Intersport owner Clint Field talked to David Phillips about the team's second LMP1 Lola-AER that will debut at Mid-Ohio.
It's hard enough for a privateer like Intersport Racing to play David to a manufacturing Goliath like Audi. But when that David goes up against the Goliaths two Audi R10 TDIs with a singleton Lola B06/10-AER, well the odds of success border on the miniscule.
Intersport's odds figure to get better in the coming weeks in the wake of team owner Clint Field's announcement that Intersport will enter a second Lola-AER in the American Le Mans Series' LMP1 class beginning with the Acura Sports Car Challenge at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 18-19. The car will be driven by 24-year-old Ryan Lewis, a frequent podium finisher in the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda the past two seasons, and John Faulkner who captured the 2007 Star Mazda Series' Masters championship last year at the tender age of 54.
The twosome already has tested with Intersport at Carolina Motorsports Park and Putnam Park, and Field likes their mix of talent and experience.
"It's a good pairing," he says. "They've begun to jell as teammates in the tests we've run so far and I think you'll see they have a good pace between them."
You will, however, have to wait until Mid-Ohio to see that pace. Although the team had initially targeted this week's American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix for the debut of its second car, they have since pushed the coming-out party back to Mid-Ohio.
"We were originally planning on Lime Rock," says Field. "But it's pretty tight and twisty, with lots of lapped traffic. So we decided to wait until Mid-Ohio; we wanted a bigger track for their first race."
Jon Field led five laps early at Miller Motorsports Park.
If Field has his druthers, it's a good bet he'd want nothing more than "bigger" tracks on the American Le Mans Series calendar. After all, back in May at one of the "biggest" tracks on the schedule - Miller Motorsports Park - Intersport showed a tantalizing taste of what's possible. There Jon Field stormed to the front of the field in the car he shares with Clint and Richard Berry - passing not only the two Audi R10s but a handful of LMP2 cars - and stayed there for the better part of seven laps.
"Dad made a great start," says Clint. "He showed what he and the car are capable of in those opening laps. Unfortunately, the tires went away later in the stint. That's something we have to work on, better tire management because when the Dunlops get overworked they tend to go away."
Like many of his competitors, Field lusts for the Michelin tires that adorn the Audis and the top LMP2 runners.
"Nothing against Dunlop," he says. "They're doing a good job and they make a quality tire. But they're behind the 8-ball, and if we got Michelins I think it would be an unbelievable step in the right direction for us. Just look at the improvement Dyson made when they switched to Michelins a couple of years back. I think if we were all on the same tire things would be a lot more even."
But with Michelins available to a limited number of teams (both because of limited production capacity and a desire to encourage competition from other brands), Intersport is exploring another method of upping its game, namely a second car.
Clint Field: "With the second car and bigger tracks I think you'll see better performance from both our cars."
"Running two cars will be a big help," says Field. "It'll speed the development and our ability to fine-tune the chassis setups by working on different things at the same time, then finding the right balance between them. It'll help in terms of spares and it's also another car on the grid, and we like to support the Series as much as possible. So it works all the way around.
"It's something we've been working on putting together since the beginning of the year, but it just never materialized in terms of a car being available. Then Greg Pickett came to us and said he would make his car available after Le Mans."
That would be the same Le Mans at which Audi earned eighth win in the past nine years and its third straight with the R10 TDI turbo diesel. That's pretty convincing evidence Audi will tough to beat no matter how many cars Intersport brings to the grid...as Field well knows.
"Audi is very strong," he says, "but I think the tracks we'll be going to in the second half of the season may enable us to get a bit closer. After Mid-Ohio we'll go to Elkhart Lake and Mosport, which are traditionally Lola tracks, and also Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca.
"If you look at the first half of the season, Sebring was good for us but the two street circuits (St. Petersburg and Long Beach) were not Lola tracks. But Miller Motorsports Park certainly showed what we can do on a bigger track, so with the second car and bigger tracks I think you'll see better performance from both our cars."
David Phillips is one of North America's most respected and renowned motorsports journalist. His 'Another Turn' features will appear periodically on americanlemans.com throughout the season. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Le Mans Series.
- Bob Dickinson- photos ALMS
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