ALMS : Mosport : F333s Out-Paced
27.6.99

The F333SP of Matthews/Lazzaro was an early retirement.

Five F333SPs were entered for the third round of the American Le Mans Series at Canada's Mosport Park track.

The Angelelli/de Radigues Ferrari finished fifth.

Qualifying already demonstrated that the Ferraris were going to be struggling for pace, with the quickest 333SP (Lienhard/Theys) only in tenth place, followed by the similar tipos of Angelelli/de Radigues and Matthews/Lazzaro. In pole position, surprisingly, were the two open-topped and front-engined Panoz LMPs - this had historians running for their record books to find out when a front-engined car was last on pole in an international prototype event (answer : 1976 during the Group 5 era, with a BMW CSL at Silverstone, Nurburgring, Osterreichring and Dijon).

Bill Dollahite's 333SP crashed out.

Prior to the race, the two BMW LMR spyders were withdrawn from their third and fifth places on the grid by their team because they felt the Mosport circuit to be unsafe for modern prototype sportscars.

Theys/Lienhard brought their Lista Ferrari into eighth.

In the race itself, the two Panoz' maintained their qualifying form and finished first and second, ahead of two Riley & Scotts. The Ferraris were relegated to the role of part-players and finished fifth (Angelelli/de Radigues), seventh (Taylor/Caffi) and eighth (Lienhard/Theys). The Dollahite Racing 333SP retired after 61 laps due to an accident and the final Ferrari (that of Matthews/Lazzaro) retired after just eight laps with throttle problems.

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