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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Road Atlanta
Posts: 371
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LEHTO, WERNER RETURN TO WINNING WAYS IN NEW ENGLAND GRAND PRIX
Lakeville, Conn. - 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 POINTS LMP1 Marco Werner 74 JJ Lehto 74 Emanuele Pirro 64 Frank Biela 64 James Weaver 62 Butch Leitzinger 62 Andy Wallace 61 Chris Dyson 58 Tom Kristensen 26 Allan McNish 22 Guy Smith 16 Tom Chilton 10 Hayanari Shimoda 10 LMP2 Jeff Bucknum 46 Chris McMurry 46 Jamie Bach 36 Jon Field 36 Clint Field 36 Guy Cosmo 36 Ben Devlin 29 Ian James 26 Gunnar van der Steur 16 Erik van der Steur 13 GT1 Olivier Beretta 71 Oliver Gavin 71 Ron Fellows 62 Johnny O`Connell 62 Johnny Mowlem 52 Terry Borcheller 52 Alex Figge 38 Ryan Dalziel 38 Darren Turner 26 Stephane Ortelli 26 David Brabham 26 Michele Rugolo 22 Max Papis 22 Tom Weickardt 22 Jan Magnussen 19 Ralf Kelleners 16 David Empringham 12 Jean-Philippe Belloc 10 Stephane Sarrazin 9 Pedro Lamy 9 Peter Kox 9 Andrea Bertolini 0 Fabio Babini 0 GT2 Patrick Long 71 Jorg Bergmeister 71 Romain Dumas 56 Timo Bernhard 56 Jon Fogarty 46 J. van Overbeek 46 Tim Sugden 43 Robin Liddell 33 Nic Jonsson 28 Justin Jackson 27 Lucas Luhr 26 Bill Auberlen 23 Darren Law 19 Ian Baas 18 Randy Pobst 18 Michael Cawley 17 Marc Sluszny 16 Tracy Krohn 16 Marino Franchitti 16 Andrew Thompson 14 Michael Vergers 14 Juan Barazi 14 Seth Neiman 13 Lonnie Pechnik 13 Spencer Pumpelly 12 Steve Ivankovich 12 Andy Lally 12 Tony Burgess 12 Bryan Sellers 11 Mike Rockenfeller 10 Scott Maxwell 5 Sascha Maassen 4 Wolf Henzler 2 Rick Skelton 1 |
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