Race morning

10:08 AM The race warmup just concluded, the start is in about 5 hours. Yesterday morning we met with Aston Martin's drivers (and their models, see left). David Richards, the Prodrive boss who runs AMR, was happier before discovering the news that his team had once again been denied entry into F1 for 2010. It's all provisional at the moment but he and Lola are the two main manufacturers that have been left out.

After that was the driver's parade, an incredible event that I wound up making better for myself by not bringing my vest that would have got me into the action. Instead, I wound up standing in next to some Brits on the other side, talking F1, Aston Martin, and everything else. It was fantastic.

One funny thing there was seeing all the drivers I'd interviewed and talked to over the course of the week. I think they appreciated seeing a friendly face after being mobbed for blocks by thousands of people for autographs; many of them even asked how I was doing and how I was enjoying it which was really thoughtful on their parts.

There's no need for them to have done that. and from my perspective it was awesome to see them from the fan perspective. Though perhaps Aston's Darren Turner, who I had talked to in the morning, described it best for me when he asked, "What are you doing here (on that side of the fence)?" A question I might ask myself, quite honestly, because it's still crazy I'm really here.

Stories from the last few days:

GT qualifying report:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=331944
On Corvette team futures:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=331978
On Risi Competizione:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=332019

Out for now, cheers.