AER (22, P1), 38, Accident.
23. (14) Johnny O`Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (23, GT1), 37, Drive Shaft.
24. (12) Ben Devlin, England; Raphael Matos, Brazil; Jamie Bach, West Palm Beach, FL; Lola/B07-40/Mazda (24, P2), 26, Electrical.

Johnson Gets 'Clocked' at Martinsville

Jimmie Johnson led the final 156 laps to win race 6 of the 2007 Nextel Cup series, held at Martinsville. It was the second week in a row for the new CAN (Car As of Now), and this week it was all about brakes, or the lack thereof.

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