The above video is an upload of the last lap battle between Joerg Bergmeister and Jan Magnussen for the GT2 class victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in October 2009. The video was uploaded by user teambloom from the SPEEDTV race broadcast.

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The last time the American Le Mans Series raced here, ALMS fans witnessed memorable last lap battles between Gil de Ferran and Adrian Fernandez for the overall win and also in GT2 between Joerg Bergmeister and Jan Magnussen. The GT2 class finish ended with an absolute bang.

Seven months later, the wall Magnussen hit still has evidence of the impact’s severity.

Magnussen and Bergmeister were in lockstep, with Magnussen in his Corvette hounding Bergmeister’s Flying Lizard Porsche. The Lizards had already secured the GT2 class championship and were in no position to lose points, but the added victory would be icing on the cake for a terrific season.

Magnussen pressured like no tomorrow. He looked left, right, inside and outside, before eventually ducking down Bergmeister’s inside after Turn 11, the final turn leading onto the front straight.

The two drove down closer to the wall before colliding. The Corvette suffered a heavy crash after careening across the track and hard into the outside retaining wall mere yards from the start/finish line.

Although it was a massive accident, any controversy that arose last year has passed. Both drivers are now focused on beating each other – without incident – this go-around.

Bergmeister said things are changed now that the race is in May and not the season-ender.

“It’s a completely different scenario,” he said. “You already know where you are and know what you have to do at the end. Here, we all need to focus on points.”

Magnussen agreed. “It’s in the past, no hard feelings,” he said. “You just move on. We have to get into a rhythm here this weekend, and the car was good off the trailer.”

The outside retaining wall on the front straight at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca still has evidence of the crash that ended the GT2 lead battle between Joerg Bergmeister and Jan Magnussen last year.