PETIT LE MANS AND A GREAT TRIUMPH FOR ROMAIN,
CROWNED 2007 ALMS CHAMPION

R o a d   A t l a n t a

The Millenium Stadium in Cardiff was not the only sporting venue vibrating with excitement on Saturday evening.  While the French 15 were valiantly playing for a place in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup, on the other side of the Atlantic, Porsche and Audi were hotly contesting the classic Petit Le Mans race. This race over 1000 miles, now in its tenth year, represented the penultimate round of the 2007 American Le Mans Series.  A long-distance race, which as well as the prestige, also awarded extra points compared with other rounds and so therefore, with the championship in mind, had a major importance, in particular for Romain Dumas, who was a candidate for the driver’s title.

With 37 points, Romain, originally from Alès in southern France, together with his co-driver, Timo Bernhard, knew what was ahead of them, but most of all, their main objective was not to retire, which would have immediately scuppered their chances. This was uppermost in their minds all weekend long.

The risk of spinning off the track were far from negligible all weekend long during the event at Road Atlanta in the state of Georgia. Track conditions were made treacherous by a succession of short downpours. This however didn’t stop Romain and Timo from setting fastest times in the LMP2 category in each of the practice sessions! In the second session, Romain was even quicker than the Audis, which gave them hopes of aiming at pole position in qualifying!  They came very close to achieving their aim as Romain failed by the slenderest of margins, just 1/10th of a second slower than the pole time set by the Audi driven by Marco Werner. But immediately after qualifying, their second place spot on the grid became first, when the Audi was relegated to the back of the grid after the team had to change its driver line-up.  So it was that the No 7 Porsche RS Spyder led the field away at the flag, driven by Timo Bernhard.

Using his Audi’s huge torque advantage, Capello immediately took the lead. At the wheel of the two Team Penske cars, Bernhard and Maassen were soon embroiled in a fight not to lose touch with the Audi entries. Punctuated by numerous caution periods, the race also saw many of the frontrunners experience problems, including Werner, who lost all hope of a good result when he was involved in an incident. In the sixth hour, Timo and Romain lost their only true rival in LMP2 when Maassen damaged the front of his car following contact with another car.  So the way to victory was clear, on condition as normal that they completed the stipulated 70% of the distance covered by the winners. This they did quite easily, although still giving the thousands of spectators a very exciting end to the race. “With an hour to the end of the race, when I was in the lead, the Safety Car had to be deployed. The thirty second lead I had soon disappeared and using his greater power, Capello was able to pass me. But nonetheless, I was able to stay on his tail” Romain explained later, having finished less than a second behind the Italian driver’s Audi, who later said he had felt his heart-rate increase when he saw the menacing headlights of Romain’s Porsche gaining on him, no doubt alluding to the nail-biting finish between Romain and Emanuele Pirro in Detroit.  Romain continued: “But I realised the end of the race was not the time to do anything foolish. I weighed up the risks and I told myself it would not be very clever. I am a professional driver, employed to attain certain objectives which were fixed at the beginning of the season with all the team. It would have been stupid to take a risk and lose everything. Our aim this weekend was to win the LMP2 class and to seal our first place in the championship. Which we’ve done! It’s just simply great. After twelve years racing as a professional, it’s my first title. I’ve won races in almost every category that I’ve raced in, but there has always been a glitch on the road to the title. But now I’ve achieved my dream”.

So a first title for Romain and Timo after seven wins in 11 races and it is their just reward after an unparalled 11 consecutive podium finishes in the LMP2 class!  “I think we richly deserve this championship after such good results all season long. It’s enormously satisfying to be able to repay the confidence that Porsche have shown in me over several years. To be honest, with all the work put in by the Penske team, any other outcome was hard to imagine. The team is quite simply extraordinary. Efficient, competitive, friendly and above all, very determined in everything it does. I am truly proud to win my first title with such a prestigious team”.  Romain heads off to Laguna Seca in the USA for the last round of the series on 18-20 October.  

www.romaindumas.com