There are plenty of top-notch competitors in the American Le Mans Series looking to knock you out of contention, especially in this year's hyper-competitive GT2 class. So it's important not to hurt your own chances with bonehead mistakes. The Pratt & Miller Corvette Racing team knows this all too well after its own #4 C6.R GT2 collided with the #3 car early in this weekend's season opening 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race.

We're not talking about a poorly timed maneuver during the heat of the race, folks. Instead, Jan Magnussen in the #3 car began leaving his pit box after an unscheduled stop to repair a power steering hose when Emmanuel Collard in the #4 Vette came out of nowhere and slammed into his side. The #4 car immediately went behind pit wall for repairs, but since the #3 car was already leaving the pits, it was forced to limp around an entire lap with a flat front tire before returning for repairs. The collision effectively took both Corvettes out of contention for a podium spot, though they did manage to finish the race in 8th and 9th place.

The mistake by Corvette Racing is all the more difficult to wrap our heads around considering how dominant this team has been in ALMS racing. That, however, was before the team switched classes from GT1 to GT2 in mid-2009. The going has been rough since then, including a particularly violent crash at Laguna Seca in last season's final race. Nevertheless, when they aren't bouncing their cars off walls (or each other), the Corvettes remain contenders to watch.

Hit the jump to view the video of this weekend's incident for yourself.


Gallery: 2010 12 Hours of Sebring






More...