Judd scores its first Victory

against Ferrari at Road Atlanta

Braselton, April 18, 1999

Ferraris 2-4-5-7-9 behind R&S Judd
Ferraris run well
Theys' Ferrari takes the lead again but loses it to the Judd

 

On April 18, 1999, the second round of the American Le Mans Series took place at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.  A Riley & Scott Judd driven by Eric van de Poele and Mimo Schiattarella won the race with Mauro Baldi and Didier Theys in their Ferrari 333 SP taking second.  Ferraris from the Doyle-Risi, Doran and Dollahite teams rounded out 4th, 5th, 7th and 9th places.

 

The real story of the day was the Riley & Scott Judd of Team Rafanelli.  The Judd V10 powered car made its impressive debut at Sebring by qualifying second, but had reliability problems and didn't finish the race.  Here at Atlanta though, it was able to last the 2 hour 45 minute race.  And a spectacular race it was, as the two fastest cars had to start at the back of
the grid.  The pole-setting R&S Judd was found to be a few centimeters too long by scrutineers and thus had to go to the back.  The second fastest Panoz LMP, which was a brand new car, was found to have airbox integrity problems, so it had to join the Judd at the back.  The odd-looking, front-engined Panoz was a real suprise as it had first run only 3 days before the race, but by the end of qualifying, had the highest top speed of any car as it was in its Le Mans trim.  (The Panoz's speed was later confirmed at Le Mans prequalifying where they were second fastest in each session behind the two lead Toyota's.)  After the Judd and Panoz were bumped back, the Ferraris on the grid were dispersed from 2nd to 14th place.

 

The race went well for most of the Ferraris.  The Doyle-Risi Ferraris, #12 of Taylor/Caffi and #11 of Angelelli/de Radigues, and the Doran Ferraris, #27 of Theys/Baldi and #36 of Kendall/Matthews were able to stay in the top five for most of the race.  The Dollahite/Davies Ferrari was a bit off the pace here at Atlanta.  Baldi in the Doran/Lista Ferrari took the lead a half hour into the race.  After another half hour and a few caution periods, the R&S Judd took the lead and kept it until only 45 minutes of the race remained.  At this point, Theys, Caffi and de Radigues were lying second, third and fourth.

 

With 45 minutes to go, the leading Judd came in for its last pit stop.  After a quick driver change from van de Poele to Schiattarella, some fuel and tires, it exited the pits just as the second place Didier Theys Ferrari was flying past the pits.  Theys just barely made it past the pit exit before Schiattarella came out in the R&S Judd.  Theys was able to stay in front only for a short while as Schiattarella blew by him on the back straight due to the Judd's power advantage over the Ferrari engine.  Theys was able to keep up reasonably well and finished only 24 seconds behind the leading Judd at the end of the race.

 

Wayne Taylor (#12 Ferrari 333 SP) "It was a good race. It was nice to have two cars. We were fairly competitive but I ran into a slower car which cost me third place."

 

Tom Kendall (#36 Ferrari 333 SP) "The car was good, but we had a couple of snafus. The pit crew wasn't ready when I came in. I thought they called me when they were actually calling the 27 car on the wrong channel. The car was good on a clear track, but in traffic it turned into a real momentum car. Every time I got held up it cost me a lot of time."

 

Max Angelelli (#11 Ferrari 333 SP) "The car was good, we were in second place for half the race, we finished fourth and we are going for points right now. Next race we will be more competitive."

 

Official results and photos for the Grand Prix at Road Atlanta can be obtained from www.americanlemans.com/pages/races99/2ratl/

Text James Davies