On January 31st, the motorsport world experienced some awesome racing, courtesy of the Corvette Racing team. Although it was some of the best racing we’ve seen in the last decade, this battle between Jan Magnussen and Joerg Bergmeister that took place at Laguna Seca in 2009 definitely shouldn’t be forgotten.
At the four-hour Monterey Sports Car Championships race on October 10th, 2009, taking place during the last six minutes, Magnussen in the No. 3 C6.R gave it all he had to overtake Bergmeister in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche. Bergmeister knew that Magnussen would be tough to hold off, and he took every measure possible to make sure he didn’t get that victory. Unfortunately, it ended in carnage for the No. 3 C6.R of Magnussen, but hey, that’s racing.
Coming into turn one, Magnussen goes wide around a Ford GT while trying to overtake Bergmeister. While it was a valiant effort, it wasn’t enough to squeeze by the No. 45 Porsche. With around two minutes left in the race, Magnussen overtakes Bergmeister in Turn 1, but uses the pit out lane, and was forced by officials to let Bergmeister pass later in that same lap. Going into the final lap of the last race of the season, Magnussen put the pressure on Bergmeister, and finally made his move coming out of Turn 11.
From left to right: Magnussen bumping Bergmeister coming out of Turn 11 on the last lap, Bergmeister pushing Magnussen toward the wall, and Magnussen wrecking right before the checkered.