Intersport scored second in the P1 class
Intersport
B-K Motorsports
Lime Rock
Michelin
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Intersport
Intersport Racing Finishes Second in Northeast Grand Prix
Lakeville, Conn. -- Following its fine performance in the last round at Miller Motorsports Park, Intersport Racing recorded its second consecutive runner-up finish in class Saturday in the Northeast Grand Prix. The small Dublin, Ohio-based team of father and son duo Jon and Clint Field and Richard Berry took the No. 37 Very Berry Exotics Lola B06/10 AER to a 10th place finish overall, maintaining its second place position in the LMP1 drivers' and teams' championship standings.
Once again, the team benefited from a wrecked Audi, this time the No. 1 car of Dindo Capello, who collided with a GT1 Aston Martin one hour into the two-hour and 45-minute race. While the factory German diesel was repaired, it rejoined over 15 laps down from Intersport's Lola. This left the team's Dunlop-shod entry an easy ride to the checkered flag, completing 154 laps.
"It wasn't bad," said team owner and driver, Clint, after the race. "We had to start from the back and dad made it all the way through traffic. We had just a bit of a problem with consistency in the tire. The track was dirty and people went off flying. But we put in a good, safe run and we finished it."
The newly reconfigured 10-turn, 1.51-mile Lime Rock Park "Optional" circuit proved to be a challenge for many teams throughout the weekend. A number of cars suffered accidents during Friday's practice sessions. Intersport's Lola stayed out of trouble on-track but faced engine-related problems prior to qualifying, forcing the team to change the twin-turbo AER powerplant before race day. Jon thus started from the rear of the field because the car did not set a qualifying time.
"It was tough starting from the back, but I made some good progress early on," Jon said. "The Very Berry Exotics car was quick, but it was a battle on the track with the slippery surface. We knew traffic was going to play a factor, and we were lucky not to get caught up in other people's incidents. Overall, it was a good run for the whole team."
On lap 45, Jon handed the car over to son, Clint, with the team electing to bring the Lola AER in for two splash-and-goes for fuel while under a 20-minute plus yellow flag period. The Cellulosic E85-powered machine motored its way through traffic before pitting for the final time with 37 minutes remaining. Berry jumped behind the wheel and completed the race.
"The car was a handful to drive at the end, but we scored a great result," Berry said. "Finishing second again gives a big boost to the entire team, especially with what is on the horizon next week at our home track."
At Mid-Ohio next weekend, Intersport will debut its second Lola AER for drivers Ryan Lewis and John Faulkner. The No. 30 car will run in near identical specification to the team's No. 37 entry, both of which are ex-Dyson Racing machines. The Lewis/Faulkner combination will benefit from the Cellulosic E85 fuel, with Field/Field/Berry trio using the E10 gasoline blend for the first time this season. With back-to-back solid finishes on two very different types of circuits, the future looks very bright for the ever-expanding team.
"That's two seconds in a row, which is really good for our little team," Clint added. "We may not always be the fastest, but I think today we closed the gap compared to where we were. We had pretty quick times and consistency towards the middle and end of the race. It was good. The second car is just going to bring more competitiveness to the team. We're looking forward to putting Ryan and John in the car at Mid-Ohio and carry some momentum for the rest of the season."
There is little time to rest. The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Acura Sports Car Challenge, scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 19 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. NBC Sports will televise the race from noon to 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20. XM Satellite Radio will air the race from 5 to 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage on americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.
B-K Motorsports
High Hopes at Lime Rock Dashed for B-K Motorsports
Lakeville, Conn. -- After steady runs in the past three American Le Mans Series races, B-K Motorsports had hoped to continue its progression during the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. However, gearbox problems robbed the team of a finish Saturday, as the No. 8 BP Lola B07/46 Mazda of Gerardo Bonilla and Ben Devlin retired midway through the two-hour and 45-minute race.
Bonilla qualified the Mazda MZR-R-powered LMP2 car in 11th overall on Friday and ran a solid opening two stints in the race. The Star Mazda and IMSA Lites graduate looked to be in good shape after the first round of pit stops, but then the team discovered a problem with the gearbox during two subsequent stops. Thus, the Yokohama-shod car was wheeled behind the wall for repairs in the second hour. A valiant effort to repair the car was made, but the team elected to play it on the safe side and end the day early.
With the next round of the Series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course only one week away, many teams and drivers just wanted to leave the Northwest Connecticut circuit in one piece. Multiple on-track incidents plagued Friday's practice sessions, much in part due to the newly repaved and reconfigured layout. But both B-K drivers kept the BP Lola Mazda spotless, also enjoying the new characteristics of the 10-turn, 1.51-mile circuit. Bonilla in particular was surprised how clean the race ran in the opening hour.
"It was fun and challenging," Bonilla said of his run. "We're still learning to keep up to the pace of the competition. The traffic was really entertaining and not as bad as I was expecting. Everyone was more patient and more attentive than what practice would have indicated. Hats off to everybody for doing a really nice job with the professionalism. I was able to help out some of the faster cars and the slower cars helped us out quite a bit, which was nice."
While luck was not on their side this race, the constant developments made by the team had begun to pay dividends. A successful test at Mid-Ohio a few weeks ago confirmed the speed potential of the Mazda MZR-R-powered Lola, and the team hopes to show off its potential next weekend.
"The guys worked extremely hard as usual," said John Doonan, Manager, Motorsports Team Development for Mazda. "We just had a gearbox issue. With the races being back-to-back, we didn't want to take the chances on additional damage. So we came back to the garage and tried to make it work, but unfortunately we're out of the race. We're happy to have a lot of guests here from BP and folks from Castrol and Bank of America but disappointed we couldn't go to the end for them. But we'll get them next week at Mid-Ohio."
Bonilla agrees, feeling that the momentum is constantly building within the organization, despite the setbacks seen at Lime Rock on Saturday.
"This is the most motivated team that I've been a part of," Bonilla said. "And I've been on some really damn good teams in my formula career. This team is very special. They always go above and beyond. The car was brought back here instantly to see if the gearbox problem could be fixed. But unfortunately, we found more problems than we thought and it wasn't going to be a quick fix. It was too bad. But we'll move on to Mid-Ohio."
There is little time to rest. The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Acura Sports Car Challenge, scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 19 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. NBC Sports will televise the race from noon to 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20. XM Satellite Radio will air the race from 5 to 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage on americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.
Lime Rock
LAKEVILLE, CT (12 July 2008) -- While the technology of the American Le Mans Series is breathtaking, at the end of the day, what will bring the fans back to the track is a good show.
And the debut event for the new configuration and new track surface at Lime Rock Park did exactly that, an absolute stunner for a tremendous crowd, as the pole-winning car of Danbury-based Patron Highcroft Racing scored a thrilling victory after David Brabham took the lead in the final laps of the two hour and forty five minute Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday.
Brabham, who qualified the Patron Acura on pole for the race, put an exclamation point on the drama, running out of fuel as he came through the Downhill corner on the final lap.
The race victory is the second LMP2 win of the season for the Highcroft organization, and marked the first overall race victory for Acura in 2008. Lime Rock Park favored son Scott Sharp co-drove the Patron machine to make a dramatic return to Lime Rock Park after a long career of open-wheel racing.
"Great pit work and hats off to the guys, it's really fun to do it for Acura here in our back yard at Lime Rock Park," said Patron Highcroft principal Duncan Dayton. "The competition here in the American Le Mans Series is so intense, just to be here competing in this field is an honor, and to be first overall is a great feeling."
The race didn't open up as planned for the team, falling a far down to tenth after early-race contact before recovering to take the win with just minutes remaining.
"What a race!" exclaimed Brabham. "Fantastic strategy by the Highcroft team, no question. The car was really good, and it is just fantastic to come here for the team's home race and take the pole and then win like this. I was pushing as hard as I could and I am so happy to be a part of this effort."
On top of that, a storybook podium appearance for Dyson Racing's Butch Leitzinger was denied just minutes before the checkered flag fell as contact from a Penske Porsche broke the rear wing assembly, coming apart at speed on Lime Rock Park's Front Stretch and sending another favored son of Lime Rock spinning into the barriers to end their day. The Dyson disappointment started earlier in the race as the sister car carrying a crowd-favorite paint scheme reminiscent of the Poughkeepsie-based organizations Porsche 962 was involved in a race-ending crash before the mid-point of the race.
New England Grand Prix American Le Mans Series Race Results: July 12, 2008
Overall Results:
1- Brabham/Sharp (LMP2)
2- Dumas/Bernard (LMP2)
3- Maasen/Long (LMP2)
LMP1 Winner: Luhr/Werner (Audi)
GT1 Winner: O'Connell/Magnussen (Chevrolet)
GT2 Winner: Bergmeister/Henzler (Porsche)
Formula BMW Americas:
Daniel Juncadella won race one at Lime Rock Park, with the only American racer, Alexander Rossi, scoring a convincing victory in Race Two to maintain his lead in the championship points standings.
IMSA Lites:
Connecticut-based racer Jonathon Goring won round one of the IMSA Lites race on Saturday and backed that up with a run to second place in the second race of the day. Joel Feinberg won the second race to close out the day of racing at Lime Rock Park.
Michelin
LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 12, 2008) - Pole sitter David Brabham and Patron Highcroft Acura ARX-01b teammate Scott Sharp did not lead many laps, just the ones that counted to capture the first ever American Le Mans Series overall race victory for Acura and their Connecticut based team here at the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.
The victory was the 40th consecutive ALMS win for Michelin and the first overall win for Acura in just 17 ALMS starts. Acura had previously claimed LMP2 class wins at the 2007 Sebring and 2008 Long Beach events.
Despite starting on the pole, the winning Acura took the lead for the first time with less than three minutes remaining in the two hour 45 minute race, the fifth stop on the 2008 ALMS season. Sharp, who was spun, and incurred damage to the rear bodywork of the car on lap six, battled gamely to stay in contention before handing off to Brabham after the first hour.
Brabham's relentless pace, a pair of timely yellow caution flags, and creative pit strategy by team owner Duncan Dayton and team leader Rob Hill combined to set the stage for Brabham's winning pass of the Penske Porsche RS Spyder of Timo Bernhard entering turn one. Finishing third was the Penske Porsche of Sascha Maassen and early race leader Patrick Long.
Michelin teams swept the first nine positions overall and 13 of the top 14 spots, including victories in all four classes. Audi's Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner finished fourth overall and first place in LMP1 while Corvette's Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen scored their fourth GT1 win in five races. Flying Lizard Porsche's Wolf Henzler and Jorg Bergmeister completed the Michelin sweep taking the victory in the GT2 class.
Sharp's victory was the first ALMS overall win for an American co-driver since Butch Leitzinger's win at Mosport in 2005, some 27 races ago.
Despite prediction of mass caution periods, the ALMS competitors ran the entire first hour before the first caution period on lap 72. The winners completed 168 laps on the newly configured and repaved 1.5-miles, ten turn circuit, which saw track temperatures soar to 143 degrees on a hot, humid July afternoon.
Confirming just how aggressively the teams had competed, Brabham ran out of fuel on the cool down lap just seconds after taking the checkered flag.
VALIENT DYSON A valiant effort by the Dyson Racing team, seeking to celebrate team owner Rob Dyson's 25th anniversary in professional sports car racing with a crowning victory came to naught when both cars, including the specially "retro" wrapped #16 Dyson Porsche RS Spyder, had promising top-three runs ended by contact or debris.
MICHELIN COMMENTS "We would like to offer congratulations from Michelin to our friends at Acura and to the Patron Highcroft team on their first overall ALMS victories," said Silvia Mammone, motorsports manager for Michelin North America. "We are truly enjoying our relationship with Acura, their pace of development, and their deep passion to succeed in competition."
"From a technical view, coming to a newly configured race track, resurfaced just days before the start of practice presented a number of challenges for Michelin and our technical partners," said Mammone. "We especially want to thank all of our Michelin technical partner teams and our own engineers, tire fitters, and support staff for meeting every challenge."