LEHTO, WERNER RETURN TO WINNING WAYS IN NEW ENGLAND GRAND PRIX
JJ Lehto and Marco Werner returned to the top step of the podium in the American Le Mans Series on Monday, winning the New England Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park for their third victory in four races this season. Their No. 1 Champion Racing Audi R8 survived a packed track to win at Lime Rock for the second year in a row.
Champion Racing continued its momentum following an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month with another 1-2 ALMS finish, its third of the year. Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro ran less than a second behind the No. 1 car for the last hour.
Lehto moved back into a tie for the series lead with 23 career victories. He shares the honor with Corvette Racing's Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell.
Lehto and Werner led for the first 1:13 before James Weaver took the lead in the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola he shared with Butch Leitzinger. But Weaver stalled in pit lane at about the two-hour mark. Once he got the car started again, Weaver was the fastest car on the track. After battling back from a lap down, a broken throttle cable ended his day with about 10 minutes to go.
"My tire pressure was low, which caused me to have a bit of an understeer," Lehto said. "James saw I was having trouble, and he's a clever guy, so he set me up and took advantage. It could have been any of the four prototypes (winning) here today. Infineon is a good track for both cars (Audis and Dysons). You have to get the car setup right, but its still up to the tires at that track."
In LMP2, the No. 10 Miracle Motorsports Courage of Jeff Bucknum, Chris McMurry and John Macaluso posted its first victory since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, the first ALMS race of the season. The car started on the pole and never lost its lead.
"At this race today I was not in my normal seat. They changed them when they went to Le Mans without me," Bucknum said. "I was really fatigued from sliding around. I could have stayed out longer, but it was just a good time to switch. I'm really happy that we could perform so well. Hopefully we can keep our good luck going."
Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin drove the No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C6-R to its first victory in the ALMS this year. The duo was second behind the No. 3 sister car of Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell in the last two ALMS rounds but finally broke through Monday. Beretta put his C6-R on the class pole and it stayed there all race.
"Everything went well," Beretta said. "We didn't have any trouble with the car and didn't make any mistakes. I'm very happy to win and happy to have the No. 3 car finish second. The C6 is very strong and very fast at Le Mans and the small tracks. Every race, we have been very strong. Everything has been perfect so far."
It actually was the second win in a row for the duo of Beretta and Gavin. They were the LM GT1 class winners at Le Mans in June with Jan Magnussen, their second straight victory at the world's most famous sports car race.
"We will try (to keep it going)," Beretta said. "The team is strong, and the car is strong. Our competition will be close. The C5 worked well at Infineon, and I think the C6 will do well. At every track, there is a learning curve. But I think we will be OK."
Despite crashing into the tire barrier coming out of Turn 8, the No. 3 Corvette Racing C6-R of Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell finished second. Early in the race, Fellows was trying to let faster cars pass when he slid off track, spun around and made contact on the right side of the Corvette.
The No. 63 ACEMCO Motorsports Saleen S7R finished third. It marked the second straight podium finish for the duo of Terry Borcheller and Johnny Mowlem.
In GT2, the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas posted their second straight class win. The duo started second but took the lead for good with less than 45 minutes left when the No. 50 Panoz Esperante of Bill Auberlen and Robin Liddell pitted with damage to its right front.
"It was nice fighting. Overall, it was a very nice race," Bernhard said. "The short track managed a lot of overtaking and passing. You had no time to relax. I'm very happy we won it and very happy that the race went so well."
The No. 31 Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Porsche of Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister finished second after starting on the pole. Coming in third was the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jon Fogarty and Johannes van Overbeek after the duo started eighth in class.
The next race for the American Le Mans Series is the Infineon Technologies Grand Prix of Sonoma presented by Ravenswood Winery, set for 11 a.m. PDT on July 17 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
NEW ENGLAND GRAND PRIX - LIME ROCK PARK - MONDAY, RACE RESULTS
1. (1) Marco Werner, Germany; JJ Lehto, Finland; Audi R8 (1, P1), 165.2. (4) Frank Biela, Germany; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi R8 (2, P1), 165.3. (6) Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6-R (3, GT1), 159.4. (7) Ron Fellows, Canada; Johnny O`Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Corvette C6-R (4, GT1), 157.5. (22) Terry Borcheller, Gainesville, GA; Johnny Mowlem, England; Saleen S7R (5, GT1), 156.6. (8) Andrea Bertolini, Italy; Fabio Babini, Italy; Maserati MC12 (6, GT1), 156.7. (10) Alex Figge, Hollywood, CA; Ryan Dalziel, Scotland; Corvette C5-R (7, GT1), 155.8. (14) Romain Dumas, France; Timo Bernhard, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (8, GT2), 154.9. (5) Jeff Bucknum, Lake Havasu City, AZ; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Courage C-65 (9, P2), 154.10. (13) Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (10, GT2), 153.11. (20) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Jon Fogarty, Palo Alto, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (11, GT2), 152.12. (2) Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; James Weaver, England; Lola EX257 AER (12, P1), 151.13. (18) Ian Baas, Noblesville, IN; Randy Pobst, Gainesville, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (13, GT2), 151.14. (21) Justin Jackson, Buford, GA; Tim Sudgen, England; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (14, GT2), 150.15. (17) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Panoz Esperante eGTLM (15, GT2), 150.16. (9) Ben Devlin, England; Gunnar Van der Steur, Chesapeake City, MD; Lola B2K/40 AER (16, P2), 148.17. (19) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (17, GT2), 148.18. (15) Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Robin Liddell, Scotland; Panoz Esperante eGTLM (18, GT2), 148.19. (16) Mike Rockenfeller, Germany; Wolf Henzler, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (19, GT2), 141.20. (3) Andy Wallace, England; Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Lola EX257 AER (20, P1), 121.21. (11) Guy Cosmo, Long Island, NY; Jamie Bach, West Palm Beach, FL; Courage Mazda (21, P2), 114.22. (12) Michele Rugulo, Italy; Tom Weickardt, Whitefish Bay, WI; Dodge Viper (22, GT1), 11.
UNOFFICIAL POINTSLMP1Marco Werner 74JJ Lehto 74Emanuele Pirro 64Frank Biela 64James Weaver 62Butch Leitzinger 62Andy Wallace 61Chris Dyson 58Tom Kristensen 26Allan McNish 22Guy Smith 16Tom Chilton 10Hayanari Shimoda 10
LMP2Jeff Bucknum 46Chris McMurry 46Jamie Bach 36Jon Field 36Clint Field 36Guy Cosmo 36Ben Devlin 29Ian James 26Gunnar van der Steur 16Erik van der Steur 13
GT1Olivier Beretta 71Oliver Gavin 71Ron Fellows 62Johnny O`Connell 62Johnny Mowlem 52Terry Borcheller 52Alex Figge 38Ryan Dalziel 38Darren Turner 26Stephane Ortelli 26David Brabham 26Michele Rugolo 22Max Papis 22Tom Weickardt 22Jan Magnussen 19Ralf Kelleners 16David Empringham 12Jean-Philippe Belloc 10Stephane Sarrazin 9Pedro Lamy 9Peter Kox 9Andrea Bertolini 0Fabio Babini 0
GT2Patrick Long 71Jorg Bergmeister 71Romain Dumas 56Timo Bernhard 56Jon Fogarty 46J. van Overbeek 46Tim Sugden 43Robin Liddell 33Nic Jonsson 28Justin Jackson 27Lucas Luhr 26Bill Auberlen 23Darren Law 19Ian Baas 18Randy Pobst 18Michael Cawley 17Marc Sluszny 16Tracy Krohn 16Marino Franchitti 16Andrew Thompson 14Michael Vergers 14Juan Barazi 14Seth Neiman 13Lonnie Pechnik 13Spencer Pumpelly 12Steve Ivankovich 12Andy Lally 12Tony Burgess 12Bryan Sellers 11Mike Rockenfeller 10Scott Maxwell 5Sascha Maassen 4Wolf Henzler 2Rick Skelton 1
