Warming Up at Petit

Good morning, race fans! Race Day has dawned damp and kind of cool today. This being the case, and given the fact that the rain is supposed to be over by noon (i.e. about an hour after the start, or only 10% of the way through the race), I thought that most teams would only use the warm up as a glorified leak check/shakedown. I was wrong.

It looks like I-285 did as I came into town yesterday. And as I type, Bill Sweedler has had a close call with the Turn 10A gravel trap, stopping his Ferrari 458 just before getting beached. Perhaps the risk/reward ratio needs to be looked at here.

GAH! And as I continue to type, Patruck Dempsey has spun and beached his GTC Porsche about 100 feet deeper than where Sweedler spun.

The safety crew has gotten him out now, and are now sweeping up the gravel Patrick just dragged onto the track. The car looks OK, except for the plastic part if the front splitter, which has been riped off. That should be fixable, even with just 75 minutes until the green.

More later. It's time to go take in the grid walk.