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Extreme Speed Motorsports Long Beach Friday report

Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM)

#01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia: Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek

#01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia: Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek

James Holland

RAIN HAMPERS EXTREME SPEED'S QUALIFYING ASSAULT IN LONG BEACH

#01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia: Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek
#01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia: Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek

Photo by: James M. Holland

LONG BEACH, CA – April 13, 2012 – Rain and cool temperatures all day Friday in Long Beach prevented the Extreme Speed Motorsports team from maximizing its on-track time for this weekend’s Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series race at Long Beach.

The Tequila Patrón-sponsored Ferraris turned a combined total of nearly 20 laps during both the two hour practice session and the 15 minute qualifying session on Friday.

As a result of the weather the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón cancelled Friday’s qualifying session and ruled the teams would start Saturday’s race by points.

The No. 01 Tequila Patrón Ferrari Italia 458, piloted by Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek will start in the ninth position.

The No. 02 Tequila Patrón Ferrari Italia 458, co-driven by Ed Brown and Guy Cosmo will start in the seventh position.

Green flag for the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series race at Long Beach is on Saturday, April 14, at 4:30pm (PT). The race will be steamed live at www.espn3.com and broadcast on Saturday, April 14 on ESPN at 7:30pm (ET).

Scott Sharp “We didn’t have a complete qualifying session and because of the rain, ALMS cancelled qualifying. The grid is set by points now. We would have been third but we’re starting ninth.

“The Tequila Patrón Ferrari is pretty good. The tires never even came in, so you still don’t really have much of a feel for it. But that’s the cards we’ve been dealt at the moment. There isn’t even a warm-up tomorrow, there used to be warm-up on Saturday mornings and now there isn’t. So it is our best guess.

“I’m excited about the race. You can’t worry about it. You’ve just got to drive it, drive what you got.”

Guy Cosmo “This is the biggest let down ever. Long Beach is the most exciting event you can go to. I look forward to driving at this track more than anywhere else we go. We had no practice this morning, the rain was horrible. Qualifying was just shortened and now they are abandoning qualifying. We come here to drive and we haven’t really been able to drive. It is frustrating.

“What I have been able to drive, I can say the Tequila Patrón Ferrari is good. We’ll be fine for the race. Everybody is heading into the race blind, basically. The conditions have never been what the conditions are likely to be tomorrow. Nobody has really had an opportunity to tune or to actually know what they’ve got. We’ll literally be going into the race blind with set-up and everything for tomorrow. It is what it is, that’s racing. I’ve been salivating about getting to Long Beach and every step of it so far has been a disappointment, unfortunately. But there is always tomorrow and next year.”

Ferrari fans, check out our new sister site FerrariCircuit.com

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