ALMS : Laguna Seca : Ferrari Comes In 4th
10.10.99
The seventh round of the American Le Mans Series was held at the fabulous Laguna Seca track in California. Four Ferrari 333SPs were entered and on the grid they took up their now usual positions behind the quicker Panoz, BMW, Lola and R & S Judd models. Johansson/Matthews were the quickest Ferrari, in seventh on the grid, followed very closely by Angelelli/De Radigues, Theys/Baldi and Caffi/Taylor.
The race was a superb shootout between the BMW V-12s and the two Panoz roadsters and there was high drama with just a few minutes remaining when Soper spun the lead BMW and allowed the Panoz of Eric Bernard and David Brabham to take the lead, which it looked sure to hold to the finish.
The Panoz then had steering failure and dropped down the order as it pulled into the pits, leaving Lehto/Soper to take another BMW win in the Series.
The Ferrari of Johansson/Matthews was driven hard throughout the race and finished fourth, with Taylor/Caffi in 8th, Baldi/Theys in 13th and Angelelli/De Radigues in 22nd place.
Given the advancing age of the 333 tipo, not a bad result!
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