Patrick Dempsey Leads 11 Laps in No. 27 Tullys Coffee Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Before a Wheel Issue Forces Andy Lally to Charge BackA fourth-place finish for Patrick Dempsey, Andy Lally and the No. 27 Dempsey Del Piero Racing Tullys Coffee Porsche 911 GT3 Cup team was far from free of frustrations Sunday at the Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park where a returning rear-wheel issue kept the team from challenging for the victory.

Dempsey started the race in the No. 27 after Lallys fourth-place qualifying effort on Friday.  He momentarily fell to sixth place in the frenzy of the opening laps but soon moved back into top-five contention. Dempsey repeatedly set his personal best laps of the weekend and combined that with some fuel-stretching strategy to lead 11 laps at the end of his race-opening stint.

This was, hands down, Patricks best drive that I have seen him do yet, Lally said. He had some really good runs at Le Mans, but this was a full fuel stint to start the race, flat out and no yellows.  He kept very good pace and set very good lap times, his best of the weekend by half a second.  The progress he is making every single week is astounding.

Dempsey pitted from the lead after an 80-minute opening stint to hand off to Lally. A solid stop by the Dempsey Del Piero team put the No. 27 back on track in fourth place and Lally in hot pursuit of the leaders but he was back in the pits just two laps later with a left-rear wheel problem.

I am just tired of coming in fourth when we had a real shot at winning this thing, Dempsey said. We had another problem with the wheel, thats the third time, so we have to really, really look hard at that, address it, and make sure that doesnt happen again. You cant make a mistake in this series and win.

The Dempsey Del Piero crew eventually worked loose the stuck left rear wheel that spun itself on to the rear axle, a problem that first hit the team in April at Long Beach. This time the issue cost the team two laps to the leaders and quite possibly a shot at victory. Lally returned and raced on pace with the race-winning No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche of Jeronen Bleekemolen, the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly and the No. 30 NGT Porsche of Sean Edwards but only had time to get back one of the teams two lost laps.

We were fast, Lally said. I got the fight that I wanted there at the end of the race but unfortunately we were just a lap-down car in the mix.  We were able to bring it to them, even pull away from them, we rubber-banded back and forth with the leading 22 car, just trying to get a lap back, but unfortunately things just didnt go our way in a couple of different ways today.

Dempsey had high praise for Lally despite his overall frustrations with Sundays race.

Andy drove really, really hard and got a lap back, Dempsey said. After being pretty far down to come back and finish fourth is in itself good for the championship.  The 30 car later had some problems, and the 22 car is going to be tough to beat, but we have a lot of races left too.Next up for the American Le Mans Series and Dempsey Del Piero Racing is the Orion Energy Systems 245 at Road America, August 911. The weekends featured 2-3/4 hour race can be seen live on ABC, Sunday, August 11, at 3 p.m. EDT/12 p.m. PDT.

Noteworthy

-    Lally is a multiple race and championship winning driver but places sportsmanship above all else.  He acknowledged perhaps interfering with his friend Pumpellys bid for a win while he was racing hard for Dempsey Del Piero to get back on the lead lap. I feel bad because I kind of hurt Spences charge a little bit as I was trying to get a lap back from Bleekemolen," Lally said. "I held Spence up a little bit, and he could have had a better run to win this thing.

-    Despite the returning wheel issue, Lally gave some much-deserved kudos to the Dempsey Del Piero Racing crew. They have been working their butts off, Lally said. It is tough going for a team running a Porsche for the first time to go up against the likes of Flying Lizard and Alex Job.About Dempsey Del Piero Racing: A fulltime and year-round enterprise, Dempsey/Del Piero Racing is a professional international sports car auto racing team with operational bases in both Los Angeles and Atlanta in the United States. Follow Dempsey Del Piero Racing on Twitter @DempseyDelPiero.