INTERSPORT TAKE BEST RESULT OF SEASON WITH 2nd OVERALL AT ELKHART LAKE
Intersport Racing scored a superb 2nd place overall at Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin last night in their Lola B01/60 Judd. Jon Field and Duncan Dayton followed home the winners and new champions JJ Lehto and Marco Werner in the Champion Racing Audi R8 despite early contact between the pair.
“It was a good result today as we did not have a great balance throughout most of the race,” said Field. “There was plenty of action with the Audi early on and there was some slight contact. I then spun at turn 5 which let JJ through but all in all it feels good to be on the podium again.”
Despite those early race dramas Field’s partner Duncan Dayton completed the middle portion of the race before handing over to Field who brought the Lola Judd home just over a lap down on the Audi. "When I got in the car I just tried to drive consistent laps,” said Dayton after the race. “The car was easy to drive today, and basically we were just cruising along. We were a lap down to the Audi and we knew we couldn't catch it, so we just concentrated on finishing.”
Intersports LMP2 car driven by Clint Field and Robin Liddell didn’t fair so well after being excluded due to Clint trying to get the Lola B2K/40 back to the pits via an interior road after he hit problems. Field was running a competitive 2nd in class before the problems set in.
Dyson Racing came away from Wisconsin disappointed after being the stars of qualifying when they locked out the front row of the grid. Butch Leitzinger had set a blistering lap of 1:51.893 (130.25 mph) to claim the pole and team mate Andy Wallace put the other AER powered Lola alongside him on the front row. Leitzinger’s time was an impressive 1.2 seconds ahead of the Champion Audi of JJ Lehto and Marco Werner in 3rd place on the grid.
Unfortunately the race was not so kind to Dyson Racing despite Leitzinger opening out a huge 12-second gap in the early running. After that early race altercation with Jon Field’s Lola, Lehto came back with a vengence and took Chris Dyson with a robust move in to Turn 5, breaking the Lola’s rear anti roll bar as it did so. Shortly after this incident Chris Dyson pitted when the engine lost turbo boost. Initial examination revealed a broken flange on the turbo pop-off valve, and the team quickly repaired that problem. Unfortunately, there was also a break further up the system, which proved to be terminal.
At the front of the field, Leitzinger led the Audi by several seconds despite experiencing handling problems of his own. At the first scheduled stops the team was preparing to make adjustments in tyre pressure, which Leitzinger was confident would have dealt with some handling problems he was having. But after the refuelling and tyre change was complete, the car stalled twice as Leitzinger attempted to leave the pits. “I don’t know what that was about,” Leitznger called out on the radio. By the end of pit lane he did. The exhaust header on the car was broken, too and the next lap it was forced to retire.
The next event on the schedule is the prestigious Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on September 23-25 where Rob Dyson is confident of better things. “We’ll get to the bottom of this problem,” he said. “We’ll be looking to win there.”
Meanwhile at Lola’s headquarters in Huntingdon, UK work is on going on the all-new LMP2 design – the B05/40. Initial windtunnel results have been promising . .The car will be completed in early January in readiness for a race debut at the Sebring 12 Hours next March.
