Now, for the fifth straight race this season the Penske Porsche RS
Spyders have taken the overall win in the American Le Mans Series. Three
of the races, including today's have seen the Spyders dominate their way
to finish first and second on the podium. One year ago the team claimed
their first ever overall victory at Mid-Ohio and it's a fitting win this
year at the beautiful road course in Lexington, OH to show how strong a
force Penske Racing has become in the ALMS.
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#7 Penske Motorsports Porsche RS Spyder: Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard takes the checkered flag. Photo by Richard Sloop.
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Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard piloted their #7 LM P2 Spyder pole to
checker a mere two seconds ahead of teammates Sascha Maassen and Ryan
Briscoe in the #6 sister entry. Dumas managed to keep the lead to the
end by short fueling the tank on the last stop. The smart computation by
the team made him lighter and faster than both Briscoe and the Audis.
"This time when I got in the car, the idea wasn't to win overall. We
just fight for the class win. We were quicker when I went in the car.
Marco Werner overtook me and I was taking care of the tires. When I was
in the window for the stop, I pushed and tried to catch Marco. Instead
of losing a lot of time chasing him we elected to pit, although we ended
up pitting at the same time," said Dumas. "I think our team is very
quick on tire changes. They don't make a lot of mistakes and I don't
remember one in two years. So when we pit, we gain time and don't lose
it. When we pitted, I was really close to Marco and when I left I saw
him still in the pits.
"I was controlling the gap during the last stint. Last year was the
first overall victory for the Spyder. This year was really a nice race.
I was 85-90 percent and the last five minutes I was really pushing and
the car felt nice," he added.
Bernhard talked about his start in the car, "When I was sitting here
yesterday, I said we have never won from the pole so we've achieved
that. I wasn't sure after the start that we could lead after the first
corner. Sascha and I were side-by-side. It was really safe. Again
we concentrated to save our tires. Then when I heard Emanuele was
overtaking Sascha, I wanted to see how quick he was because we weren't
in traffic. When we were, we lost our momentum. For me it was clear I
could stay ahead of the P2 class and led by about 20 seconds. When I
pitted, we had a good gap and he (Dumas) did a good job the rest of the
way."
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Race winners Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas celebrate. Photo by Richard Sloop.
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Third for LM P2 and fourth overall was the Acura prototype of Fernandez
Racing. The driving pair of Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz had a good
run today staying in touch with the leaders and were credited with a
few lead laps of their own during pit stops. As the Acura teams learn
from their first year in ALMS they will get faster and start their own
winning legacy.
"The Lowe's Acura was very good out there today," said Diaz after
handing off driving duties to Fernandez. "I was patient though. There
were several times where I could have force my way in for a pass, but I
waited. We have had a good car all weekend here at Mid-Ohio. The Lola
seems to fit well with this track. I was racing with the Porsches and
the Audi for a long time. We got caught up with some traffic from the
other classes and we just had to go single file through a lot of areas.
But I think Adrian has a good car to finish."
The wins have not come easily for the Penske, always challenging the
Porsche duo are the juggernaut Audis, whose winning history in endurance
racing holds no equal. The #2 Audi R10 TDI driven by Marco Werner and
Emanuele Pirro held the overall lead for most of the race. Pirro passed
for the early lead only nine minutes into the race, and the Audi held
onto it until the final pit stop when Penske's strategy of saving fuel
and tires trumped the Audi's outright speed. The Audi ended up finishing
in third overall around 15 seconds down.
While overall wins are nice for the series what matters are class
victories and the Audi squad still holds that in spades. Werner and
Pirro earned the LM P1 win over teammates Allen McNish and Rinaldo
'Dindo' Capello who piloted the #1 Audi to a 5th overall finish, the
last car to finish on the lead lap.
"We had the pace of the Porsches if not more," explained Pirro. "We can
say we lost the race in the pits because we need longer time to fill
the car. That's the way it is for us. We tried our best and I think we
can be satisfied. We didn't hope to be that competitive at such a small
track. It has been a good race. I was really pleased and we both had
good stints. In the good old days we wouldn't be happy with third place.
We have more power and it's nice to use it. At the start, I think the
car all together was quick enough. I was expecting to pass one or two
more Acuras but didn't expect to pass the Porsches, much less pull away
from them."
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#2 Audi Sport North America Audi R10 TDI Power: Emanuele Pirro, Marco Werner. Photo by Richard Sloop.
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Werner added, "Filling up the car completely was important for us.
This track was much better for us than Lime Rock. It's really smooth
and new. That is what we need with our R10 TDI. We had a really good
setup for the race and saw it in the practice. We were a little unlucky
in qualifying. We knew our car was good for the race. We are looking
forward to the longer track, especially Road America. For a driver it is
a big challenge. We hope we can do this again."
McNish and Capello were set back at the start of race when Capello and
the LM P2 Acura of Stefan Johansson made contact and ended up off the
track on the first lap. Both cars continued on but wounded and far down
in the standings.
Capello gave his take on the contact, "I don't know what happened with
Stephan at the start of the race. I saw he wanted to go so I gave him
room and then for no reason he just moved over and put me in the grass.
I told the team there was something wrong with the car but they told me
to keep driving. When I came in the rear tire was completely worn so it
was really hard to drive. In some of the slow corners I was slower than
a GT car. But now they put a new nose on the car and it is driving fine.
I still can't understand why Stefan did to me what he did."
Johansson had a different view of the racing error, "I don't know what
happened (with Rinaldo Capello in the Audi) on the start. I got down to
the bottom trying to turn right and the car just turned left, I thought
something had broken on the car. I had no idea what Dindo was thinking,
I mean there was clearly no chance to get past. Nothing happened to the
car. The car was fine afterwards. Then likewise, they called us over
because of the liquid, I think it was a bit harsh to be called in."
Greg Pickett and Klaus Graf drove Team Cytosport's AER Lola to third
in LM P1, ninth overall. Cytosport made its ALMS debut in Long Beach
this year and showed much promise before having to retire. The team then
continued to test while preparing for the final races on the season.
Their return to the action in Mid-Ohio yielded a class podium, proving
the strength seen earlier. The team will be at every race for the rest
of the season save Mosport.
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#4 Corvette Racing Corvette C6-R: Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta. Photo by Richard Sloop.
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Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta in the #4 Corvette C6-R lead their
sister car from start to finish notching the LM GT1 class win. Johnny
O'Connell and Jan Magnussen started their Corvette from the back of the
field after incurring a penalty on Friday. The #3 car quickly moved up
the ranks to get behind Gavin and Beretta but was never able to pass
them. The yellow Corvettes placed 11th and 12th overall, with O'Connell
and Magnussen around 28 seconds behind the class winning pair.
"This race track is fantastic. They've done a great job with resurfacing
and the curbs. There is some close moments with contacts. If you compare
the place to Lime Rock, there is no comparison. It promotes a good
race. For us it was challenging at times. We were fortunate that our
main competition started from the back and they stayed back about five
seconds. It was yo-yoing up and down, and then Jan was spun by one of
the Acuras. It all played out from there. The only tight situation I had
was at the start. It seemed like it was slow. I couldn't get any heat in
my front tires. The car was really good in the end and the track really
came to us," said a happy Gavin.
Beretta added, "We had a great race and great car. The traffic was heavy
at times. We have to watch in the front and the back. Sometimes that
makes a hard life. If you take the wrong line, you can lose three or
four seconds. I had one contact with an Acura and didn't have any other
problems."
The LM GT2 class saw some action today when the then leading Ferrari of
Risi Competizione driven by Jaime Melo and Mika Salo crashed with the
second placed Tomas Enge and Dirk Muller's Petersen Motorsports/White
Lightning Racing Ferrari. Both were served penalties for the incident
which allowed the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche to take the class
lead. Jorg Bergmeister with Johannes van Overbeek then kept the Porsche
RSR out in front until the end, getting the class win and extending
Flying Lizard's lead for the championship by eight points. Melo and Salo
finished second in class with their Risi teammates Gianmaria Bruni and
Eric Helary finishing in third.
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#45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR: Johannes van Overbeek, Jorg Bergmeister. Photo by Richard Sloop.
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Johannes van Overbeek talked about the Lizard's luck, "We knew based
on practice and qualifying that we had a good shot. Once the race
started, the Ferrari on average was about a second faster. I was a
little discouraged but then they helped us again. We were under a little
pressure on the 61 car before they ran out of gas and we just cruised to
the win. We knew they had to go in. Throughout the day we had struggled
with the tires. It was a struggle for me and we made a change for Jorg
but it didn't end up making a difference. In outright pace, we didn't
have a chance. That old expression about cooler heads prevailing fits in
here. In 2004 we had a superior car and it was a good fight and a good
win. Last year there was some attrition and it was the same this year.
Ohio has been good to us."
Tomas Enge on the contact with Salo and the penalties, "I knew I was
kind of too close to Mika, but we were racing really hard and the P1s
slowed Mika more than I expected and I just bumped him slightly. I had
been trying to be really careful since I know I was on probation, I
thought it was just a racing incident."
Next on the ALMS calendar for August is very long and fast road course
of Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. This track is a happy hunting
ground for the Audi, the long straights and high speeds are more to the
chassis' liking. However, the cornering agility of the Porsche Spyders
and Acuras can make up for time lost on the straights and will be very
competitive with the Le Mans winning diesels.
Breaking news
Petersen/White Lightning has announced the immediate dismissal of Tomas Enge
from the team in light of the contact between himself and Salo while under
probation from prior incidents this season. In accordance with a written
agreement between the team and, Enge lost his place with the team the moment
a penalty was assessed by the series sanctioning body (IMSA) officials.
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#31 Petersen White Lightning Ferrari 430 GT: Tomas Enge, Dirk Muller. Photo by Richard Sloop.
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Enge, from the Czech Republic, started his career in go-karts before
stepping up to open-wheel racing and then finally into the ALMS. He has
done it all including Formula One and a stint in the IndyCar series.
Enge is one of the Team Czech Republic racers in the A1 Grand Prix World
Cup of Motorsport.
He has had six Le Mans starts, three in the Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello
and three with Aston Martin. For the 2003 race, the Czech won the 24 Hours of
Le Mans LM GTS class driving the Ferrari. In ALMS Enge is credited with five
career wins including the one this year at Utah.
Dale White, Team Manager, "We are following our team's policy and
have released Tomas from his contract with Petersen Motorsports/White
Lightning Racing effective immediately. While this is extremely
regrettable to Mike Petersen, myself and the team, Tomas has been on
probation with the team, as well as with IMSA, since Lime Rock Park and
our policy and understanding with Tomas is clear. It was understood that
we would not and could not tolerate any further penalties and that any
additional penalty would be dealt with in this manner. Regardless of the
circumstances surrounding the actual incidents, it is our practice to
follow the determination of the stewards."
