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Plumbs, Canney
Win Grand-Am KONI Challenge Grand Sport Season Finale at VIR; Maxwell,
Foster Win Title
Driving and team
titlists, as well as race winners, give Ford Mustangs a huge day at VIR
ALTON, Va. (Oct. 5,
2008) - Hugh and Matt Plumb dominated the middle and final stages of
Sunday's Bosch Engineering Twin Six Hours, the season finale for the
Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Grand Sport (GS) class, giving themselves
and Mike Canney a victory in the six-hour classic at Virginia
International Raceway.
Hugh Plumb passed fellow
Rehagen Racing and Ford Mustang GT driver Dean Martin on Lap 144, then led
Martin and TRG's Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly in a nose-to-tail battle
to the checkered flag in a two-lap shootout. The leading quartet was
separated by only 1.081 seconds, and the No. 59 Rehagen Racing Valvoline/ROUSH
Performance Products Ford Mustang GT of Martin, Jack Roush Jr. and Ryan
Phinny finished 0.208 seconds behind in the second closest finish in KONI
Challenge Series history.
Like the race itself,
the championship race came down to the final hour-and-a-half, with seven
drivers fighting for the title. In the end, Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster
finished fifth in the No. 55 Hyper Sport Ford Mustang GT, giving Maxwell
his second GS title (2002 GSI) and Foster his first. They won the driving
and owner titles by six points (248-242) over Bret Seafuse and James Gue
and JBS Motorsports, and the top seven drivers were separated by only 19
points (248-229).
Maxwell and Foster went
without mechanical problems - though they encountered cosmetic damage from
an early spin and were running two laps shy on fuel before the final
caution - and all seven drivers were in the top 10 heading into the final
pit stop. But mechanical woes plagued three of the four championship cars
during the final hour.
Seafuse and Gue entered
the race one point (222-221) behind Maxwell and Foster, but the team had
to change brake pads and rotors on the No. 37 JBS Motorsports Trumansburg
Shur Save Ford Mustang GT and start from the tail after finding problems
on the recon laps. The team, which also served a 60-second stop-and-go
penalty for running over pit equipment, managed to stay on the lead lap,
and Gue battled Maxwell for a top-five finish. However, he faded in the
final 45 minutes from a lost cylinder. They finished 10th, the final car
on the lead lap.
Fuel delivery problems
forced Jeff Segal and Jep Thornton to lose one lap for repairs, but they
and another co-driver, Terry Borcheller, regained the lap and made their
way back into the top five. However, the car slowed on Lap 138 and
Borcheller brought the car into the paddock for repairs. He took the No.
09 Automatic Racing Imported Car Store/Land Air BMW M3 back on the track a
lap down, and finished 11th.
Craig Stanton led for
the only time on Lap 125, but was passed by Maxwell on the restart on the
outside of Turn 1 and quickly fell to fourth two laps later. On Lap 150,
the No. 83 BGB Motorsports Performance Drink/Weeden Consultants Porsche
997 slowed due to engine failure, and Stanton and co-driver Jon Miller
retired in 15th.
Though Maxwell passed
Stanton on Lap 126 and led 12 laps, his fuel situation forced him to into
conservation mode. Martin took the point on Lap 138, then held it until
Lap 144, when Hugh Plumb surged ahead. Hugh Plumb, Martin and Lally ran
within a second before the final caution - which occurred due to dropped
oil from Stanton's engine. Pumpelly joined the lead trio, but no one was
able to get by Hugh Plumb, who gave Canney and Matt Plumb their first
career GS victories. Matt Plumb - who last won in KONI Challenge with Hugh
Plumb two years ago at VIR in the ST race - led a race-high 44 laps and
the No. 60 Ford Mustang GT led 67 laps.
Overall, 13 drivers in
eight cars combined for 19 lead changes, and seven cautions for 22 laps
slowed the average speed of 84.184 mph.
Martin, Roush and Phinny,
combined to lead 18 laps in the No. 59 Rehagen Racing Valvoline/ROUSH
Performance Products Ford Mustang GT in earning their best finish and
second podium of the season. Their previous best third was in July's race
at Barber Motorsports Park.
TRG's two cars also
finished strong. Lally led a lap in the No. 41 TRG Carlsen Porsche/Cohen
Financial Porsche 997 he shared with Scott Schroeder and Peter Ludwig.
Outside front row starter Pumpelly, meanwhile, stormed through the field
in the final 10 laps in the No. 39 TRG Carlsen Porsche/TheDigiTrust Group
Porsche 997 he shared with Duncan Ende.
Rehagen Racing's Ray
Mason, Gene Martindale and Adam Pecorari also slipped into sixth near the
end of the 155-lap race, driving the No. 52 Columbus Truck & Equipment
Ford Mustang GT. Overall, four of the top six cars were Ford Mustang GTs,
helping the marquee earn its first KONI Challenge Series championship.
Ford bested Porsche by four points (313-309) and BMW - which entered the
race leading the standings - by five (313-308).
Other notable drivers
included polesitter Bill Auberlen - who led the first 22 laps and 24
overall - and Matthew Alhadeff, who finished 20th in the No. 96 Turner
Motorsport BMW M3 after sustaining damage to the car's right side and
mechanical problems late in the race. Andrew Davis, who flipped
end-over-end multiple times in the No. 18 Motorsport Technology Group
Morris Animal Foundation/Meisha's Hope BMW Z4 when his brakes failed, was
uninjured in the race's most spectacular incident of the day. Davis and
Billy Johnson finished 24th.
The top GS and Street
Tuner (ST) drivers, teams and manufacturers will be honored in Monday's
season-ending banquet at the Sheraton Greensboro at Four Seasons in
Greensboro, N.C.
POST-PRACTICE DRIVER
QUOTES
Hugh Plumb (No. 60
Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT): "This is an amazing day for the
Sunset Hills Vineyard car, we've had a run of bad luck this season but we
finally did it and got the win today. I thought that there was going to be
a huge pile up with how slippery the track was on the last two laps. I had
a really big battle with Dean (Martin) going, and it was great to come out
of that on top and have Rehagen Racing finish 1-2. After I got hit on the
first lap I had to take an extra pit stop to fix the damage and then I
just had to put my head down, be consistent, and catch the field. But the
car was great, and we just kept moving forward all day. This is a great
result, and I'm happy to be able to share it with Mike and Matt."
Matt Plumb (No. 60
Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT): "I'm just happy the team waited
until I got involved to win a race! A big thanks to (crew chief) Quinn
Conda and to everyone at Rehagen Racing. The car was great today. Even
though I was up front, I just tried to save the brakes as much as
possible, and Hugh did the rest of the work to get back to the front and
stay there to the finish. It was a nail biter to have the
green-white-checker like that to finish the race, a lot more exciting than
I was hoping for. But Hugh just stayed cool and did a great job."
Mike Canney (No. 60
Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT): "This is my first win in this
series, so it's really exciting, especially to do it like we did today.
Our crew chief Quinn Conda had a great set-up on the Mustang and the car
handled really well during my stint. I'm happy to get a 1-2 finish for
Rehagen Racing. It's an exciting way to finish this season off and
it's also a great way to get things going for next year. I've learned a
lot this year, so I'm thrilled to end the season on a high note like
this!"
Dean Martin (No. 59
Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT): "We were racing hard, and I knew
Hugh was light on brakes. I had brakes, but I was being a little
conservative, and Hugh came in just a little bit deep. I knew he was going
too light on brakes at the end, and I knew that when he hit me. I got
crossed up and he got by me. At that point, I was thinking, ‘don't let
Andy by, he left me in the clutches of Andy Lally, I've got to get out of
here.' I had some opportunities to get back around Hugh, but they were all
going to be risky. The last thing I wanted to do was take my teammate out.
We had a good finish, 1-2; I was more focused on getting away from Andy
and bringing it home 1-2. Having a Rehagen car win was a team win. It was
unfortunate that we got hit and turned sideways, because we might have won
it. But Hugh was certainly fast, and that's the way it worked out. I'm not
too upset about it, just disappointed. Jack and Ryan Phinny did an awesome
job all day, we all took turns at the front of the field."
Jack Roush Jr. (No. 59
Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT): "I was very happy with the way the
year went. We had some unfortunate problems early in the year that hurt
our championship run, but we had a lot of good finishes. This is a nice
way to finish, with our best finish of the season. The car felt very
strong out there. At one point, it felt like I was taking positions at
will. It got a little harder at the end, when the tires went away, but the
No. 59 Roush/Valvoline Mustang was awesome all day."
Andy Lally (No. 41 TRG
Porsche 997): "In the corners and under braking I had something for
them at the end, but they've got way too much juice. Even if they make a
mistake, they can get on the gas and drive away from us. They're both very
good drivers, but I think with a little more juice on our side, we could
have done it. It's a testament to the car and how good the TRG guys have
been thrashing on it. We had the first and second place Porsches today,
and I'm proud of that. This is a horsepower track, and we just got beat. I
overdrove the heck out of it, I threw it off probably three or four times
hustling it, but third was the best we could do today."
Scott Schroeder (No. 41
TRG Porsche 997): "This Porsche ran real strong all weekend. Peter
did a great job. Andy did a great job. We just had to be there at the end.
We didn't have any for those Mustangs, they just have too much
straight-line speed. I'm looking forward to next year. I think this is a
good way to end the year. I can't say enough about the team."
Peter Ludwig (No. 41 TRG
Porsche 997): "I ran the middle shift, and it was a good experience.
It's nice to finish strong in the last race of the year. I've had a lot of
bad luck this year. In my stint, we had a shock go out. That was a little
scary, I had a lot of rear end motion. But Andy was able to deal with it
perfectly in his stint and brought the car home, so we're real
happy."
Scott Maxwell (No. 55
Hyper Sport Ford Mustang GT): "We were trying to save fuel near the
end. We were two laps short on fuel with a half an hour to go, so I was a
little concerned. I started short shifting. I knew the point scenario, so
I started fading back to try to save enough fuel. The last caution was a
Godsend. If we had to pit, I knew the championship was over. We needed to
make up two laps of fuel, because we were two laps short. We had a great
car the first two hours, then Joe got hit and got spun, and the front end
got bent a half-hour into his stint. It was tracking sideways, so it was a
bit of a handful the last four hours. It definitely wasn't as easy as it
might have looked. For the first two hours, the car was great and I
thought not only could we win the championship, we could win the race. At
the end, it was just survival."
Joe Foster (No. 55 Hyper
Sport Ford Mustang GT): "Obviously, it was a crazy race with a lot of
excitement on the track. It was a good car in the beginning.
Unfortunately, we had contact with a car that was not involved in the
championship about the middle of the race, and that definitely affected
the handling of the front end of the car. The steering wheel was pointed
at nine o'clock instead of 12 o'clock. I can't thank Scott enough for
driving the wheels off at the end to stay ahead. We had to play a
conservation game at that point, because the car was not going to go to
the front as it had early in the race, so we did the lap times we needed
to get it to the end. Winning the championship was an amazing thing. It's
something Hyper Sport hasn't done before, and team owner Patrick Dempsey
and Rick Skelton, the partners in the team (haven't either). I know
Patrick, on the set of Grey's Anatomy, was watching online all day.
Personally, it's the culmination of a lot of hard work by about 100 people
sharing in this."
Craig Stanton (No. 83
BGB Motorsports Porsche 997): "I feel bad for the team, and I feel
bad for Jon Miller, John Tecce, John and Patti Moore, the whole team. Each
and every one of them put their whole heart and soul out all year long.
This isn't just a one-race weekend. It showed in every race. It was a
great year. They stepped up for every race, each and every time. It's a
great place to race, there are a lot of fans here, and I can't wait for
next year. It's one of them darn racing deals. We have three or four
minutes to go, we were running for first or second in the championship,
but heck, we'll move on for '09."
Jon Miller (No. 83 BGB
Motorsports Porsche 997): "Not great. We made it to 10 minutes to go
until the end of the season, and then we had our first mechanical issue
that took us from being in the position to win the championship to
finishing a couple of laps down. It's pretty gut-wrenching to make it to
10 minutes from the end of the season and have a mechanical problem take
us out of it."
James Gue (No. 37 JBS
Motorsports Ford Mustang GT): "We thought we had it there, but
everything that could have gone wrong went wrong today. Right when we
thought we had a chance to run them down, we lost a cylinder near the end.
Very disappointing, actually."
Bret Seafuse (No. 37 JBS
Motorsports Ford Mustang GT): "Good race for us. Second place (in the
championship), we can't complain about that. But it was a rough weekend.
Anything that could go wrong pretty much has. But we battled back and it
came down to the end. We were running on seven cylinders, we'd been hit,
and we had a rough race. We battled through it, and I can't complain about
second. Too bad we lost a cylinder with 30 minutes left, we were running
well. James was doing a real good job in his last stint, and we were
actually quite a bit faster than a bunch of cars. I think potentially we
could have gotten the 55, but congratulations to them, they did a good
job."
Jeff Segal (No. 09
Automatic Racing BMW M3): "Congratulations to the entire Hyper Sport
team. They did a fantastic job, and they really deserve this. Their
Mustang was really strong and our little M3 just didn't have anything for
them. Our whole team worked unbelievably hard all weekend. Our
championship last year and our third place points finish this year is all
because of their efforts."
Jep Thornton (No. 09
Automatic Racing BMW M3): "Congratulations to Joe and Scott. You
never know how things will turn out - we lost our chance for a
championship in the last minutes of the last race. We all fight for this
moment. We had our problems, but overall we had a great season."
(referring to Monday night's KONI Challenge banquet in nearby Greensboro,
N.C.) "Viva Greensboro!"
Aschenbach,
Dobson Win Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series ST Six-Hour Finale at Virginia
International Raceway
Jamie Holtom wins driving title, gives
Georgian Bay team crown and Chevrolet the manufacturer championship
ALTON, Va. (Oct. 4, 2008) - They had six
hours to distance themselves from the competition, but Lawson Aschenbach
and Ken Dobson needed every single minute of Saturday's Grand-Am KONI
Challenge Series Street Tuner (ST) season finale, the Bosch Engineering
Twin Six Hours at Virginia International Raceway, to win Round 11 in the
No. 110 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS.
Aschenbach - who led three times for a
race-high 36 laps after making up 37 positions after starting at the back
of the field - passed outgoing series champion Adam Burrows on Lap 139 of
the 147-lap race, then distanced himself from the rest of the field over
the final five laps or 15 minutes.
In the meantime, Aschenbach's teammate,
Jamie Holtom in the No. 01 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS,
claimed the ST championship by 45 points (282-237) over Kuno Wittmer. At
age 21 years, four days, Holtom becomes the youngest Grand-Am champion in
the sanctioning body's nine-year history. He shared the car with Eric
Curran, who had previously won at VIR in KONI Challenge competition three
times.
Holtom led as late as Lap 132 before
losing two positions. In an effort to keep the car out of trouble, he kept
close to Burrows and challenged him for second, concluding the season with
five consecutive podium finishes and nine top 10s in 10 starts. Holtom's
only DNF came at Watkins Glen International in July.
Throughout the afternoon and evening,
Georgian Bay ran up front. Aschenbach, who has the Formula Ford 2000 track
qualifying record, qualified 38th, yeah wasted no time going toward the
front. After making the winning pass, he was still forced to hold off
Burrows and Holtom, who ran a combined one second behind at times before
fading in the final laps. Burrows, who moved to second in the point
standings after entering the event sixth, followed by 1.436 seconds in the
No. 76 Compass360 Racing Skunk2/Sunday Group Management Acura TSX, while
Holtom was 1.777 seconds behind Aschenbach, with whom he shared the ST
victory at Iowa Speedway in August.
The opening laps appeared to be like
what many expected to be see in the closing laps. Five drivers led in the
opening 10 laps, attributing to 21 lead changes among 14 drivers and 11
cars. No driver led more than five laps in the first hour.
Aschenbach, who made his return to
racing after a recent illness from overtraining, stayed out front for the
longest periods of time. He led for the first time on Lap 24, taking the
point for seven laps, then again on Lap 48 for 20 laps, the longest any
driver ran out front. He then led the final nine laps, driving Georgian
Bay's third entry fielded solely to help garner Chevrolet the manufacturer
championship. Dobson led 11 laps, only to be passed by Curran on Lap 100.
Curran led the second-highest number of laps, 23. Burrows also led 23
laps. Overall, Georgian Bay led 84 laps, and at one point had all three of
its cars in the top five. Kirk Spencer and Ashley McCalmont ended the
season in the No. 00 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS in 11th.
Matthew Bell and VJ Mirzayan finished
fourth - their second-best finish of the season - in the No. 95 Turner
Motorsport BMW 330i after running in the top five for most of the event.
Owen Trinkler and BJ Zacharias rounded out the top five in the No. 196 RSR
Motorsports CaseTech/Cruise America Mini Cooper S.
Seven cautions for 22 laps, most for
cars which spun off course, slowed the race to an average speed of 80.048
mph. The only accident involved Bryan Ortiz and Juan Leroux, as Ortiz, in
the No. 127 Next Generation/Fountain Motorsports BMW 330i, ran into the
back of Leroux's No. 174 LRT Racing Mobil 1/Presidente Beer Acura TSX.
Both drivers, however, escaped without serious injury.
Holtom and Curran's third-place finish
wrapped up the championship for Georgian Bay's No. 01 car, and Aschenbach
and Dobson's victory was enough to give Chevrolet its first KONI ST crown
by nine points (310-301) over Acura, which had previously won five titles
in six seasons.
Wittmer, who led three laps before his
No. 32 i-MOTO Racing Cybernation/Alpinestar Acura TSX suffered mechanical
problems, still managed to stay in third in the driver point standings.
The No. 32 also ran out front for 16 laps. Bob Beede, who missed the
season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway when his car was
involved in an early incident, finished fourth.
Kristian Skavnes dropped to fifthin the
final rundown after co-driver Chuck Hemmingson brought the No. 111
ICY/Phoenix Racing Subaru Legacy into the pits with a cut left-front tire,
less than a handful of laps after Hemmingson took the controls from Andrew
Aquilante. Unfortunately, the team's stop included repairs to the
left-front of the car, forcing the team several laps down. Together,
Skavnes, Hemmingson and Aquilante were credited with 19th.
In total, Burrows, Wittmer, Beede and
Skavnes were separated by only four points (239 for Burrows, 237 for
Wittmer, 236 for Beede, 235 for Skavnes). Beede's No. 29 Bill Fenton
Motorsports car finished second in the team points, while Wittmer's No. 29
i-MOTO Racing machine was third.
The top ST drivers, teams and
manufacturers will be honored in Monday's season-ending banquet at the
Sheraton in Greensboro, N.C. The Grand Sport (GS) six-hour race will start
at 11 a.m. Sunday, with seven drivers within nine points of the driving
championship lead.
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
Lawson Aschenbach (No. 110 Georgian Bay
Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS): "Lawson Aschenbach did a great job
starting the race from the back and getting the car up into position. So
my job was not to blow it, because we know once we got Lawson back in the
car, he would bring it back up to the front with ease. Luckily, I got the
car back up into first place, and did my job of running consistent laps so
the anchorman could do his job. The Chevy Cobalt SS Turbocharged did an
awesome job tonight. Nothing major happened, and we didn't have to panic
too much. When Lawson got into the car for the close we put new pads and
new tires on for him, a full tank of gas, and that refreshened the car up
enough to where he was able to bring it home in first place."
Ken Dobson (No. 110 Georgian Bay
Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS): "Lawson Aschenbach did a great job
starting the race from the back and getting the car up into position. So
my job was not to blow it, because we know once we got Lawson back in the
car, he would bring it back up to the front with ease. Luckily, I got the
car back up into first place, and did my job of running consistent laps so
the anchorman could do his job. The Chevy Cobalt SS Turbocharged did an
awesome job tonight. Nothing major happened, and we didn't have to panic
too much. When Lawson got into the car for the close we put new pads and
new tires on for him, a full tank of gas, and that refreshened the car up
enough to where he was able to bring it home in first place."
Trevor Hopwood (No. 76 Compass360 Racing
Acura TSX): "Congratulations to Jamie-it's good to pass the
championship on to a friend and fierce competitor like Jamie. I was trying
to save the brakes as much as I could, but I still make the call for the
team to change pads so Adam could fight at the end and that turned out to
be the right call. The team had a great strategy once again, especially
with that last splash of fuel. Thanks to the boys for all their hard work
all year--we were fast everywhere we went this season."
Adam Burrows (No. 76 Compass360 Racing
Acura TSX): "Compass360 had an awesome strategy once again - Ray Lee
has done an amazing job calling our races all year long. Congratulations
to Jamie on winning the championship-it's a great feeling to win a
championship, and I know he's going to be celebrating tonight. You hate to
give up the crown, but to hand it over to a driver like Jamie makes it a
lot easier. It was tough to lose the lead to Lawson, but getting to second
in the championship is great. The reality was that there wasn't anything I
could do to hold him off, he was just too fast in a straight line and even
though I was getting everything possible out of the car, he just motored
on by me for the lead. Thanks to the Compass360 Racing guys for the job
they've done all year long, working their butts off for us."
Jamie Holtom (No. 01 Georgian Bay
Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS): "Winning the championship was
absolutely enormous for me, personally, for my co-drivers winning the
race, for my team winning the team championship, and for Chevrolet winning
the manufacturers championship as well. It really couldn't have shaken out
any better than it did. I'm proud of the Georgian Bay guys, they've done
an amazing job. With a little bit of luck, we pulled it off. It was
absolutely not a conservative approach. When you start thinking about
finishing 25th, you finish 26th, so we had our sights set on No. 1 and we
were lucky enough to pull it off. We had no problems at all with the car.
All we did for maintenance was change the brake pads. When you can go
through a six-hour race with only a brake pad change, it says a lot about
the cars. When you start with as good a car as a Cobalt, and you have the
Georgian Bay guys working on it, you can't go wrong?"
Eric Curran (No. 01 Georgian Bay
Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS): "It was a phenomenal day. I was
very happy. Jamie Holtom and I have been working for three years now, and
we've worked hard on this. Our goal every year is to go for a
championship. Here it is, after all these years and all this hard work and
a great season, we had a number of wins this season, and Jamie pulled it
off. I wish I could have been there with him for the driver's
championship, but I missed a couple of races. Just happy to be part of
this whole program. Georgian Bay Motorsports, those guys do a great job;
they work so hard at it. This (Chevrolet) Cobalt SS is awesome. To win all
three is amazing. You know, we finished on the podium today, didn't win
the race, but in our minds, we won it all. So we're very happy; it's been
a great year."
VJ Mirzayan (No. 95 Turner Motorsport
BMW 330i): "I'm very happy. This was the highest BMW. I think this
was the best we could have done. On the last yellow, we would have been in
P1, but the other cars had more for us at the end. Matt did a great job at
the end of the race. I've got to Turner Motorsports for a great year. I
just hope I can be back next year and continue racing. This is the end of
my third season, and I keep growing and looking forward to '09."
Matthew Bell (No. 95 Turner Motorsport
BMW 330i): "That was a lot of fun. We had a funky pit strategy that
got us up to the front. I didn't even realize we were that far up. I
figured everyone else had pitted, and as soon as we pitted we'd go back
down. But we stayed up there. We just tried to set consistent lap times,
and that's exactly what it took to finish up there. It was good for Turner
Motorsports - they always build good consistent cars."
Owen Trinkler (No. 196 RSR Motorsports
Mini Cooper S): "We just survived this one. It was a great run. BJ
Zacharias and Mark Congleton did a great job, along with Randy Smalley and
all of the RSR Motorsports/Cruise America team gave it their all. The
car's got no brakes left. We were short shifting and getting the good
mileage the Mini gets when you short shifting it. I didn't even know where
we finished (fifth), the radio died near the end. I didn't think the Mini
would do good here, but that shows what a championship team RSR is. We had
a rough start to the season, but BJ came on board and we had a great
second half of the season with two poles, led some laps and we're getting
ready for next year, hoping to come out with the new Mini turbo. We're
already looking forward to '09."
PEUGEOT, AUDI RACING INTO
PETIT DUSK
The sun is setting at
Road Atlanta as Petit Le Mans powered by the Totally New MAZDA6
is well into its second half. The anticipated battle between Audi and
Peugeot is into the seventh hour with Peugeot’s Stephane Sarrazin
leading Audi Sport North America’s Lucas Luhr in a battle of diesel
prototypes.
As the race entered
the eighth hour, Sarrazin was three seconds up on Luhr as the field got up
to speed after a recent yellow flag period that arose when Tafel
Racing’s No. 73 Ferrari F430 GT spun at Turn 3. Six different entries
have led throughout with Audi and Peugeot spending most of the time out
front.
Down through the
field, driver championships are on their way to conclusion. In LMP2,
Penske Racing’s Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas need to finish third or
better to wrap up their second straight title. Challengers David Brabham
and Scott Sharp went out early when Sharp crashed at the exit of Turn 10B
early on, forcing Patrón Highcroft Racing to retire its Acura ARX-01b.
At the restart,
Andretti Green Racing’s Acura of Franck Montagny, Tony Kanaan and Marco
Andretti were leading Penske’s Porsche RS Spyder of Ryan Briscoe and
Helio Castroneves. Dumas and Bernhard were third.
Ron Fellows led GT1 in
Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Corvette C6.R that he is sharing with Johnny
O’Connell and Jan Magnussen. A victory for the trio will wrap up the
championship for O’Connell and Magnussen. They are six laps ahead of
teammates Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Max Papis.
Flying Lizard
Motorsports’ trio of Jörg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb led
GT2 in their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. A victory for the No. 45 car will give
Bergmeister and Henzler the class championship.
Lieb led Risi
Competizione’s Jaime Melo and his Ferrari F430 GT that he is driving
with Mika Salo. Tafel Racing’s duo of Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk
Mueller were third in class. Currently second in the championship, they
need a victory today to keep their title hopes alive.
COUNTDOWN TO START: McNISH
QUICKEST IN WARMUP
The stage is set for
Petit Le Mans powered by the Totally New MAZDA6.
Audi Sport North America’s Allan McNish turned in the fastest time in
Saturday morning’s warm-up session at Road Atlanta with a 1:08.403
(133.678 mph) around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit. McNish qualified his
Audi R10 TDI second for this morning’s start of the 1,000-mile/10-hour
race in which he will team with Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro.
LMP2 pole-winner Ryan
Briscoe was second overall and first in class in a Penske Motorsports
Porsche RS Spyder. Briscoe, who will drive with Helio Castroneves, posted
a time of 1:09.754 (131.089 mph). He was just 0.031 seconds ahead of the
pole-sitting Peugeot 908 HDi of fastest qualifier Stephane Sarrazin, Nic
Minassian and Christian Klien.
After McNish’s time,
the next eight cars were within one second of each other.
In GT1, Ron Fellows
went fastest in the pole-sitting Corvette C6.R with a lap of 1:17.998
(117.234 mph). He will drive with championship leaders Jan Magnussen and
Johnny O’Connell, who was the pole qualifier. Fellows went just 0.005
seconds quicker than the other Corvette of Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin
and Max Pappis.
In GT2, Tafel
Racing’s Dominik Farnbacher went quickest in the Ferrari that he will
share with Dirk Mueller. Farnbacher’s lap of 1:20.456 (113.652 mph) was
0.02 seconds better than the first of Flying Lizard Motorsports’
Porsches of Jörg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb.
Auberlen,
Pumpelly Make Up Front Row for Sunday’s Six-Hour Grand-Am KONI Challenge
Series Finale at VIR
GS point leaders
Maxwell, Foster qualify sixth; Shane Lewis wins ST pole
ALTON, Va. (Oct. 4,
2008) - Bill
Auberlen earned Turner Motorsport's second straight Grand-Am KONI
Challenge Series Grand Sport (GS) pole, in a record-breaking
performance, Saturday at Virginia
International Raceway, and will lead the 27-car field to the green
flag in Sunday's season finale, the Bosch Engineering Twin Six
Hours.
Auberlen, who was
quickest overall in Friday's practice session, set a time of 2:03.216
(95.540 mph). It marked the second consecutive pole for Auberlen and
co-driver Matthew Alhadeff, who earned the pole for last month's race at Miller
Motorsports Park. The pair, co-driving the No. 96 Turner
Motorsport BMW M3, went on to win the race at Miller and look to
defend their victory in the VIR six-hour race, which is scheduled to start
at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Spencer
Pumpelly, who was second in
practice Friday, again trailed Auberlen in Saturday's qualifying session.
Pumpelly, co-driving the No. 39 TRG Carlsen Porsche/The DigiTrust Group Porsche
997 with Duncan Ende, clocked in at 2:03.664 (95.193 mph). The two
are looking for their first KONI Challenge victory together.
Third was Guy Cosmo
(2:03.696; 95.168 mph) in the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche 997, followed
by Dean Martin (2:03.748; 95.128 mph) in the No. 59 Rehagen Racing
Valvoline/ROUSH Performance Products Ford
Mustang GT and Hugh Plumb (2:03.843; 95.055 mph) in the No. 60
Rehagen Racing Sunset Hills Vineyard Ford Mustang GT.
The next three drivers
are championship contenders. Scott Maxwell turned a time of 2:03.969
(94.959 mph) in the No. 55 Hyper Sport Ford Mustang GT he shares with
fellow point co-leader Joe Foster. Defending series champions Jeff Segal
and Jep Thornton (2:04.137; 94.830 mph) in the No. 09 Automatic Racing
Imported Car Store/Land Air BMW
M3, and former champ Craig Stanton (2:04.227; 94.762 mph) was
eighth in the No. 83 BGB Motorsports Performance Drink/Weeden Consultants
Porsche 997. Stanton, who is co-driving the car with Jon Miller and John
Tecce, and Thornton and Segal are nine points (222-213) behind Maxwell and
Foster.
James Gue and Bret
Seafuse (2:05.084; 94.112 mph), who trail Maxwell and Foster by one point
(222-221) in the championship standings, will start from 13th in the No.
37 JBS Motorsports Trumansburg Shur Save Ford Mustang GT.
Shane Lewis returned to
KONI Challenge ST action at full strength, winning his first pole position
of 2008. Lewis is going for his second straight KONI Challenge victory at
VIR, as he and co-driver John Schmitt dominated last year's race. Lewis
set a time of 2:10.163 (90.440 mph). Lewis was involved in an accident in
August at New Jersey
Motorsports Park, and did not compete at Miller Motorsports Park.
Lewis is also the defending polesitter at VIR.
Kristian Skavnes
(2:10.165; 90.439 mph), who is mathematically still in contention to win
the championship, was just two thousandths of a second behind Lewis.
Skavnes - co-driving the No. 111 ICY/Phoenix Racing Subaru
Legacy with Chuck Hemmingson and Andrew Aquilante - is 29 points
(252-223) behind ST point leader Jamie Holtom. Holtom (2:10.595; 90.141
mph) will start seventh in the No. 01 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet
Cobalt SS he shares with Eric Curran and Lawson Aschenbach. Holtom
needs only to finish 25th to win the championship, and therefore become
the youngest Grand-Am champion at 21 years, four days.
Third was Matt Pritiko
(2:10.290; 90.352 mph) in the No. 53 Predator Auto Sport Auto Tech
Chevrolet Cobalt SS, followed by Tom Long (2:10.388; 90.284 mph) in the
No. 146 Freedom Autosport Mazda
MX-5 and Randy
Pobst (2:10.480; 90.221 mph) in the No. 181 APR Motorsport APR/BBS Volkswagen
GTI.
The session was
abbreviated when Mike Sweeney, driving the No. 191 APR Motorsport APR/BBS
Volkswagen GTI, hit the tire wall in Turn 9. The accident forced a
20-minute cleanup. Sweeney was not seriously injured in the incident;
however, the car will not compete in today's race.
Today's six-hour ST race
begins at 2 p.m., and tomorrow's six-hour GS race begins at 11 a.m.
POST-PRACTICE DRIVER
QUOTES
Bill Auberlen (No. 96
Turner Motorsport BMW M3): "This has been what the Turner
Motorsports car has been doing all weekend. You put new tires on
and we've got a pretty reasonable setup, and you can go out and peg a nice
lap. But we haven't even worked on that. What we've been working on is
getting it to go longer in the run. We've seen people get fast and then
fall off right away. We don't want to be one of those guys, so we've
changed our setup a lot to accommodate not hurting the tire. We've
accomplished both in the same swing. (On his first lap, which stood up for
the pole) I caught Spencer (Pumpelly) and on that lap, that was all I
could do, get behind his bumper. Then he potentially was going to hurt my
next lap, so I backed it up. We then found out that nobody was going
faster than that first lap, so we just cruised."
Spencer Pumpelly (No. 39
TRG Porsche 997): "It was a real good job by the TRG guys. We're
ready to go. If we can get a little luck tomorrow, we can win this
thing."
Joe Foster (No. 55 Hyper
Sport Ford Mustang GT): "Everything's fine and going according to
plan. Scott (Maxwell) did a great job in qualifying, so we'll see what
happens."
Shane Lewis (No. 22 HART
Honda Accord): "I knew I was going to have to get a lap in pretty
quickly. There are a lot of cars out in this field and a lot of guys are
pushing - and some of them are pushing a little too hard. I got in my best
lap as soon as I could, put down a good lap quickly, and thankfully, it
held up for the pole. I believe if we went green the whole time there are
a few guys who are really, really fast. So I got the job done and did it
quickly."
Kristian Skavnes (No.
111 ICY/Phoenix Racing Subaru Legacy): "It went well. I had a nice
tow behind the No. 22 HART car, and that helped us out. It was a good,
connected lap, in every corner. I'm pretty happy about it. We'll give the
car a lot of love before the start. The following six hours will be pretty
rough on it."
Jamie Holtom (No. 01
Georgian Bay Motorsports): "I wish that session hadn't gotten black
flagged. All we needed was one more lap, and we might have been able to
knock Shane off the top spot. Good run anyway for the Georgian Bay Chevrolet
Cobalt, and I know we've got a good car for the race ahead of
us."
TONY
RIVERA WINS RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP AT ROAD ATLANTA
BRASELTON, Ga. October 3 – Tony Rivera, Houston, Texas, drove his Porsche
911 GT3 Cup car to an
overall victory in round 12 of the IMSA Challenge by Michelin at Road
Atlanta to secure the Gold
Cup championship. Bob Faieta, Tujunga, Calif., and Dino Steiner, Wehingen,
Germany, each took a
Platinum Cup win to keep the championship points tied going into the final
two rounds of the season.
Rivera, who has won every Gold Cup race in 2008, surpassed Tommy
Kendall’s record of 11 straight
victories, winning his twelfth race of the year.
“One of my best friends made me aware of the record a few races ago,”
Rivera said. “Today I just
got run on Dino under the bridge and coming down into turn 12. I out broke
him going into turn one.
I concentrated on not making a mistake like I did yesterday.”
In round 11 on Thursday Faieta finished first, starting from the pole and
never looking back. There
was one caution period that bunched the field up. On the restart Faieta
got a good jump on the
green
flag and held Steiner off for the win.
“I had a solid lead, but Dino was really strong,” Faieta said. “I
was monitoring him in my mirrors
and he was right there. Not close enough to strike, but right there.”
Patrick Kelly, Minnetrista, Minn., finished third in the Platinum Cup
class in both rounds.
In the Gold Cup, the class designated for 2005-2007 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
cars, Melanie Snow,
Pleasant Grove, Utah, and Lloyd Hawkins, New Orleans, La., had good on-
track battles both days.
Snow finished second in round 11 and Hawkins finished third. In round 12
they switched spots on the
podium with Hawkins finishing runner up to Rivera.
The final two rounds of the IMSA Challenge by Michelin series will take
place October 18 and
19 at
Mazda
Raceway Laguna Seca. The Platinum Cup championship will come down
to the final race Sunday,
scheduled to be a one-hour and fifteen minute race.
Auberlen,
Holtom Quickest in Friday’s Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Practice at
Virginia International Raceway
Turner
Motorsport, Georgian Bay drivers take big steps toward bigger
goals, as they prepare for second straight victories with strong practice
times
ALTON, Va. (Oct. 3,
2008) - Bill Auberlen
and Jamie Holtom took big steps toward big goals in Grand-Am KONI
Challenge Series practice Friday, as the two led their respective
Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) overall sessions at Virginia
International Raceway. Both classes have their season finales
scheduled in this weekend's Bosch Engineering Twin Six Hours at the
3.27-mile track.
Auberlen, who won last
year's GS race at VIR with Turner Motorsport, posted a fastest time of
2:03.985 (94.347 mph) during the class's third and final practice session,
and hopes to start from the pole when teams qualify Saturday morning.
Auberlen and co-driver Matthew Alhadeff are coming off a victory in the
most recent race at Miller
Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, and look toward a second
consecutive triumph in Sunday's six-hour classic.
Spencer
Pumpelly was second quickest in GS with a time of 2:04.033 (94.910
mph) in the No. 39 TRG Carlsen Porsche/TheDigiTrust Group Porsche
997. Pumpelly and co-driver Duncan Ende seek to end their season on
a strong note with their first victory together.
Series point leaders
Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster were third quickest overall with a time of
2:04.550 (94.516), which was set in the second session. Broken parts kept
the team from setting the fastest time in the first session, and the duo
ran only two laps in the final session in the No. 55 Hyper Sport Ford
Mustang GT. The pair leads Bret Seafuse and James Gue by only one
point (222-221); Seafuse and Gue were 14th quick in the No. 37 JBS
Motorsports Trumansburg Shur Save Ford Mustang GT.
Other championship
contenders had mixed results. Defending series champs Jep Thornton and
Jeff Segal were sixth in the No. 09 Automatic Racing Imported Car
Store/Land Air BMW M3,
and Craig Stanton's No. 83 BGB Motorsports Performance Drink/Weeden
Consultants Porsche 997 was 18th. Thornton, Segal and Stanton are nine
points (222-213) behind Maxwell and Foster.
Dean Martin was fourth
in the No. 59 Rehagen Racing Valvoline/ROUSH Performance Products Ford
Mustang GT he shares with Jack
Roush Jr. and Ryan Phinny, while Kris Wilson and Dave Riddle were
fifth in the No. 25 C-MAX/Unitech Racing Porsche 997.
Holtom was fastest in ST
after setting a lap of 2:11.136 (89.769 mph) during the evening session,
which ended in darkness. He needs only to finish 25th in Saturday's race -
which starts at 2 p.m. ET - to become the youngest Grand-Am champion. With
a season-high four victories in nine starts this season, Holtom will share
the No. 01 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet
Cobalt SS with Eric Curran and Lawson Aschenbach, who have each
contributed their driving talents in ST victories in 2008.
At 21 years, four days,
Holtom would surpass Segal as the youngest champion, as he leads Kristian
Skavnes and Kuno Wittmer - who drive different cars - by 29 points
(252-223). Segal set that mark last year when he won the GS title at 22
years, six months and 10 days.
Skavnes was 10th in the
No. 111 ICY/Phoenix Racing Subaru
Legacy he shares with Chuck Hemmingson and Andrew Aquilante.
Wittmer did not contest Friday's session as he competed elsewhere, but his
younger brother Nick Wittmer set the fastest and third fastest times in
different cars in the second practice session. Overall, the No. 32 i-MOTO
Racing Cybernation/Alpinestar Acura
TSX Kuno Wittmer is scheduled to drive was third.
Tom Long drove the No.
146 Freedom Autosport Mazda
MX-5 to second on the charts at 2:11.141 (89.766), only five
thousandths of a second slower than Holtom's time. Long is searching for
his first career ST victory with Rhett O'Doski.
Outgoing ST champs
Trevor Hopwood and Adam
Burrows were fourth in the No. 76 Compass360 Racing Skunk2/Sunday
Group Management Acura TSX, while teammates Ken Wilden and Jeremy Wilden
in the No. 75 Compass360 Racing Acura TSX were fifth.
Qualifying for ST begins
at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, with GS qualifying following. The six-hour ST race
starts at 2 p.m. Saturday, and the six-hour GS race starts at 11 a.m.
Sunday.
POST-PRACTICE DRIVER
QUOTES
Bill Auberlen (No. 96 Turner
Motorsport BMW M3): "We won this race last year. I think we're
looking as good as anybody. Temperature is paying a big part here in terms
of how the car was from the morning to the afternoon sessions. In the
middle practice session, we struggled a little bit. We made a lot of
changes coming into the late session, and we were quick again. So we were
quickest in the morning and quickest in the afternoon. You have to say it,
Will (Turner) and the guys here can very quickly tune these BMWs to get
you right in the window. These cars are never out of the window at every
single event. Between the H&R Springs and StopTech
brakes and all the sponsors, Turner
Motorsports is ready to win every weekend. Everybody else has to be
wondering about us, that's the good part."
Spencer Pumpelly (No. 39
TRG Porsche 997): "Today was a good day. We have a very, very fast
race car. The tough part about it is that it's a little twitchy and hard
to drive; it's not very comfortable right now. Fortunately, I have the TRG
crew; I've asked for a lot of changes and the guys are more than able to
accommodate me. We still have a little bit of work to get a good race car.
I think right now it's fast, but if we can maintain our reliability
through Sunday, I think we'll have a shot at it. Duncan (Ende) is doing a
great job; his time came down a lot the last session, and he's right in
the hunt. We've got a great team, I've got a great co-driver, and I think
going into an endurance
race, we need a little bit of luck. Everything else should just fit
into place."
Jamie Holtom (No. 01
Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS): "Our strategy was to
take care of the car as best we could. Looking back, we don't have the
best track record here with these six hour races. So we're trying to take
it easy on the car, stay off the rumble strips, keep it out of the grass,
and at the same time we're still trying to be competitive as we always
are. We're not going to rest, that's for sure, we're going to go after it
and try to help GM and Georgian Bay Motorsports win the manufacturer and
team championships. For us to be fastest and still take care of the
equipment, that's great. I like the position we're in just fine. But with
that said, we're not going to lay down. We're still going to go after it
as hard as we always have. All we have to do is have a good finish to win
the other two championships as well, and hopefully, put it on the podium.
That would be a great way to end the year. Today, I only did around 10
laps. I went out this morning for a few laps. I didn't go out in the
afternoon, and then went out halfway through the later session to assess
the light situation and set up the car for the night as well. I won't lie,
I was pushing the car
as hard as it would go."
Tom Long (No. 146
Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5): "It's fun out there be at night. I
love this place. This is one of my home tracks, and it's enjoyable to be
out here with the headlights. We're one of the little
cars, so we're looking up to some of the bigger cars, but I think
we're hustling pretty good. I've really got to thank Mazda for their
support. We've got a good program going, and I'm looking forward to next
year. I'm a little surprised by our speed. I wasn't expected it to be so
quick, but we'll take it."
GORING
WINS AGAIN AT ROAD
ATLANTA; DREWER TAKES LITES TWO CHAMPIONSHIP
BRASELTON, Ga. October 3 – Jonathan Goring, Lites One point leader, and
Tom Drewer, Lites Two
Champion, continued their winning ways Friday at Road Atlanta in round 10
of the IMSA Lites
presented by Hankook series.
Goring started on pole and led every lap of the 30-minute race. Drewer
finished ninth overall and
first in the Lites Two class giving him enough points to win the
championship.
“I knew we were pretty set, but I’ve been racing long enough to know
you can think that it’s all in
the bag and have it taken away from you real easily,” Drewer said. “I
want to thank my Dad. I
couldn’t be doing any of this without him and the energy and effort he
puts into my racing.”
Jonathan Gore worked his way from fifth to second overall, 3.8 seconds
behind Goring. Gore hounded
Lucas Downs the first half of the race until a full course caution came
out. On the restart Gore
passed Downs to start his charge to second.
“I just kept my head down and kept going,” Gore said. “I looked up
and I was in second place.”
At different times in the race Matt Downs and Charlie Shears were in third
place before spinning in
separate incidents. That left the door open for Lucas Downs to take the
final spot on the podium.
Drewer’s West Racing teammates Jim
Garrett and Eric Vassian finished second and third in the Lites
Two class. In the Lites Three class Chris
Doyle took top honors.
Jonathan Goring will have to wait until the final two rounds of the season
to secure the Lites One
championship. He currently leads Joel
Feinberg by 39 points.
The final two rounds of the IMSA Lites presented by Hankook series will
take place October 18
and
19 at Mazda
Raceway Laguna Seca.
GORING
DOMINATES ROUND NINE AT ROAD ATLANTA
BRASELTON, Ga. October 2 – Jonathan Goring started on the pole and never
looked back as he took his
seventh IMSA Lites
presented by Hankook victory at Road
Atlanta in Braselton,
Ga.
In the early stages of the race it looked like Matt Downs may have the
speed to challenge Goring.
As the race progressed Goring slowly inched away from Downs, ending the
race with a nine-second
margin of victory.
“I managed to catch traffic at a good time and he caught it in bad
sections of the track,” Goring
said. “The key to any championship is consistency and that’s what I
tried to do.”
Goring leads the Lites One point standings by 20 points over Joel
Feinberg who finished third in
today’s race.
Jon Brownson, the Lites One Masters point leader, a championship for
drivers 40 years old and
older, had a great battle with teammate Lucas Downs on his way to a fourth
place finish.
“It’s nice to race with guys you know and respect like my
teammates,” Brownson said. “It makes it a
lot of fun and it’s a real challenge.”
Tom Drewer added another first place cup to his trophy case walking away
with the Lites Two victory.
“I had a reasonable start. Unfortunately I had a little touch with
another competitor early in the
race,” Drewer said. “I think it was pretty fair, it was a racing
incident. From there it was about
keeping the pace up as good as possible.”
Chris Doyle stood
atop the podium in the Lites Three class. Lites Three point leader Chris
Funk and
teammate Kelly Toombs are not at Road Atlanta, but will be at Mazda
Raceway Laguna Seca for the
season finale later
this month.
Round ten of the IMSA Lites presented by Hankook will take place Friday at
11:35 a.m.
SARRAZIN
LEADS PEUGEOT ATTACK THURSDAY AFTERNOON
Stephane
Sarrazin and Peugeot fired back at Audi in Thursday’s second practice
session for Petit Le Mans powered by the Totally New MAZDA6.
The Frenchman turned the fastest lap of the race week so far at Road
Atlanta, a 1:06.952 (136.575 mph) that put the French marque on top of the
timing screen for the first time this week.
Diesel-powered
prototypes held the top three positions Thursday afternoon. Sarrazin, who
will drive with Nic Minassian and Christian Klien, was 0.128 seconds
better than Audi Sport North America’s Allan McNish. The Scot was the
quickest driver in the morning session in the Audi R10 TDI that he will
share with Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro.
The
second Audi of Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr turned a best lap of 1:07.773
(134.921 mph). They are the newly crowned LMP1 champions, having taken the
title at Detroit.
Penske
Racing’s No. 7 Porsche RS Spyder was quickest in LMP2 for the second
session in a row. This time, Romain Dumas turned the fastest lap with a
1:07.800 (134.867 mph). He will drive with Timo Bernhard who was quickest
in class this morning. The pairing were class winners in last year’s
1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic.
Andretti
Green Racing’s Acura ARX-01b of Franck Montagny, Tony Kanaan and Marco
Andretti sat second at 1:07.876 (134.716 mph). A second Penske Porsche of
Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe sat third with a lap of 1:08.104
(134.265 mph).
The
top 12 cars were under Werner’s record qualifying lap of 1:08.906 set
last year.
Corvette
Racing’s Jan Magnussen put the Corvette C6.R that he will share with
Johnny O’Connell and Ron Fellows out front in GT1 with a lap of 1:16.668
(119.267 mph). Magnussen and O’Connell are the class championship
leaders with seven victories so far this year.
Next
up was the sister car of Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis at
1:16.825 (119.024 mph).
Jaime
Melo was the fastest GT2 driver with a lap of 1:19.252 (115.379 mph) in
Risi Competizione’s Ferrari F430 GT. Melo and Mika Salo will look to
repeat their class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Melo was 0.899
seconds ahead of LG Motorsports/Riley Technologies’ Corvette C6 of Marc
Goossens, Lou Gigliotti and Tomy Drissi. Next was the class
championship-leading No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jörg
Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb, which turned a time of 1:20.157
(114.076 mph).
The
next practice is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET.
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