Despite two very good drivers this weekend was a bit of a cock up for Krohn Barbour.
During practice Tracy began to understeer off the track and then lurched back towards the racing line straight into a GT3, result - neither car was able to be repaired in time to race. Tracy complained he couldn't see diddly squat in the rear view mirrors. I guess he is on a steep learning curve, lets see if he can climb it.
The other car damaged that fragile looking diffuser, rather crudely tacked on to the back of the car during practice, you can't afford to visit the kitty litter with that appendage the way it is.
During the race, the Corvettes walked away, a damaged Saleen passed the Murcie towards the end, so not a bad outing.
Its hard to be too sanguine about the future for this car. It handles well, great in the rain, but it lacks top speed. Trying to get that engine to perform with the restrictors that ALMS and FIA rules mandate is a tough act.
Last season the car was withdrawn from competition, too slow. Over the winter a great deal of work was done in Bavaria and Belgium and a whole new engine management system was developed. Along with some reworking of internals. This season it did surprisingly well at Valencia, was right down the field in Malaysia and was ok at Mid-Ohio.
Lets hope that Dick Barbour can sort out the car before Tracy Krohn picks up his money bags and returns to Houston.
If the car isn't winning by the end of the season, forget it, there is much more serious competition coming next season.
Lamborghini has a problem, the Gallardo is a much nicer platform to develop a racecar from, and that could be done in the GT category, so it wouldn't clash directly with the Murcie.
As the rules presently stand, the GTS category is under the gun, the new Maserati is a prototype masquerading as a GT car - imagine the Le Mans winning Bentley entered in the GTS class.
Anybody following the race in Malaysia will have seen the Simon driven car finishing way down the field, beaten by Supras.
I think the car looks great, but its not serious, it still has those stupid doors, for example. If it doesn't make it this season, then potential customers are much more likely to buy the Maserati which is a proper race car.
R+C