04 MAR 2001 ALMS News: Audi Wins Texas, Panoz Surprizes!
Well, well, well... All of the Panoz doubters can shut up, because the NEW LMP07 is already proving to be ONE BAD MACHINE. Jan Magnussen & David Brabham ran a virtually flawless race, eventually placing third overall behind the works Audis. The new Champion Racing Audi R8 of Dorsey Schroeder & Andy Wallace finished fourth. During the closing laps of the race the Panoz led by about 8 seconds. The Audis couldn't seem to close the gap. Only a quick stop for a "Splash-n-Dash" re-fuel kept the Panoz from scoring an overall victory. Impressive, especially considering that a mule engine (reportedly slightly down on power) was being used in place of the slightly behind schedule race spec V8. With a full race engine, could the Panoz have run ahead far enough to win, even after the pit stop? Very interesting... Of course, the Vette of Ron Fellows & Johnny O'Connell won in GTS, seeing as the Vettes were the only competitive entrants in their class. American Viper Racing is still coming to grips with their new (to them) machines. A massive battle raged for the GT class victory, with the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3RS of Lucas Luhr & Sascha Maassen emerging as the winner. A broken hub put the Calloway C12 out early, but it ran quickly nonetheless. The Trinkler Corvette finished 10 laps down in class. In spite of the slim entry list, Texas made for the most exciting sprint race of the Sportscar racing season (so far). Will Europe provide an even more exciting event in Donington? We shall see...	Photo courtesy of: ALMS Photo courtesy of: Panoz Motorsports Photo courtesy of: ALMS
03 MAR 2001 ALMS News: Can Panoz Match Audi at Texas?
In a thrilling 20 minute qualifying session this afternoon Jan Magnussen in the new Panoz LMP 07 traded places with the two Audis throughout before finally ceding pole position to them in the final minute. Having had a somewhat troubled development period over the last few months, the performance of the car today gave the whole team a much needed lift and the team’s competitors a glimpse of its true potential. Jan and his team-mate David Brabham will start the race tomorrow from 3rd position on the grid. Jan Magnussen: “I tried really hard – I wanted to give the guys on the team a good result as they’ve all worked so hard over the last few months to get the car where it is now. We had a good car today and Michelin gave us some good tires, but when we came into the pits to make a small change, we lost too much time and I didn’t have enough laps before the checkered flag to get the heat back into the tires and try for another time. It was really close and exciting for everyone but 3rd is still 3rd!”	Photo courtesy of: Team Unicorn