Archangel fights hard at Miami.
October 7, 2002 Road Atlanta, GA -- Archangel Motorsport did everything they
could to start a new podium streak at the Cadillac American Le Mans
Challenge on Saturday, October 5. But it was not to happen. The team started
the race 18th on the grid and finished 20th and 4th in class.
It was not a result of driver error, or engine malfunction, or even slow pit
stops by the crew. The 1.57-mile 15-turn temporary road circuit on the
streets of downtown Miami was both very slick and very narrow. There's only
so much progress you can make in a race when you're spun not once, not twice
-- but four times. Nonetheless, Ben Devlin and Bret Arsenault fought hard in
the team's #13 LMP 675 Lola B2K/40 Millington.
It was a tough track. It was a tough race. It was a tough day.
"Not very good for us today -- I think we must have had a target on the back
of our car," said Devlin. "We just kept getting hit - we got hit four times.
We pretty much just tried to stay out of trouble. We should have had a
second in our bag but that's racing for you. Petit's next and hopefully
we'll get a win there at Archangel's home track.
"Everything actually started pretty good for us," said team owner Mike
Johnson. "We got through the first yellow with no problem and Ben was really
moving up through the field. Then one of the Corvettes drilled him in the
back -- smashing up the back of the gearbox a little bit and knocked the tail
loose. The tail then fell off on the straight. Luckily we got a yellow right
after that -- because our tail was on the track -- so we came in and put a new
tail on and put Bret in the car. Unfortunately, by this time, we'd gone a
lap down because we also had to repair the exhaust tube since it had been
smashed in as well. But I felt that we still had the race in hand. Bret did
a great job and was doing what he needed to do."
"Then we got a yellow just when we needed it and we put Ben back in for the
remainder of the race. It was a war out there, a real battle. Ben was really
pushing to try and catch the #77 and was gaining on him. He was really
gaining on him and we probably could have had 3rd -- probably could have had
2nd. He was fighting for position and going as fast as that little car
would go and the 900's would just take a shot at him every chance they'd get
and kept knocking him around back down into 20th place. With a lap to go one
of the Vipers hit him in the back and knocked the tail off again. It was
kind of an expensive weekend for us. Ben is still 2nd in driver's points -
it's all going to come down to Petit"
Additional information on the Archangel organization is available to you at
www.archangelmotorsports.com and on Ben Devlin at www.bendevlin.com.
-am/hc-
