2002 SEASON ::: Le Mans Gallery MORE RACING NEWS Johnny O's Mosport Race Report: Certain things in life you just look forward to. For me, going to Mosport is one of those things. It is the most incredible track. Extremely fast. Long sweeping corners. It just has great rhythm. I got my first win there back when I drove with Panoz in the lmp 900 class, and then won again last year in the Corvette. I know that Ron loves the place as well, and was confident that the team would give us a great car. Qualifying certainly did not go as we had planned, as Rons streak of poles came to an end. He had put in a lap that we thought was good enough, but then the Saleen beat him out on the last lap. He was totally angry as he had been in a good position to block the saleen, but sportsman that he is…did not. I know he would have liked to have gotten the record for most consecutive poles but the fact that Ron didn’t block Terry says a lot about his character. A stand up guy for sure. So getting to the race, we started on a hard compound tire, as we knew it would last over the entire stint. The car really did not handle as well as on the softer compound, but we really had no choice. Ron got a great start…and had an awesome battle with the Saleen for his entire stint. There was a full course caution when we made our first stop, and the guys did a great job and when the race restarted I had a lead of about 30 seconds over the Saleen. Now to say I was motivated after the 3 rivers thing would be an understatement. For my entire stint I pushed hard, only taking it easy in bad traffic. I could tell from the split times the guys were giving me, that I stood a good chance of getting the Saleen down a lap, and it was great when I finally caught and passed them. That gave us a lot of security in case we had a yellow, as we would be safe. Anyway, it was a strong stint, and during it I had done several fastest laps, so when I got out of the car I was pleased. I turned the car back over to Ron when Pirro had his shunt, and he brought it home. I was a bit disappointed in that the 4 car went out on soft tires, and Andy ending up going a touch quicker than I, and got the fastest race lap, but still…it was a Corvette one two finish again, and Ron and I were certainly hooked up. It was great to get a win in Canada for Ron, it is amazing how many fans he has there. So after the race, it was a quick thanks to the guys and then run to the airport. On the way, I began thinking about Laguna, our next race. As much as I love Mosport, I love Laguna even more. There are few tracks that are as enjoyable to me as that place. From the Cork-screw to the infield, it is just an amazing place. Goodyear should have a new tire for us there, and we are all hoping that it will be the ticket to get Corvettes first win at that circuit. Rest assured however, that no matter the tires we have, Ron and I will be pushing harder than ever. Johnny O MORE RACE NEWS & REPORTS...   Site contents © 2002 Johnny O'Connell GM, GM Emblem, Corvette and the Corvette Emblem are registered trademarks of General Motors Corporation and used with permission.