Intersport had a good run to a podium finish
Intersport Racing
B-K Motorsports
Primetime Race Group
David Brabham
Gregor Fisken
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Intersport Racing
Elkhart Lake, Wis.- Intersport Racing had yet another very encouraging race Saturday at Road America, as the No. 37 Very Berry Exotics Lola B06/10 AER of Jon and Clint Field and Richard Berry led eight laps en route to a season-best seventh place overall finish. The team's No. 30 Lola AER of Ryan Lewis, John Faulkner and Gregor Fisken soldiered home to a fourth place in-class result after overcoming a variety of issues during the four-hour race.
Jon qualified the No. 37 Cellulosic E85-powered prototype in eighth, and as always, produced some fireworks at the start. He rocketed his way up to the third position on the first lap, and set his sights on the two leading Audis. However, when the first caution of the race came out ten minutes in, the Brian Alder-led crew elected to bring Jon in for an early pit stop. He restarted in 11th, but quickly gained ground by the second yellow, when most of the leaders made their stops. This put Jon in second at the restart. As the green flew, he drove to the front, passing the LMP2 Penske Porsche of Romain Dumas for the overall lead. He held the top spot for eight laps, until getting passed by the Lucas Luhr-driven Audi. Jon's brilliant drive brought back memories of his strong run at Miller Motorsports Park, when he also led a number of laps while holding off the factory Audis.
The No. 37 car remained in the top-five overall before pitting for tires, fuel and a driver change at the one-hour and 20-minute mark. Team owner, and Jon's son, Clint, got behind the wheels of the Lola. Clint drove two flawless stints running inside the top-10 before handing over to Richard Berry with about an hour to go. Berry kept the AER-powered prototype out of trouble, making one final stop for fuel only with 35 minutes remaining. From there, Berry benefited from two late-race accidents by other contending prototypes, giving the No. 37 machine a seventh place overall finish, third in LMP1.
Intersport's No. 30 car of Ryan Lewis qualified in 13th but charged up the leaderboard to seventh in the early stages. Lewis' impressive drive was slowed by a spin in Turn 8 followed by a trip through the gravel at the Carousel. The E10-powered car made it back to the pits for service, as Lewis handed the reigns over to John Faulkner. Faulkner drove the following two stints, but had a handful with a broken left mirror and no radio communications.
By lap 60, Faulkner was signaled in for service while the team tried to make repairs to the radio. They were unable to rectify the problem and sent the car back out. However, he came back in the pits five minutes later to serve a 60-second stop-and-hold penalty for a supervisor working on the car during that last stop. This cost the team even more time, dropping them to 14th. Just fifteen minutes later, Faulkner beached the Kumho-shod car in the gravel trap at Canada Corner, bringing out a full course caution.
After getting a pull by a safety crane, Faulkner returned to the pits and handed the car to Gregor Fisken. The Scotsman rejoined but quickly ran into trouble with flapping bodywork. Still without radio communication, Fisken did his best to fix the problem from the cockpit, but was unable to. He was black flagged a few laps later for the bodywork, giving the team the opportunity to make repairs in the pit lane. Luckily, the crew got Fisken back out to complete the race, finishing 19th overall and fourth in the LMP1 category.
Quotes:
Jon Field (No. 37 Very Berry Exotics Lola B06/10 AER): "The car was really good at the start. The AER engine was very strong, and the car felt a lot better up front than it did at Salt Lake City. We had a pretty good setup, which was great. The back end wasn't as loose, but I was paying attention to the traction control and not overusing the rear tires. Traffic caught me out a little bit there, but I was able to keep some people behind me in the corners. Overall it was a great day for the entire team as we showed once again that we can play with the big boys."
Clint Field (No. 37 Very Berry Exotics Lola B06/10 AER): "Our run was really good. We had a really good car today, as Dad showed that it could run up front. The tires probably weren't the best, but that's all we had. We were running out of tires at the end, so it was tough for us. In the first half of the stint, we could really hold on to those guys. I passed a Penske car and the B-K Motorsports car and pulled away from a bit after that. We're happy that we finished as we had some misfortune this weekend. The engine held together. At the end of the day, it's a seventh place finish, ahead of a couple of other prototype entries, so it's good. The soft Dunlop tires in the first five laps or so are just unbelievable. The straightway speed of the AER engine is also amazing. It was a good and exciting start. So we'll go to Mosport with some high hopes."
Ryan Lewis (No. 30 Lola B06/10 AER): "We were running in front of the Penske car and as well as the B-K Motorsports entry and one of the Dyson Porsches. It was good. There was a little bit more pace in the car as it was, especially when we got out in front and could run low 1:51s pretty easily. I was quite happy with the Kumho tire, but the car just started to oversteer a little bit. Towards the end of my stint, I made a silly mistake thinking about something else and didn't bring my [brake] pads up after going through Turn 7. This locked the rear [tires] up and I ended up turning the car into Turn 8. That lost me some time. After that I was playing catch-up and coming into the Carousel, I was looking at the GT2 cars in front of me and just got my left rear a bit wide on the marbles. It dragged me out wide into the gravel. But it was a good day for the team and I'm looking forward to heading to Mosport."
John Faulkner (No. 30 Lola B06/10 AER): "When I got in the car I had a few challenges. The left mirror was broken. About two laps into it, the radio went out and was flapping on the floor, so I had no ears. We soldiered on and they gave me a meatball sign to come in. When we came in for a splash of fuel, the mechanic took the whole radio box out and we got a stop-and-go penalty for it. Other than that, the car was working well. The new Kumho tires we were on were very consistent and we were turning very good laps. At the end, coming down to Canada Corner, I got a little bit off line and locked up the brakes and just barely didn't make the corner and went into the gravel bed. But I was pleased with the overall performance of the car."
Gregor Fisken (No. 30 Lola B06/10 AER): "It was a little frustrating in the end because it was just cautions, cautions, cautions. When I went out in the car, I had an issue with the cockpit surrounds. The screws had come loose. I thought I had it pushed down while under the safety car, but once I got going, it started flapping again. The aerodynamics was horrible because of this. Down the straight, the car was disturbed by it. Eventually we got black flagged for it, which was a bit of a relief. The radio wasn't working at all from the beginning, and I saw that race control black-flagged me, so I came in. From there, it was driving with no left mirror, so I couldn't see what was coming up on my inside. I was trying to get little runs of two or three laps, but then the safety car came out again and again. While there were no record-breaking lap times, it was really good to bring the car home. I had a thoroughly good time with the team. We've all had our little incidents but it was really nice to finish fourth in class."
B-K Motorsports
B-K Motorsports Finishes Fifth in Home Race at Road America
Elkhart Lake, Wis.- B-K Motorsports enjoyed its best run of the year Saturday in the Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable, as drivers Ben Devlin and Gerardo Bonilla steered the No. 8 BP Lola B07/46 Mazda to a fifth place finish in the LMP2 category. The locally based-team battled through minor gremlins during the four-hour race, forcing the Mazda MZR-powered prototype to make two extra pit stops. However, a series of late race accidents by leading contenders boosted Devlin and Bonilla to another top-10 overall finish.
Devlin started the Dunlop-shod Lola in 12th overall and quickly worked his way up into the top-10. He pitted for tires and fuel while under caution at the 40-minute mark, but during the middle of his second stint, the team spotted a possible misfire. They elected to bring Devlin in a little early for his second stop. Luckily, it wasn't anything serious, and the Englishman rejoined in 11th.
After the consistent run put in by Devlin, Bonilla took the wheel of the BP Lola Mazda ten minutes past the halfway mark. However, just four laps later, the car made its second unscheduled stop of the race. Rubber had built up inside the radiator openings, causing gearbox oil temperatures to rise. After the quick service to clean out the radiator, Bonilla rejoined, powering the car back into the top-10. The final stop of the day came with less than 50 minutes remaining for routine service.
The team benefited from a series of late-race accidents that forced other contending prototypes out of the race. On top of gaining two positions, the cautions also played into the hands of Bonilla, as all the cars got bunched up on the restarts. There, the American Le Mans Series rookie battled with other leading machinery, while fending off the No. 16 Dyson Racing entry behind him. After four hours of hard-fought racing, Bonilla crossed the line in eighth overall, and only two laps away from the outright race winners.
"That was the most fun I've ever had in a race car, I think ever!" a beaming Bonilla said after the race. "During the very first stint, the tires didn't come in as good as I had hoped. They kept on getting really greasy, but they called me in. I don't know what they did, but they must have given me a special set of Dunlops or something because the tires kept on getting better and better throughout my second stint.
"Thank goodness for those restarts near the end because that gave me a rabbit to follow and some excitement. It was fun pushing, especially on the last restart. Mike Wright, the team engineer, was on the radio saying, 'There's a Dyson behind you, two cars back.' But that was fine, because we were faster! We were keeping up with the Penske car for a while. We were much quicker than the other Dyson car ahead of me, and out of Turn 3, I almost had a chance to pass, but he kept on blocking. I tried everything to pass him and even took to the grass to try to get around him. Getting by him on the outside wasn't working either, so I played it safe and concentrated on defending my position to the finish. But man, that was fun!"
The result was the team's fourth top-10 overall finish overall and its best class result of the season. While the misfortunes of others certainly played into things a bit, the reliability of the BP Lola Mazda package once again prevailed. This certainly bodes well heading into the next race at Mosport in two weeks' time.
"It was a really good run," Devlin said. "We're pleased with that. The team, everyone at B-K Motorsports did a fantastic job. Every pit stop went smooth. We just had a little hiccup during the middle of my second stint. But the car went out and was fine once we got it fixed. The next race at Mosport is going to be great. We got our best finish there last year and definitely looking forward to it again. The car has been getting better and better, and with the Dunlops, we're very confident of delivering more solid results."
"It's really nice to have so many guests from BP and Mazda here, and to get the best finish of the year is very rewarding," said John Doonan, Manager, Motorsports Team Development for Mazda. "It was a crazy race at the end, but we hung in there. We had a little bit of a misfire and wanted to be sure it was ok. We fought our way back and it was good. We're now really looking forward to Mosport, as we finished fourth [in class] there last year. The track caters to this Lola Mazda package very well, so it should be good."
The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Mobil 1 presents Grand Prix of Mosport on Sunday, August 24 from Mosport International Raceway just outside of Toronto. The race will start at 3:05 p.m. ET with live television coverage on SPEED. XM Satellite Radio will air the race live on XM Channel 166. Live radio coverage also will be available from American Le Mans Radio at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.
Primetime Race Group
August 10th, 2008 Generac 500 At Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin- When the privateer team led by Joel Feinberg arrived at Road America on Thursday they were welcomed by a new surprise by their tire partner, "Hankook Tire USA".
A new wider front tire that the team had been looking forward to was delivered and ready for testing. Immediately following the first practice that day, drivers Feinberg and Hall were ecstatic with the gains from the 12inch front tire. The team had been struggling with the heavy load from their front engine V10 Viper on the front tires which caused an unruly amount of understeer. Once the new tire was brought into the cars setup it allowed the team to soften the suspension and work on keeping the car compliant through the corners.
By the time qualifying had come around on Friday, the Primetime team had shed nearly 5 seconds from their lap times and were moving into the top 10 on the grid. Co-driver Chris Hall would record a qualifying time of 2:11.8 leaving them only a few seconds out of the middle of the field.
Looking for some extra laps on the 4 miles course Friday afternoon, team owner Joel Feinberg was one of the hundreds of charitable entrants in the Tour de Road American benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Nomex had been replaced by spandex and riders would pedal their bicycle around the historic track into the sunset.
Unfortunately during the race warm up, team owner Joel Feinberg had found some brake handling issues causing a lock up and a set of flat spotted tires. The team had elected to abandon the qualifying tire and take their position at the end of the line for the start of the race.
Feinberg had the honors of taking the green flag for the start of the 4 hour (500 Mile) race. Once the flag was waved the mission was to reel in as many cars as possible while taking advantage of the new found results in the cars setup. As expected, the race times of the GT field were not as quick as the qualifying times and the bulky Dodge Viper had a chance of keeping up. Through the first few laps Feinberg was able to get by the 007 Aston Martin as well as hold off a factory supported Ferrari. Just as the field began to settle into its rhythm, the leading LMP cars had come around to break up all the fun and cause the field of GT drivers to look out all four windows at the same time.
After less than 25 minutes into the race, the double yellow had been thrown and the string of cautions and restarts had begun. Feinbergs stint would go on for another hour and fifteen minutes after a quick fuel stop during the first caution. Primetime co-driver Chris Hall would take the wheel as the team was confident they would finally break their string of bad luck. After forty minutes in the Viper, Hall radioed in to the pits that he had lost power to the wheels after exiting turn 12. Hall thought he had enough momentum to coast the car into the pits but after turning onto the front straight he had found himself looking up over forty feet of incline to make it to the teams' pitbox.
Bad luck would once again get the best of the teams unwavering efforts, Hall had come to rest halfway up the hill when the 3000 pound Viper stopped rolling. Corner workers and race officials had made a safety judgment call to instruct Hall to allow the car to roll back down the hill where he would get tucked behind a wall and once again be forced to watch the race go on without him.
Once the 4 hour race had ended the team was able to retrieve their car and tow it back to their garage where they would waste no time tearing down the car to find the problem. The obvious components of the driveline were all still intact leaving no other possibilities except the rear end. Once it was removed the rear end revealed a broken stub axle which connects the half shaft axles to the gears in the rear end. After inspecting the failed piece, crew chief Brent O'Neill was once again stunned with disbelieve. In his 30 years of racing he had never seen this type of freak incident occur, the solid steel stub had sheared clean from its post at the driveline.
"This is another slap in the face for our team" said owner Joel Feinberg. "We keep showing up every racing thinking that this will be the one and so far that time has yet to come. We leave these races wondering how we were able to make it through 12 hours at Sebring without a hiccup, but we can't get through a 2-4 hour race".
The teams' next stop is the 2008 Grand Prix of Mosport at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on August 24th. The will have 3 extra cars to run in the IMSA Lites double header where Feinberg will be looking to advance his second place points position in the championship as well as co-pilot the GT2 Viper back into contention.
B-K Motorsports had their best run of 2008 at Road America
David Brabham
Brabham Clinches Third LMP2 Spoils at Road America
David Brabham reigned victorious in LMP2 to secure his third class win of the season at Road America for round seven of the American Le Mans Series, Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable, earning valuable points in the championship fight. The incident packed four-hour race that resulted in seven safety car periods saw a stunning drive from Brabs while a strategic ace played by the Patron Highcroft Racing team positioned the Australian for victory and even a shot at another outright win, to finish third overall.
The Henley-on-Thames (UK) resident made a solid start from sixth and fourth in class to settle seventh overall in the opening stages. With a little over five laps completed, the first full course caution came out but racing resumed around lap 10 with Brabham lying sixth and fourth in class, hunting down Romain Dumas.
Brabham pushed the Acura to within a few tenths of the Penske Porsche before another safety car period on lap 14 saw all of the front runners head for the pits. But a sterling pitstop by the Patron Highcroft Racing team ensured that Brabham was the first to rejoin the race. Despite the field returning to green flag racing around lap 18, a third full course caution was called just one lap later.
One hour in to the race, with just 21 laps completed, racing resumed and Brabham took the opportunity to take Guy Smith up the inside of turn five. With both LMP1 Audis slicing back through the field, Brabs held station sixth overall and third in class at the end of lap 22.
The 42-year-old was up to second in LMP2 and fifth overall by lap 27 by which point his double stint on tyres was starting to take its toll. Luis Diaz slipped past and Brabham held third in class until James Rossiter in the Acura briefly gained position until Brabham re-took the place as the leading Audis made for the pits on lap 43. Diaz led from Brabham before pitting, leaving Brabham to head the field on lap 45. With one hour and 45 minutes run, Brabham made a second stop to hand over the driving duties to team mate Scott Sharp.
Despite three safety car periods in the first hour, the field enjoyed just over one and a half hours of green flag racing but it was clear that further full course cautions and pitstop strategy would be the deciding factors. Sharp delivered a solid stint to lie second overall and second in LMP2 as the safety car was called out once again around lap 73 and with one hour and 15 minutes to go Sharp pitted from the lead.
With what appeared to be another prolonged full course caution, the Patron Highcroft Racing team seized the opportunity for Brabham to retake the helm and so Sharp pitted again. Brabham rejoined the field but in a genius strategic move, the team brought him back in straightaway to take on fuel. Despite the splash and dash, it was clear that the Acura would be tight on fuel and Brabham rejoined the fray in eighth and sixth overall, mindful that further safety car periods could well dictate the race result.
One hour of racing remained when the safety car went in at the end of lap 77 for what would be just 10 minutes of green flag racing before another full course yellow, at which point the seven leading cars dived for the pits. With the team's strategy coming right into play, Brabham led the field from lap 85, with Adrian Fernandez in the Acura second and Franck Montagny in the Andretti Acura third, signalling another nail-biting ALMS race finish.
A storming restart from the sportscar veteran to start lap 88 with 35 minutes to go saw Brabham secure the lead six seconds clear of Fernandez. But a suspected left rear suspension failure called a halt to Fernandez's race on lap 89 triggering a sixth safety car period. The incident, however, meant that Brabham would not have to pit again and that it would be a straight run to the chequered flag.
As twilight descended at Road America, Brabham defended well from Montagny at the restart on lap 93 and continued to set impressive lap times as the race approached the final 15 minute marker. Behind Brabs, Marco Werner was now up to second and when Brabham was blocked by traffic on lap 97 the Audi took the lead, also allowing Montagny past. But Montagny's race concluded at Canada corner the following lap while navigating traffic, causing a seventh full course yellow.
Ten minutes to go and Brabham was leading LMP2 while lying second overall behind Werner as the field circulated under the safety car. Although the period once again helped Brabham to conserve fuel it also allowed championship title rival Timo Bernhard into fourth and second in class when Patrick Long had to pit.
Thankfully the field was released with less than five minutes remaining but, with the pack closed up once again, Marcel Fassler was able to get the run for second place at the restart. Regardless, Brabham's relentless pace ensured that he remained unchallenged for the remaining laps to clinch his third class victory of the season and a place on the podium. Not to mention 20 vital championship points and four points over title rivals Dumas and Bernhard.
"It feels great to have secured our third class win of the season," said Brabs. "We were really strong at the beginning of the race but we chose not to change the tyres and they started to go off causing me to drop back. Scott did a great stint and the safety car period played in our favour when we made sure we took on as much fuel as possible. It was a great recovery from rejoining down in eighth position, the further safety cars worked our way and if I hadn't got caught up on the back markers I could have had a shot at the win. But we aren't interested in fighting the LMP1 Audis, just the rest of LMP2. I managed to keep Timo [Bernhard] behind me and, although I would have liked a couple of the Acuras to finish ahead of the Penske Porsche, we've still earned vital points, so a fantastic result."
Gregor Fisken
Gregor Fisken marked his return to modern racing with a fourth-in-class finish and 19th place overall in the American Le Mans Series race at Road America this weekend.
The experienced sportscar and historic car racer teamed up with fellow Brit Ryan Lewis and American John Faulkner for the race at Elkhart Lake and finished just outside the podium places in the premier P1 category. The positive result was achieved despite the trio’s Intersport Racing Lola B06/10-AER being involved in several incidents during the four-hour event.
With the car having missed most of Thursday’s practice session due to an engine problem, Lewis managed to qualify 13th overall on Friday and made rapid progress in Saturday’s race. After making a strong start, the former single-seater star charged up to seventh place before having an off into the gravel at the challenging Carousel corner towards the end of his double-stint. Faulkner than drove a strong first stint, but also had an off, this time at Canada Corner, in his second, which left the car beached in the gravel trap. After returning to the pit lane for repairs and rejoining the circuit, he lost further time to a 60-second stop/go penalty for a pit lane infringement caused by a mechanic working on the car.
Fisken completed the race in difficult conditions with no left rear view mirror and no radio contact, both caused by the earlier incidents. He also had to pit for repairs to some loose bodywork, but drove faultlessly during his Safety Car-interrupted stint to finish 19th and take a respectable class finish.
Fisken said: “It was a little frustrating out there because there were so many Safety Car periods so it was all a bit stop start. However I was very happy to bring the car home and score some points for the team. I also had a problem when the bodywork around the head rest came loose and started flapping. Some small screws had come loose, so I tried to repair it myself when I was driving behind the Safety Car. When it came loose again I was black flagged and had to pit for repairs, but to be honest that was quite a relief as the aerodynamics were so badly compromised that the car was virtually un-driveable.
“The incidents have probably cost us a top ten finish, but overall I have thoroughly enjoyed this weekend and fourth in class is a satisfying result. I got on very well with the team and my team mates and have gained a lot more useful experience of a P1 car. It was also a real thrill for me personally to add a superb circuit like Elkhart Lake to the list of tracks I have raced at.”