 Tafel Racing Starts ALMS Season with Two Cars in Sebring 12 Hour Top-Seven
Debris Ends No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Ferrari Fight for GT2 Lead; Team Rallies for Seventh No. 73 Tafel Ferrari Overcomes Multiple Obstacles to Land Fourth in 12 Hours
SEBRING, Fla. March 15, 2008 - Tafel Racing had high expectations entering today’s 56th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. The Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.) owned operation had prepared both its No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC and the No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GTC to the team’s exacting detail for the American Le Mans Series season-opener but external circumstances would work against them. The Cumming, Ga.-based group started second with the No. 71 Bell Micro Ferrari and fourth with the No. 73. At the end of the 12 hours of competition both Ferraris were running quickly but had to settle for results below their potential. The No. 71 Bell Micro Ferrari rallied from last in the GT2 class to take a hard-fought seventh while the No. 73 Tafel F430 GTC overcame a day of obstacles to finish with a fourth-place in class.
No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GTCDrivers: Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.), Pierre Ehret (who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif. but was born in Germany), Allan Simonsen (Danish-born but living in Melbourne, Australia)
With the highest-placing team car earning points towards the GT2 Team Championship, Tafel Racing is well positioned to begin the title chase. Tafel Racing will enter Round Two of 2008 American Le Mans Series, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.), fourth in team points. The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be run on Saturday, April 5 and broadcast on ABC.
Tony Dowe, Technical Director: “The damage to the nose and radiator in Dirk’s first stint really put us behind for the rest of the day. Once we fixed that the car ran great. The time we lost was the time difference between being at the front and being back in seventh. The bottom line for us is it was a terrific recovery to get points towards the rest of the season.”
Dominik Farnbacher, Driver, No. 71: “If we wouldn’t have had the little issue with the radiator, it would have been easily a podium. The team worked well. We can all be happy with our stints; Rob, Dirk and I all ran very quick times. I am pleased to have finished the race with a seventh.”
Allan Simonsen, Driver, No. 73: “Hard race. It was especially very hard when I had to do a stint without the mirror. That was quite interesting. It is nice to bring both cars home today but it didn’t really turn out the way we wanted. We are happy with fourth- place but, obviously, it would have been extremely satisfying if we would have finished on the podium.” | 
