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www.QV500.com - Saleen S7 Part 3: The S7-R Debut Daytona & Le Mans |
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Making its world debut in Round 7 of 2000's American Le Mans Series, Saleen's works-entered S7-R retired in the race with gearbox trouble. This was after setting blistering times around Laguna Seca though and the GM-backed Pratt & Miller Chevrolet squad quickly protested the legality of Saleen’s new racer. Almost immediately the rumour mill went into overdrive with some suggesting the retirement had been staged in order to convince the Automobile Club de ’Ouest not to change their minds about homologating the S7-R for the GTS class. |
Similar accusations had been a part of racing since day one and in reality, as was the case for BMW with their E46 M3 GTR, the S7-R was perfectly legal and Saleen were only obligated to begin production of a street version prior to the 2002 season. The S7-R was next seen at the Daytona 24 Hours where a sole works-backed car was run under the Rocketsports banner. Wearing a distinctive black Homelink livery, the number 5 car was campaigned by Paul Gentilozzi, John Miller and Scott Pruett who looked possible contenders for victory. However, the S7-R suffered a serious enough impact with a Porsche GT3-R during practice to twist the chassis, damage the rear suspension and dislodge the front and rear glass. With no way to properly re-allign the car, Rocketsports went to the grid with a hastily repaired machine and only managed to qualify fifth in class. Things didn’t improve as Gentilozzi retired from the race after 50 laps, the damaged rear suspension failing and putting the car out of commission. Daytona had been an unlucky first blue ribband event, but for the Le Mans 24 Hours there would be three S7-R’s. |
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Present were a pair of identically liveried black, white and yellow works cars run under the Saleen (#60) and Konrad Motorsport banners (#61). Ray Mallock had their white ELMS contender (#62). Up against a host of super competitive Viper GTS-R’s and the Pratt & Miller Corvette's, the works #60 Saleen took GTS pole by over 2.7 seconds and lined up 26th overall with C5-R’s 27th and 29th, RML 32nd and the Konrad Motorsport #61 car 33rd. Undeniably fastest in dry conditions, the race began under ominously grey skies and the S7-R’s qualifying advantage began to deteriorate. |
| Within just a couple of laps the rain began pouring down and the class leading #60 Saleen of Franz Konrad (who had continued on slicks), slid off and sustained enough damage to require lengthy pit repairs. Things worsened for Saleen when the #61 Konrad Motorsport entry retired on lap four having incurred serious accident damage in a multi car pile up at the Porsche curves. Playing catch up for the next 20 hours, it seemed the best chance or a promising result lay with the RML entry that was still in contention having had a new engine fitted for race day. Running a safe second until just after 7:00am on Sunday morning, an unexpected engine failure forced the number 62 cars retirement. Leaving just the works S7-R, it became mathematically impossible to catch the leading Corvette’s by midday. Knowing this and having raced for just under 22 hours, Corvette Racing manager Doug Fehan called both his cars into the pits and unsportingly held them there for as long as possible before coming back out to take the chequered flag. The Borcheller / Gavin / Konrad entry went onto finish 18th overall and third in class. |
No. |
Race | Drivers | Team | Overall | GTS |
5 |
Daytona 24 Hours | Gentilozzi / Miller / Pruett | Rocketsports | DNF | - |
60 |
Le Mans 24 Hours | Borcheller / Gavin / Konrad | Saleen | 18th | 3rd |
62 |
Lambert / McKellar Jr. / Mowlem | Ray Mallock Limited | DNF | - | |
61 |
Brun / Seiler / Slater | Konrad Motorsport | DNF | - |
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