 Viper in action at Las Ve...  Viper in action at Las Vegas. |
After suffering a pair of setbacks to the factory Corvettes in late summer, ORECA Dodge Vipers on the LeMans GTS returned to the victory forefront at Laguna Seca, California, during the American LeMans Series Monterey race on October 15. Under the tutelage of Olivier Beretta and Karl Wendlinger, the No. 91 R/T completed 109 laps in 2¾ hours to beat the Corvettes by 73 seconds. This in spite of Beretta losing a right-front wheel while driving in for an unscheduled pit stop. This was followed by yet another 1-2 finish at the ALMS event in Las Vegas at the end of the month. With this recent success, the Viper team has secured both the Teams and Drivers championships for the second year in succession and the Manufacturers championship for the first year. One race remains on the ALMS circuit for 2000, the finale at Adelaide, Australia, on New Years Eve.