[mtechnik3]

Watch at around 3:00 when Jorg Bergmeister in the #45 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR pushes Magnussen in the #3 Corvette C6.R into the wall on the last straight. The Corvette team got what they deserved. Jan was bumping Jorg way too much. Proves that Corvette can't pass worth a damn unless they play dirty.

[u2b]4CBeuoJmZ7g&feature=related[/u2b]

[MuchMoore]

Epic finish regardless of how you feel it went down.

[geoff2010]

it's felt like NASCAR temporarily took over the body of ALMS

[timhatimay]

I was watching this as it happened, and it was a great ending to the race both P1/P2 and Gt2...

The vette had actually passed the lap before, but cut into the pit-out lane and thus cut a part of the track. The officials ruled that he had to let the porsche pass him. So with he had one lap to lay it all out!

I think some bumping is ok (rubbin is racin), and initially I thought the porsche pushed too hard to the wall...but I would have done the same thing, beacuse otherwise the vette just pushes him wide and takes the lead, and he could have let off instead of driving until he went to the wall. Both drivers obviously really wanted to win, and were willing to drive a little more dangerously to do so.

Great racing regardless!

[AckM3]

Helluva way to finish the season. Mag could have backed off, but at the same time I do feel sorry for his team. Great racing though!

Remind anyone of Sebring 2007? Melo vs Berg.

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[consolidated]

Crazy finish, but amazing racing.

The stewards made the right call, if they would have pulled the win from Bergmeister they should have also penalized Magnussen for using the RSR as a braking berm at the hairpin. I have no doubt it was a deliberate cheap shot by Magnussen, clearly frustrated having to finish behind slower car.

These guys have so much car control and it wasn't a kiss, Magnussen practically punted the Porsche, not a <shrug> "racing incident".

Having said that I bet Bergmeister is none to pleased with himself after seeing Magnussen head-on the wall like he did, racers race but mutual respect keeps them from putting each other in undue jeopardy, and Magnussen could very well have been injured.

Red mist ruled the last laps and we got some brilliant, but questionable racing, which is the best kind some say.

Unfortunately, my client's team, the Risi F430, got taken out by the damn Jag, which appeared to be looking for a winery and instead stumbled into a car race.

2010 is going to be awesome.

[FStop7]

If Bergmeister was slower, then Magnusson should have been able to cleanly pass him.

The Vette team is cool and all but sometimes they cry like babies

[consolidated]

Insightful comments from Lou Gigliotti

Hi Guys,

First let me say that Jan is the only driver on the Chevy team that came to congratulate us last race for out qualifying the Factory team. He is a class act.

He is also one tough driver .

First incident in pit out lane: the rule is there because there are always cars coming out of the pits and they have to travel around past turn 2 to enter the track. So driving 4 wheels into that lane is just asking for trouble. If there was a car coming out of the pits then, it would have been really bad for them.

Let me also say that in practice (yes practice) there was only one car that constantly hit us (yes hit us) or shoved our corvette into the dirt and they were the Corvette factory cars. Even when we were waiving them by, they would brush us or squeeze us. even at Atlanta, on the long straight as we were passing them they squeezed our driver (on video) against the grass for some reason.
I can only assume that the drivers were "Instructed" to intimidate us so we might be off our game and not repeat the Atlanta qualifying scenario.

No other cars on the track do that. Not to us and not to the others. Just the factory Corvette team. (must be the foreigners)

At any rate, at Laguna, which is Government owned, they did not want to move the inside pit wall toward the paddock to widen the exit of the pits to make room for the flagger's stand at start finish. So they pushed the pit wall toward the track side. so the pit wall curves toward the track side. If you look at the video, you will see that if you run within inches of the pit wall and stay totally straight on your steering, you WILL hit the part of the wall that is pushed toward the track side.

This is a common crash at Laguna. It would not require the 45 car to do anything for this crash to happen.

If you look at the video, you will see that Jan sees the wall coming and he turns to the right to avoid the wall. Bergmeister just provided the pivot that turned the Corvette to the right.
The Porsche then touches his brakes to avoid the Corvette as it crosses in front of the 45 car. The porsche just got out of the way and let the Corvette continue across the track and unfortunately into the wall. Thankfully Jan was ok because the hit was not a dead straight hit but rather a glancing blow to the wall.

Now to turn 11, the last turn. Jan is a hard racer. He saw that he was not going to be able to pass him cleanly so he released his brakes and actually accelerated into the Porsche with the intention of spinning him.

The contact only wiggled the Porsche enough to cause a drag race against the pit wall. "A wall that has a curve in it that protrudes toward the track side.

Once they were an inch away from the wall and an inch away from each other, there was no other outcome that could be had without the Corvette or Porsche giving up and lifting. And this was a high contact sport for some laps.
And to ask the porsche to lift and hand over the just after the Porsche got tagged intentionally and cleaqrly smashed in the rear by Jan, would be asking a racer too much.

So that is the way I see it. The Corvette drivers are getting a reputation as the "dirty" drivers in the series. When Johnny O pushed the Porsche into the gravel earlier, it was considered a good thing by the team. "Rah rah rah, good job" is what came over their radio.


So there you have it. You reap what you sow and if you rough drive too much, this kind of thing WILl happen more often.

Oh, and during the race, we lost a few laps for a couple of reasons, and bad calls on our part but while we were on track, our #28 car was hit in the door by the #3 car really hard in turn 9, while trying to let them by. and again in turn 2, they drove across my right front splitter and bumper. Weird!

Thanks

Lou Gigliotti
__________________
LG Pro LT Headers, MOST HP, MOST TORQUE

A 1/2 and 1/4 speed replay of the event.

[FStop7]

And there you have it, Lou G drops the knowledge.

[consolidated]

Originally Posted by FStop7

And there you have it, Lou G drops the knowledge.

The post taken from a Corvette forum. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...meister-2.html

[lucid]

I'd say fair and square all things considered. Were people really expecting the 45 car to simply step aside and hand over the win after being intentionally bumped to spin? You can clearly see the 3 car releasing the brakes diving into the 45 car. The 45 executed its blocking move and moved to the left, but did not mash the 3 car into wall. If that was the case, the 3 car would have been toast long before. At that point the 3 car had two options: keep on going, or lift. It chose the former and ran out of road pretty much. It seems like that was his choice, really.

[Singletrack]

Man, great vids - thanks for the links.

[xquizit]

Originally Posted by lucid

I'd say fair and square all things considered. Were people really expecting the 45 car to simply step aside and hand over the win after being intentionally bumped to spin? You can clearly see the 3 car releasing the brakes diving into the 45 car. The 45 executed its blocking move and moved to the left, but did not mash the 3 car into wall. If that was the case, the 3 car would have been toast long before. At that point the 3 car had two options: keep on going, or lift. It chose the former and ran out of road pretty much. It seems like that was his choice, really.

[O-cha]

He still made it across the finish line though....

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by O-cha

He still made it across the finish line though....

So its technically not a DNF.

haha

[Miami 335i]

I saw the race re-run saturday. When I saw the last lap and how it ended I literally started screaming and rolling on the floor like a crazy person.

[josephr25]

http://www.racer.com/Bergmeister-and...rticle/152119/

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...meister-7.html

[FJR305]

Another view of the Battle MUST WATCH! skip to 2:10

[RENN Spec]

I guess being rear engine really does have its advantage hahaha.

[ianbiz]

The vette had it coming. But great driving from both drivers.

[scollins]

Originally Posted by Kampfer

http://www.racer.com/Bergmeister-and...rticle/152119/

Bergmeister getting any sort of probation is bullshit. Magnussen was clearly trying to bump the 911 into spinning out and thus allowing Magnussen to win. Magnussen was racing dirty. Must have watched a little too much "Days of Thunder" on TV recently or something.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...meister-7.html

Typical Corvette douchebags spouting off about "nice PIT maneuver Jorg!", meaning the Porsche driver put the Corvette into the wall. Of course, they say nothing about Magnussen's PIT attempt on Bergmeister going into the turn to begin with.

[ianbiz]

Originally Posted by scollins

Bergmeister getting any sort of probation is bullshit. Magnussen was clearly trying to bump the 911 into spinning out and thus allowing Magnussen to win. Magnussen was racing dirty. Must have watched a little too much "Days of Thunder" on TV recently or something.



Typical Corvette douchebags spouting off about "nice PIT maneuver Jorg!", meaning the Porsche driver put the Corvette into the wall. Of course, they say nothing about Magnussen's PIT attempt on Bergmeister going into the turn to begin with.