2011 American LeMans Series Thread............

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Qualifying Highlights, Long Beach

Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:44 am

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----There's no denying that BMW is on a roll in the American Le Mans Series. After scoring a dominant 1-2 finish in last month's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, BMW Team RLL backed it up with the GT class pole for Saturday's Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.

The 15-minute GT qualifying session featured a heated three-way battle between the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Patrick Long, the Jan Magnussen-driven No. 4 Corvette Racing C6.R and Joey Hand aboard the No. 56 BMW M3 GT. While Long laid down a flying lap early, it was Hand who ultimately ended up on top, thanks to his 1:19.090 lap time set with less than six minutes remaining.

“I’ve wanted to win here for a long time, so this is a good start towards that,” said Hand, who set a new class qualifying record. “On a street course like this, when you come out of the trailer and have two hours of practice, you qualify and you race, the first guy that’s fast is the guy to beat. That’s what my goal has been.” Hand and co-driver Dirk Muller will be searching for their second win of the season.

The No. 4 Corvette of Magnussen and co-driver Oliver Gavin will start second in class thanks to the Dane's 1:19.137 lap time. Bill Auberlen made a late charge to third in BMW Team RLL's sister entry, with the No. 45 Porsche of Long settling for fourth, despite improving his time in the closing minutes.

After suffering a crash at the wheel of his Team Falken Tire Porsche this morning, Wolf Henzler redeemed himself in qualifying, clocking the fifth quickest time in class. Henzler's 1:20.065 lap time was 0.975 seconds slower than the pole-sitting BMW of Hand.

While the GT cars took center stage with over a dozen contenders vying for top honors, the fight for the LMP1 pole was a two-horse race between Dyson Racing's Guy Smith and Muscle Milk AMR's Klaus Graf.

Despite there being the only two cars on track, qualifying proved to be a mega duel, with the provisional pole exchanging hands nine times over the course of the 15-minute session. It ultimately went in favor of Smith, who reeled off a 1:14.001 lap time, improving on his pace-setting practice lap by nearly three seconds. The time was 0.452 seconds quicker than Graf’s 1:14.453 in his Lola-Aston Martin.

“We don’t have so many cars here, but anytime you can beat the Muscle Milk guys [is great],” said Smith, who will share the wheel of the Lola-Mazda with Chris Dyson. “Qualifying was close. Every time I crossed the line, I may have been half a second up and Klaus would go quicker and push me harder. Klaus kept me honest all the way through.” The pole for Dyson's Lola B09/86 Mazda was extra special, as Mazda's North American headquarters is in nearby Irvine, Calif.

CORE autosport celebrated its first LMPC pole, thanks to Gunnar Jeannette's quick lap of 1:17.736 in his No. 06 Oreca FLM09. Jeannette enjoyed a spirited battle with the No. 89 Intersport Racing entry of Kyle Marcelli and the Alex Figge-driven No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports machine, which ended up second and third in class, respectively.

“It’s going to be a crazy race, that’s for sure,” said Jeannette, who will share the wheel with Ricardo Gonzalez. “Our class is extremely competitive. I’m just going to do my best to keep everything clean tomorrow and let the strategy sort itself out and see where we end up.”

In GTC, Jeroen Bleekemolen scored the top spot in his Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. The speedy Dutch driver turned a 1:23.179 lap time, edging out the No. 23 Alex Job Racing entry of Leh Keen by 0.674 seconds.

Bleekemolen and co-driver Tim Pappas began their GTC campaign here one year ago in what culminated with a championship by years’ end.

“Since then, we’ve improved so much,” Bleekemolen said. “In the end, even with missing Sebring, we still took the championship. This year started really well with winning Sebring. If it continues like this, it would be even better than last year.”

Both of the Level 5 Motorsports Lola-Hondas, the only LMP2 cars in class, elected not to qualify. The defending LMPC champions will only run one car in tomorrow’s two-hour race, but have yet to decide on which one it will be.

Level 5 team owner/driver Scott Tucker is nominated in the team’s Lola-Honda Coupe, although the David Stone-led team wants to run its cost-capped Lola B11/40 Honda, but only if Tucker can score points. The team will await a final decision from IMSA tomorrow morning.

“The reason we didn’t qualify was really based on the performance of the car,” Stone explained. “We didn’t want to put them in the mix right up at the front at the start with a bunch of other cars that are faster... and risk it.”

Stone hopes that IMSA will allow Tucker to move over to the team’s open-top Lola in order to preserve the coupe, which is scheduled be on a plane to France on Sunday to compete in next weekend’s Le Mans Test Day.

“If we have to run the coupe, then we’ll run it 20 laps [the minimum to score points] and then pull it,” Stone said. “If we don’t, we’ll run the other one for the full race because we don’t have the same concern as it’s not going to Le Mans.”
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BMW Dominates Long Beach.........

Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:02 pm

(from 16 April 2011)


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----BMW Team RLL continued their winning ways in the American Le Mans Series, as Joey Hand and Dirk Muller cruised to the GT class victory in Saturday’s street fight at Long Beach. The duo aboard the No. 56 BMW M3 GT held off challenges from Corvette Racing and Risi Competizione to score back-to-back wins in the highly competitive category.

After starting from the class pole, Hand held control of the early stages of the race but briefly dropped to third after getting held up by teammate Bill Auberlen, who spun his BMW at the Fountain Turn 30 minutes in. It turned out to be one of the closest calls of the race for Hand.

"I was enjoying the first part when I was kind of commanding the race and was out in front. Then all of a sudden, there's my teammate sitting there," Hand explained. "I was thinking, 'I'm going to the right.' He went to the right and next thing you know we were both jammed in there. That changed it up a little bit, but it wasn't Bill's fault; he couldn't see me."

Despite the setback, it didn’t take long for the No. 56 BMW to retake the lead. Hand was back out front by the less than 15 minutes later after a daring pass around the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Patrick Long and the Oliver Gavin-driven No. 4 Corvette Racing C6.R to go from third to first.

A flawless mid-race pit stop and driver change to Muller kept the Bimmer out front and en route to their second victory in as many races this season, despite the two-hour battle ending under the safety car due to a late-race crash for a GTC-class Porsche.

"When I went out, I knew I had to push like crazy because you never know what's going on," Muller said. "Luckily because Jan [Magnussen] pushed really hard at the end. So I was able to hold back. I was happy to see the yellow at the end, to be honest!"

Jan Magussen and co-driver Gavin settled for a runner-up finish in class in their No. 4 Corvette C6.R, ahead of the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia of Jamie Melo and Toni Vilander, following the Finn’s impressive drive from the rear of the field after starting last due to a spin in qualifying.

Team Falken Tire’s Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler were the best of the Porsche contingent in fourth, benefiting from a late-race spin by Scott Sharp, which damaged the rear of his No. 01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia.

The No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Patrick Long appeared to be one of the only cars able to challenge Hand’s BMW early but slammed into the wall near the halfway mark. It ended the day for he and co-driver Jorg Bergmeister and their bid for three straight Long Beach class wins.

While the GT battle proved to be the show of the race, Muscle Milk AMR’s scored top honors overall and in the two-horse battle in LMP1. The team’s No. 6 Lola-Aston Martin of Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr drove to a dominant win, rebounding from electrical gremlins in practice that hampered track time on Friday.

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Luhr managed to get around the pole-sitting No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B09/86 Mazda of Chris Dyson on the first lap and never looked back from there, taking a 24.624-second victory at the end of 83 laps of racing. The gap between the only two LMP1 contenders was over one-minute at one point prior to the finish under yellow.

"In my head, I had planned to get by Chris in the first corner, but that didn't work out quite well," Luhr said of the start. "He really made a good start and didn't give me a chance to get by him. But I saw I was quicker in the Carousel, so I dived into Turn 5 on the inside and tried to build out a gap."

The run for the Greg Pickett-owned team marked a positive turnaround following last month's retirement at Sebring. While their run appeared to be a Sunday drive, it wasn't that simple, as Graf explains.

"We tried to make it on one stop, which for me meant that I had to save some fuel," he said. "They gave me some fuel numbers I had to match. So I tried to get into a rhythm, which is kind of hard on a street circuit as it's very easy to make mistakes. You have to keep your rolling speed and let off. It's a different driving style to save fuel, so I tried to do that and it worked out pretty good." Graf and Luhr's win was the first for the Lola-Aston Martin in ALMS competition.

CORE autosport scored its maiden LMPC victory in only its second series start. The team’s No. 06 Oreca FLM09 of Gunnar Jeannette and Ricardo Gonzalez led from the pole and stayed out of trouble through the duration of the race.

After losing the class lead to a hard-charging Intersport Racing entry of Kyle Marcelli, Jeannette retook the top spot with under 30 minutes to go. From there, it was clear sailing for Jeannette, who took back-to-back wins on the famed street circuit.

“I’m so happy to be up here for CORE autosport’s first win," Jeannette said. "Ricardo did a fantastic job today and put in a monster first stint. We decided to take tires under green, and props to our guys for being able to do a four-tire change under green and get us out behind the Intersport car. I could catch him pretty easily and made the move down.

Marcelli and co-driver Tomy Drissi came home second in class, recording an impressive fourth place overall finish. The No. 63 Genoa Racing machine of Eric Lux and Elton Julian completed the podium in third.

In GTC, Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen picked up top honors in their Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. The defending class champions, who began their GTC campaign here one year ago, took the victory over the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche, which led early on in the hands of Bill Sweedler.

“Last year we came here and had a terrible weekend – one of those that you want to forget," Pappas said. "But we decided to come out here this year and be strong. The car was perfect and we didn’t have any problems. We kept crossing our fingers all weekend."

As the sole competitor in LMP2, the No. 33 Level 5 Motorsports Lola B11/80 Honda ran its race as planned, with Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut taking class honors. The duo combined to complete 45 laps, roughly half of the overall-race winning car’s distance.

For the David Stone-led team, the focus was clearly on their efforts in next weekend’s Le Mans Test Day. "One of our goals this weekend was to bring our coupe [home in one piece]," Tucker said. "It's actually leaving in two hours [for France], so we really didn't want to risk it or get any damage at it or wear it any more than we had to. Because of the entrants this particular week, we decided it was the best thing to do looking at the bigger picture for Le Mans right now."
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Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 24, 2011 3:42 pm

Current American LeMans Series Standings



~~~LeMans Prototype(LMP) Class
LMP-1 Driver Standings
t-1st}[1]Chris Dyson, 46 pts(1 win)
t-1st}[2]Guy Smith, 46 pts(1 win)
3rd} Jay Cochran, 30 pts(1 win)
t-4th}[4]Lucas Luhr, 20 pts(1 win)
t-4th}[5]Klaus Graf, 20 pts(1 win)
LMP-1 Engine-Chassis Standings
Engine: Mazda-50 pts(2 wins)
Chassis: Lola-50 pts(2 wins)
LMP-2 Driver Standings
t-1st}[1]Scott Tucker, 46 pts(1 win)
t-1st}[2]Christophe Bouchut, 46 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[3]Ryan Hunter-Reay, 30 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[4]Luis Diaz, 30 pts(1 win)
5th} Joao Barbosa, 26 pts
LMP-2 Engine-Chassis Standings
Engine: Honda, 50 pts(2 wins)
Chassis: Lola, 50 pts(2 wins)

~~~LeMans Prototype Challenge(LMPC) Standings
t-1st}[1]Gunnar Jennette, 43 pts(1 win)
t-1st}[2]Ricardo Gonzalez, 43 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[3]Jon Bennett, 36 pts
t-3rd}[4]Frankie Montecalvo, 36 pts
t-5th}[5]Eric Lux, 33 pts
t-5th}[6]Elton Julian, 33 pts
t-7th}[7]Jens Petersen, 30 pts(1 win)
t-7th}[8]Dane Cameron, 30 pts(1 win)
t-7th}[9]Michael Guaresch, 30 pts(1 win)
10th} Ryan Dalziel, 26 pts

~~~Grand Touring(GT) Class
GT Drivers' Standings(top-10)
t-1st}[1]Joey Hand, 50 pts(2 wins)
t-1st}[2]Dirk Muller, 50 pts(2 wins)
t-3rd}[3]Oliver Gavin, 36 pts
t-3rd}[4]Jan Magnussen, 36 pts
t-5th}[5]Olivier Beretta, 31 pts
t-5th}[6]Tommy Milner, 31 pts
t-7th}[7]Andy Priaulx, 30 pts(1 win)
t-7th}[8]Bill Auberlen, 30 pts
t-7th}[9]Dirk Werner, 30 pts
10th} Augusto Farfus, 26 pts
GT Manufacturers' Standings
1st} BMW, 50 pts(2 wins)
2nd} Chevrolet, 39 pts
3rd} Porsche, 28 pts
4th} Ferrari, 26 pts
5th} Ford, 14 pts
6th} Jaguar, 6 pts
7th} Lamborghini, 1 pt

~~Grand Touring Challenge Standings
1st} Tim Pappas, 50 pts(2 wins)
t-2nd}[3]Sebastien Bleekemolen, 30 pts(1 win)
t-2nd}[3]Damien Faulkner, 30 pts(1 win)
t-2nd}[4]Nick Ham, 30 pts
t-2nd}[5]Scott Blackett, 30 pts
t-6th}[6]Bill Sweedler, 29 pts
t-6th}[7]Leh Keen, 29 pts
t-8th}[8]John Potter, 27 pts
t-8th}[9]Craig Stanton, 27 pts
t-10th}[10]Duncan Ende, 26 pts
t-10th}[11]Spencer Pumpelly, 26 pts
t-10th}[12]Dion von Moltke, 26 pts
t-10th}[13]Alain Li, 26 pts
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Autocon Plans Mid-Season Return To ALMS Grid

Post by mlittle » Thu May 12, 2011 2:10 pm

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----AutoCon Motorsports has been a staple of the American Le Mans Series for the better part of the past decade. That’s why it came as a surprise not to see the Mike Lewis-led squad take part in either of this year’s season-opening rounds nor have a firm commitment for the future. That’s about to change, though, as AutoCon’s Lola B06/10 AER is set to return to ALMS competition, beginning with the Grand Prix of Mosport in July.

Tony Burgess, one of the team’s regular pilots, has been the driving force behind the rejuvenated effort, which has seen a restructuring with both car and personnel. Speaking to SPEED.com John Dagys, Burgess, who has a background as an aerospace engineer, said he's assumed responsibility as technical director of the program, in efforts to improve the reliability of the LMP1 contender.

Additionally, the car is now being prepared in Phoenix under the leadership of crew chief Sid Crane. Burgess said that AutoCon Motorsports will still be the entrant, though, with Lewis handling the business-side of the operation.

The first big step in the revised program came during the winter months, when the Lola B06/10 was sent back to Lola’s headquarters in Huntingdon, England for various upgrades and repairs to the tub and suspension pickup points, which were damaged in previous incidents.

Given the time line, Burgress realized it made the most sense to skip the first three rounds of the season in order to focus efforts around preparing the top-level prototype for competition. “We realized that Sebring was out of the question and the next couple of races were ones that we didn’t want to rush to get to, as we hadn’t done all the work we wanted to do on the car to make it more reliable,” Burgess explained. “That formulated our plan that the very first ‘must do’ race is Mosport.”

While Burgess is set to return to the wheel for the team’s five-race program, it’s unclear who his co-drivers will be for each round. Both Bryan Willman and Chris McMurry have expressed interest in driving again, while Burgess is also aiming to get Johnny Mowlem back in the seat for a few races.

Mowlem helped take the team to a career-best third place overall finish at Mosport last year. He also put the bright orange Lola out front in the opening hour of the Road America round. “I would very much like him to be with me at Mosport, as we had a very good result last year,” Burgess said of Mowlem. “Johnny is a very, very good driver for our team. He brings a lot to it. But with three partner drivers in the car, they’ve showed more interest frankly than I thought they would. They’ve sort of stepped up recently. All in all, we’re still kind of struggling as to what the seat distribution will be. I would like Johnny in the car as much as possible. But I have to defer to my partners in the project.”

The five planned races - Mosport, Mid-Ohio, Road America, Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta - could end up being six, as Burgess said that the new street race in Baltimore could be added depending on the level of interest.

The return of AutoCon’s Lola brings a massive boost to the premier prototype category, which saw only two cars compete in last month’s Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach.

While additional entries could also be on the way, including the possible return of Intersport to LMP1 and a second Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda, AutoCon’s entry will certainly have an immediate positive effect on the prototype field. Burgess expects driver lineups to be finalized in the next three weeks.
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BMW 1-2 In Opening Lime Rock Practice

Post by mlittle » Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:35 am

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----BMW Team RLL topped the GT-class time charts in the opening practice for Saturday's Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. The No. 56 BMW M3 GT of Dirk Muller led the way with a 51.330-second lap time, edging out the sister machine of Bill Auberlen by 0.223 seconds.

However, Auberlen was involved in a session-ending crash with the third-quickest No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia of Toni Vilander. The Finn made contact with Auberlen in Turn 4, sending both cars off-course. While the BMW continued back to the pits under its own power, Vilander's Ferrari suffered more extensive damage, including a broken left-rear wheel. The incident brought an early end to the session, which started 10 minutes late due to a technical glitch.

The No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Patrick Long slotted in fourth quickest, with Oliver Gavin's No. 4 Corvette C6.R completing the top-five in class, which represented four different manufacturers.

Lucas Luhr led the way overall in his Muscle Milk AMR Lola-Aston Martin, turning a 47.328-second lap time in his LMP1 contender. Dyson Racing's two Lola B09/86 Mazdas were second and third, with the No. 16 machine of Chris Dyson coming to within 0.097 seconds of the Long Beach-winning entry.

Intersport Racing's Jon Field posted the quickest time in the LMPC category, while the Spencer Pumeplly-driven TRG Porsche led the way in GTC.

Lime Rock Class Leaders, Practice Session 1
LMP-1} #6 Muscle Milk-AMR Lola/Aston Martin, 47.328 sec(1st overall)
LMPC} #37 Intersport Racing Oreca FLM-09, 49.747 sec(4th overall)
GT} #56 R-L-L BMW M3, 51.330 sec(9th overall)
GTC} #66 The Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3, 55.213 sec(22nd overall)
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Friday Lime Rock Notebook

Post by mlittle » Sun Jul 10, 2011 6:57 am

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--NEW DEVELOPMENTS ON DYSON LOLA-MAZDA — Dyson Racing’s pole-sitting No. 16 Lola B09/86 Mazda is sporting a revised engine installation this weekend. With the team’s first-generation LMP2 Lola Coupe having been built to accept a variety of different powerplants, the car was never fully optimized for the two-liter Mazda MZR-R turbo until now.

“We weren’t sure when we were going to do it,” Chris Dyson told SPEED.com. “It was one of those things that we always wanted to do but we didn’t really have the opportunity. But when Humaid [Al Masaood] was going to join us, we were going to have to buy up a good inventory of spares. So we decided to commit to the revised installation of the engine.”

Dyson says the car now shares many of the same components with Lola’s 2010-spec Coupe, the same car which Level 5 Motorsports campaigned in the early-season Intercontinental Le Mans Cup races. The change has also resulted in a four-inch longer wheelbase, bringing it in line with Lola’s B06/10 LMP1 car.

“From a performance standpoint, the biggest benefit has been with the new installation, the location of the a-frames have actually framed the bell-housing and mounted the bell-housing to the chassis,” Dyson said. “There’s now more rigidity in the car. That’s going to pay dividends for us [later]. We haven’t even scratched the surface of it yet.”

While the revised package has only been outfitted on Dyson and Guy Smith’s No. 16 car for now, the team anticipates the Oryx-backed No. 20 machine of Al Masaood and Steven Kane having it by the next round at Mosport.

--MELO, VILANDER LOOK FOR TWO IN A ROW — While Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix may only be the third round of the American Le Mans Series, Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo and Toni Vilander have stayed plenty busy during the three-month break.

In addition to their full-season ALMS program with the Houston-based squad, Melo and Vilander are also paired together in the European-based Le Mans Series in an AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia. In fact, the duo are fresh off victory in last weekend’s Six Hours of Imola, which also doubled as a round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

“Last year I didn’t have a single win, so it’s good to be on the winning side,” Vilander said. “I think it will probably relax us a little bit, but at the same time, we want to keep pushing and do the maximum. Lime Rock is a completely different story, with the track and even with a different team.”

While Melo and Vilander’s Imola victory helped elevate them to second in the LMS drivers’ championship, the Ferrari factory drivers sit a distant sixth in the ALMS title race following a troublesome debut at Sebring for the mid-engined supercar.

With further development under the belt for the new Prancing Horse, including a test at Road America in May, and the knowledge learned from the recent stretch of European races, there’s optimism that the Ferrari pair could break though with the first win for the F458 on American soil this weekend.

“I think already since Le Mans, we’ve been able to better understand the car, especially the aerodynamics of the car,” Melo said. “It’s made it more consistent and a little bit easier to set up. Every race and every test, we’ve learned something.”

Vilander and Melo will have their work cut out for them on Saturday, as the Finn suffered a clash with the No. 55 BMW of Bill Auberlen in practice, resulting in heavy damage to the team’s Ferrari.

The duo will start from the rear of the field tomorrow after missing qualifying. But that doesn’t necessarily erase Vilander and Melo’s chances of victory, as they also started dead last at Long Beach and went onto score a podium result.
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Back To 2 Cars For Intersport Racing

Post by mlittle » Sun Jul 10, 2011 6:59 am

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Intersport principal Jon Field returns to the pilot's seat w/a 2-car Intersport effort beginning this weekend at Lime Rock

---Intersport Racing returns to a two-car operation in this weekend’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, fielding a pair of LMPC cars for the first time. The Ohio-based team’s season-long No. 89 Oreca FLM09 of Kyle Marcelli and Tomy Drissi has been joined by the No. 37 entry for 17-year-old James Kovacic and Jon Field, who returns to the cockpit for the first time since last year’s season-ending Petit Le Mans.

Known for being one of the fearless drivers in the ALMS paddock, the 55-year-old wasted no time getting up to speed in the LMPC machine, having set the quickest time in Friday’s opening practice. While it’s no doubt been an adjustment coming from his LMP1-class Lola, Field is already enjoying the new challenge.

“It’s the same, you drive a race car. It can be a Formula Ford and if you drive it fast, you drive it fast,” Field said. “The difference has been that these other guys have had so much time to figure it out and this is all new to me. If I had even 10 more laps, I’d make this car more comfortable. It’s a bit of a learning curve for me to get the fast time out of it, but I think we’ll be there.”

While Field confirmed plans of completing the season with both LMPC cars, with Chapman and David Ducote coming on board for the final four races in the No. 89 with Marcelli and Drissi likely moving over to the No. 37 with Jon and son Clint, Intersport hasn’t given up on its LMP1 effort, either.

Depending on recent engine developments and IMSA’s newly revised balance of performance in LMP1, Field said the mighty Lola B06/10 AER could resurface, possibly as early as Road America. If it happens, it would likely be a third entry, with Drissi as one of the drivers.

“We’re sorting it out,” Field said. “AER has an engine program put together for [AutoCon], so we want to see how that engine stacks up to the [pace-setting] cars,” Field said. “They’re coming back at Mosport. So that will be nice to see where the engine is because they’ve done some changes. And if it has the power to compete with the front two, that would make the decision easier. If it doesn’t, the LMPCs are fun.”
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BMW Leads Lime Rock Warmup

Post by mlittle » Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:09 am

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----BMW Team RLL led the way in warm-up for today's Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. The pole-sitting No. 56 BMW M3 GT of Dirk Muller posted a 51.703-second lap time around the 1.47-mile circuit, edging out teammate Dirk Werner by 0.031 seconds.

The No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister was third quickest, ahead of the freshly rebuilt No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia of Toni Vilander in fourth.

Klaus Graf was quickest overall, with his LMP1-class Muscle Milk AMR Lola-Aston Martin, turning a 47.425-second lap time. Intersport Racing's Kyle Marcelli led the way in LMPC, while the No. 66 TRG Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly topped the time charts in GTC.
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BMW Dominates at Lime Rock.........

Post by mlittle » Thu Jul 21, 2011 3:43 pm

(from 9 July 2011)
---BMW Team RLL continued their stranglehold on the GT category with another dominating performance in Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Joey Hand and Dirk Muller took the No. 56 BMW M3 GT to their third consecutive American Le Mans Series victory, extending the lead in the ultra-competitive title race.

Hand cruised to a 20.378-second victory over the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Jorg Bergmeister, which made a costly stop for a left-front puncture with six minutes remaining. Despite Bergmeister and co-driver Patrick Long putting up a strong fight, there was no stopping BMW today.

“I switched to ‘bring it home mode’. There was definitely no reason to push,” said Hand, who racked up his fifth career victory. “When [the 45 car] was gone, we had 30 seconds. Obviously, that’s not a place where you push.

“Scott Roembke, our principal strategist wasn’t here. He’s ill, and a lot of us are thinking about him. In those last ten or 15 laps, I was just thinking about not doing anything dumb. That’s what he would have said.”

Muller, who completed the middle stint of the two-hour and 45-minute race, enjoyed a spirited battle with Bergmeister before handing back over to Hand for the final run to the finish.

“Winning three times in a row looks totally easy but it was quite a big job,” Muller said. “We had to fight for each of them, even today. I think my rear bumper was filled with silver and red paint during my stint. I had a nice and clean battle there [with the 45 car]. It was absolutely fantastic and truly professional high-performance GT racing.”

The No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche of Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers crossed the line in third but was later demoted to fifth after Henzler made avoidable contact with the No. 04 Robertson Ford GT on the final lap.

It promoted Robertson’s David Murry and Anthony Lazzaro to an unlikely third-place finish, just one month after the privately run Ford GT scored its first podium result in the team’s 24 Hours of Le Mans debut.

Robertson’s podium result was aided by an early race incident that eliminated both Corvette Racing C6.Rs and the No. 55 BMW M3 GT from contention. A spin by the No. 02 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia collected the Olivier Beretta and Jan Magnussen-driven Corvettes as well as Bill Auberlen’s BMW just 20 minutes into the race.

While all cars returned to action after lengthy repairs, it opened the door for others, including the No. 01 ESM Ferrari of Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek, which finished fourth in class. Henzler's penalty dropped the Falken Porsche to fifth, which reported to have fuel pressure problems on the final lap.

Dyson Racing scored its first win of the year in LMP1, following an equally dominating performance by Chris Dyson and Guy Smith, who took the No. 16 Lola B09/86 Mazda to a 19.969-second victory over the No. 6 Muscle Milk AMR Lola-Aston of Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr.

“It was terrific fun,” said Dyson, who started the Mazda-powered Lola from pole. “Lucas and I were going back and forth pretty much from the word go. It was basically about where you could position the car in traffic. It was a bit like being in a video game, really. It was a good fight and our Mazda was fantastic from the start.”

Saturday’s win at the 1.5-mile Connecticut circuit was the first overall victory for the nearby Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based team and helped extend Dyson and Smith’s lead in the LMP1 drivers’ championship to 30 points over the Muscle Milk AMR duo.

“This weekend is huge for us,” said Smith. “We’ve got to treat every race like we want to go out and win it. We can’t say we have a championship lead and [play low-key]. We’ve only done three races. We could have a DNF and they can be straight back in the fight. We have to keep pushing and maintain the lead.”

The No. 20 Oryx-backed Dyson Racing entry of Humaid Al Masaood and Steven Kane, which made its debut this weekend, came home in a solid third, five laps back from the overall winners.

Elton Julian and Eric Lux gave Genoa Racing its second LMPC class victory in three races following a spirited battle for the win. The duo aboard the No. 63 Oreca FLM09 edged out the Long Beach-winning CORE autosport machine of Gunnar Jeannette and Ricardo Gonzalez by less than two seconds following a late-race caution for the No. 99 Jaguar XKR, which stopped on track.

It set up a 13-minute sprint to the finish and eliminated Julian’s 35-plus second lead over his former teammate Jeannette, who combined to win last year’s race here. The Thomas Knapp-led Genoa crew double-stinted its tires, with Jeannette having fresh Michelins at the end.

“We started with a 40-second lead and I was cruising,” Julian said. “I knew Gunnar had fresher rubber and I was matching his lap times at that point. Then I saw the Jag was slowing and then pulled over. I was like, ‘Oh crap.’... Fortunately there was enough cars between us [at the restart] and we were able to open up a gap.”

Lux, who scored his first career ALMS victory, leapfrogged to second in the LMPC drivers’ championship, trailing Jeannette and Gonzalez by six points. Additionally, Genoa Racing has taken control of the teams’ title race, one point ahead of CORE autosport.

TRG scored its first 1-2 result in GTC competition following a wild final few laps which saw the No. 68 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Dion von Moltke leapfrog from third to first in the closing minutes.

The No. 66 Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly took over the lead after the Black Swan Racing entry pitted with under 30 minutes to go. While Pumpelly appeared to be en route to the class victory, he got held up by Henzler’s fuel-starved GT-class Porsche on the final lap through West Bend, opening the door for the 21-year-old to score a thrilling first victory.

“That was the craziest race I’ve ever done,” said von Moltke, who shared the wheel of the No. 68 car of Mike Piera. “Going out with close to two hours left in the race one lap down and fighting my way back to the lead lap and then pitting. The call that really won us the race was [taking left side tires only]. I went back out and was again one lap down but I just pushed as much as I could.

“[On the final lap, Wolf Henzler] got by Spencer and then he tried to go to the outside of West Bend to overtake him. Wolf just kept it there. They went two wide and I had a good run. The [fresh] left-side tires really helped through West Bend. I kind of shoved it in there into the downhill... I’m glad we were able to bring it home.”

Pumpelly and Duncan Ende had to settle for second, ahead of the No. 23 Alex Job Racing machine of Butch Leitzinger and Bill Sweedler, who completed the podium in third.
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Post by mlittle » Thu Jul 21, 2011 4:01 pm

Current ALMS Standings


~~~LeMans Prototype Class
LMP-1 Drivers' Standings
t-1st}[1]Chris Dyson, 66 pts(2 wins)
t-1st}[2]Guy Smith, 66 pts(2 wins)
t-3rd}[3]Klaus Graf, 36 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[4]Lucas Luhr, 36 pts(1 win)
5th} Jay Cochran, 30 pts(1 win)
t-6th}[6]Humaid Al-Massoud, 13 pts
t-6th}[7]Steven Kane, 13 pts
LMP-1 Engine & Chassis Standings
1st} Mazda, 66 pts(2 wins)
2nd} Aston Martin-Lola, 36 pts(1 win)
LMP-2 Drivers' Standings
t-1st}[1]Scott Tucker, 46 pts(1 win)
t-1st}[2]Christophe Bouchut, 46 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[3]Ryan Hunter-Reay, 30 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[4]Luis Diaz, 30 pts(1 win)
5th} Joao Barbosa, 26 pts
LMP-2 Engine-Chassis Standings
Engine: Honda, 50 pts(2 wins)
Chassis: Lola, 50 pts(2 wins)

~~~LeMans Prototype Challenge Class
t-1st}[1]Gunnar Jennette, 59 pts(1 win)
t-1st}[2]Ricardo Gonzalez, 59 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[3]Eric Lux, 53 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[4]Elton Julian, 53 pts(1 win)
t-5th}[5]Jon Bennett, 44 pts
t-5th}[6]Frankie Montecalvo, 44 pts
t-7th}[7]Jens Petersen, 30 pts(1 win)
t-7th}[8]Dane Cameron, 30 pts(1 win)
t-7th}[9]Michael Guaresch, 30 pts(1 win)
t-10th}[10]Kyle Marcelli, 29 pts
t-10th}[11]Tomy Drissi, 29 pts

~~~Grand Touring Class
GT Drivers' Standings(top-10)
t-1st}[1]Dirk Muller, 70 pts(3 wins)
t-1st}[2]Joey Hand, 70 pts(3 wins)
t-3rd}[3]Oliver Gavin, 37 pts
t-3rd}[4]Jan Magnussen, 37 pts
t-5th}[5]Jorg Bergmeister, 34 pts
t-5th}[6]Patrick Long, 34 pts
t-7th}[7]Olivier Beretta, 33 pts
t-7th}[8]Tommy Milner, 33 pts
t-7th}[9]Bill Auberlen, 33 pts
t-7th}[10]Dirk Werner, 33 pts
GT Manufacturers' Standings
1st} BMW, 70 pts(3 wins)
2nd} Porsche, 44 pts
3rd} Chevrolet, 41 pts
4th} Ferrari, 36 pts
5th} Ford, 27 pts
6th} Jaguar, 6 pts
7th} Lamborghini, 1 pt

~~~Grand Touring Challenge Class
1st} Tim Pappas, 60 pts(2 wins)
2nd} Dion von Moltke, 46 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[3]Bill Sweedler, 42 pts
t-3rd}[4]Duncan Ende, 42 pts
t-3rd}[5]Spencer Pumpelly, 42 pts
6th} Damien Faulkner, 40 pts(1 win)
7th}[7]Nick Ham, 36 pts
t-8th}[8]Sebastien Bleekemolen, 30 pts(1 win)
t-8th}[9]Scott Blackett, 30 pts
10th} Leh Keen, 29 pts
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Post by mlittle » Wed Jul 27, 2011 7:50 am

(from SU 24 July 2011)


Image
---Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing cruised to victory in Sunday's Grand Prix of Mosport, overcoming early race pit lane drama along the way. The No. 6 Lola-Aston Martin of Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf dominated the two-hour and 45-minute American Le Mans Series race from the start. However, a costly pit lane miscue while under the first caution dropped Luhr back to fourth overall and left the Muscle Milk team in recovery mode.

"We were up to 50 seconds before the safety car came out," Luhr explained. "For sure it was a mistake for race control giving the open of pit entry. I was by the opening, as the leader I should have first choice. After that on the radio [the team] said, 'We have the speed, just do your job', and that’s what we did."

By Lap 62, Luhr was back in the lead, passing the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B09/86 Mazda of Chris Dyson. From there, it was clear-sailing for the Greg Pickett-owned team, which crossed the line 28.420 seconds ahead of the Dyson and Guy Smith-driven LMP1 car in second. "At the end of the day it comes down to experience from both drivers, our team," Graf said. "We've both won here and we like the track. The team performed excellent. It was a bit of a roller coaster this weekend, even during the race, but it's nice to finish with a win." Steven Kane and Humaid Al Masaood completed the podium in third in the Dyson-Oryx team's second race.

While the battle for LMP1 was fairly straight-forward, GT honors came down to the wire thanks to a pair of penalties for the pair of all-dominant BMWs, which took wins in the opening three races of the season.

First, the pole-sitting and early race-leading No. 56 BMW Team RLL machine of Joey Hand collided with the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari of Toni Vilander in the pit lane, forcing Hand to serve a stop and go penalty for avoidable contact.

It handed the class lead to the sister BMW of Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner, but late-race contact between Werner and the GTC-class leading Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly was rewarded with a stop/go penalty for the No. 55 BMW as well.

Jan Magnussen took advantage of the costly mistakes by the Bimmers, claiming the first GT class victory of the ALMS season for Corvette Racing. Magnussen crossed the line 4.409 seconds ahead of the No. 62 Ferrari of Vilander and Jaime Melo in second, with Werner and Auberlen recovering for a third place result.

"This race had a bunch of different potential winners at different stages," Magnussen said. "I think BMW looked like they had the most advantage, but we were able to push at the right moments and pull a win out. If you asked us this morning, we'd say, there will only be one winner. It just unfolded that way today. I'm glad we were the ones that got to break the win barrier.”

In LMPC, CORE autosport's Gunnar Jeannette and Ricardo Gonzalez celebrated their second class victory in the last three races after a dominating performance in their Oreca FLM09. The duo finished an impressive fourth overall and two laps ahead of the sister No. 05 entry of Jon Bennett and Frankie Montecalvo, giving the Bennett-owned squad its first-ever 1-2 finish.

"The goal was to make as comfortable lead as possible," Gonzalez said. "The last time our strategy might have lost us the race. I knew to be aggressive in traffic, but intelligent, and stay out of trouble. If you saw in the first and a half stint, I had almost lapped 2nd place."

Genoa Racing's Eric Lux and Christian Zugel completed the LMPC podium in third. Intersport Racing headed in as favorites for the class win but an early race incident for Jon Field and a GTC Porsche dashed the two-car team's hopes of victory, which also collected Intersport's sister pole-sitting car of Kyle Marcelli.

While Field was handed a penalty for avoidable contact, the Ohio native charged back up the leaderboard and appeared to be en route to a second place finish. However, the No. 37 car ran out of fuel on the final lap.

The same kind of late-race dramas played a role in GTC, as TRG's Pumpelly rebounded from the BMW-induced late-race spin to take the class win. Pumpelly, who dropped to third with less than 25 minutes to go, passed the fuel-stricken No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Brian Wong and TRG's sister car of Dion von Moltke on the final lap to take the class win. It marked TRG's second 1-2 finish in as many races.

“This might be the only race I've won twice," said Pumpelly, who shared the wheel of the No. 66 car with Duncan Ende. "We passed the 54 and then the 23 again. I'll have to watch the replay, next thing I knew I was going backward. Then I got to watch the GTC race for the lead while sitting backward. But I got back in the pits and the car was 100 percent after that. Even with some small flat spots, the TRG team put together a great car."
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Post by mlittle » Sat Aug 06, 2011 10:13 am

Current American LeMans Series Standings


~~~LeMans Prototype Class
LMP-1 Drivers' Standings
t-1st}[1]Chris Dyson, 82 pts(2 wins)
t-1st}[2]Guy Smith, 82 pts(2 wins)
t-3rd}[3]Klaus Graf, 56 pts(2 wins)
t-3rd}[4]Lucas Luhr, 56 pts(2 wins)
5th} Jay Cochran, 30 pts(1 win)
t-6th}[6]Steven Kane, 26 pts
t-6th}[7]Humaid al-Massood, 26 pts
LMP-1 Engine & Chassis Standings
1st} Mazda, 82 pts(2 wins)
2nd} Aston Martin, 56 pts(2 wins)
LMP-2 Drivers' Standings
t-1st}[1]Scott Tucker, 46 pts(1 win)
t-1st}[2]Christophe Bouchut, 46 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[3]Ryan Hunter-Reay, 30 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[4]Luis Diaz, 30 pts(1 win)
5th} Joao Barbosa, 26 pts
LMP-2 Engine-Chassis Standings
Engine: Honda, 50 pts(2 wins)
Chassis: Lola, 50 pts(2 wins)

~~~LeMans Prototype Challenge Class
t-1st}[1]Gunnar Jennette, 79 pts(2 wins)
t-1st}[2]Ricardo Gonzalez, 79 pts(2 wins)
3rd} Eric Lux, 66 pts(1 win)
t-4th}[4]Jon Bennett, 60 pts
t-4th}[5]Frankie Montecalvo, 60 pts
6th} Elton Julian, 53 pts(1 win)
t-7th}[7]Anthony Nicolosi, 36 pts
t-7th}[8]Jarrett Boon, 36 pts
9th} Christian Zugel, 33 pts
t-10th}[10]Jens Petersen, 30 pts(1 win)
t-10th}[11]Dane Cameron, 30 pts(1 win)
t-10th}[12]Michael Guaresch, 30 pts(1 win)

~~Grand Touring Class
GT Drivers' Standings(top-10)
t-1st}[1]Dirk Muller, 80 pts(3 wins)
t-1st}[2]Joey Hand, 80 pts(3 wins)
t-3rd}[3]Oliver Gavin, 57 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[4]Jan Magnussen, 57 pts(1 win)
t-5th}[5]Bill Auberlen, 46 pts
t-5th}[6]Dirk Werner, 46 pts
t-7th}[7]Jaime Melo, 41 pts
t-7th}[8]Toni Vilander, 41 pts
t-9th}[9]Olivier Beretta, 39 pts
t-9th}[10]Tommy Milner, 39 pts
GT Manufacturers' Standings
1st} BMW, 83 pts(3 wins)
2nd} Chevrolet, 61 pts(1 win)
t-3rd}[3]Porsche, 53 pts
t-3rd}[4]Ferrari, 53 pts
5th} Ford, 31 pts
6th} Jaguar, 6 pts
7th} Lamborghini, 1 pt

~~~Grand Touring Challenge Class
1st} Tim Pappas, 73 pts(2 wins)
t-2nd}[2]Dion von Moltke, 62 pts(1 win)
t-2nd}[3]Duncan Ende, 62 pts(1 win)
t-2nd}[4]Spencer Pumpelly, 62 pts(1 win)
5th} Damien Faulkner, 53 pts(1 win)
6th} Bill Sweedler, 52 pts
7th} Nick Ham, 44 pts
t-8th}[8]Sebastien Bleekemolen, 30 pts(1 win)
t-8th}[9]Scott Blackett, 30 pts
10th} Leh Keen, 29 pts
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Risi Ferrari On Top In Practice 1

Post by mlittle » Sat Aug 06, 2011 7:01 pm

Image

---Jaime Melo topped the time sheets in Friday's opening American Le Mans Series practice at Mid-Ohio. The Brazilian's No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia turned a best time of 1:20.787, besting Thursday's pace-setting No. 4 Corvette C6.R of Jan Magnussen by 0.157 seconds.

Extreme Speed Motorsports continued to make improvements, as its No. 02 Ferrari of Guy Cosmo clocked in third with a 1:21.025 lap time, ahead of defending class co-champion Patrick Long in fourth. The No. 55 BMW Team RLL M3 GT of Dirk Werner completed the top-five in class.

Up front overall, the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B09/86 Mazda of Guy Smith was again quickest in LMP1, thanks to a blazing 1:14.282 lap time. Muscle Milk AMR's Lola-Aston Martin turned its first laps of the weekend, slotting in second and less than two-tenths behind the Mazda-powered Lola.

Genoa Racing led the way in LMPC, with Eric Lux clocking a 1:17.869 in his Oreca FLM09, while the No. 66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Spencer Pumpelly topped GTC.

The only notable incident came halfway through the 60-minute session when Nick Ham spun into the gravel trap in Turn 9, which brought out a red flag.
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BMW Paces Mid-Ohio In Practice 2

Post by mlittle » Sat Aug 06, 2011 7:01 pm

Image

---BMW's Joey Hand topped the time charts in the second and final practice prior to qualifying for Saturday's Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. The GT-class championship leading BMW M3 GT turned a best time of 1:21.067 in the 60-minute session, edging out the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister by 0.197 seconds.

Other pace setters in their respective classes included Muscle Milk AMR (LMP1), CORE autosport (LMPC) and Black Swan Racing (GTC).

A spin for the No. 77 Magnus Racing Porsche of Craig Stanton in Turn 11 brought out the one and only red flag of the session.
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BMW 1-2 In Mid-Ohio Qualifying

Post by mlittle » Sat Aug 06, 2011 7:02 pm

Image

---Nothing appears to be stopping BMW in their quest for back-to-back American Le Mans Series GT titles, not even a series-induced power reduction. Joey Hand scored his third class pole position of the season Friday at Mid-Ohio, leading a BMW 1-2 for the third consecutive race.

The pair of BMW M3 GTs entered the weekend relatively off the radar, having failed to reach the top-four in Thursday's Promoter Test Day or practice on Friday morning. However, Hand topped the time charts in the final 60-minute session, showing that the V8-powered beasts could be a factor for qualifying, despite having been handed a smaller air restrictor by IMSA for the first time this year.

"We came out of the trailer and struggled a little bit yesterday," Hand said. "That was probably the first time this year we struggled that much... Overnight they made some changes. Everybody was putting their minds together and we came out with a better race car today and we worked on it though both sessions going into qualifying... When the balance gets in that comfy zone, that's when you can go fast."

Fast it went indeed. Hand's 1:20.539 lap time was good enough for the class pole, but just 0.116 seconds quicker than teammate Dirk Werner in the No. 55 BMW. Hand along with co-driver Dirk Muller will be looking for their fourth victory of the season on Saturday.

The battle for the GT pole appeared to be a free-for-all at times, with the top spot having exchanged hands a dozen times over a six-minute period. Additionally, the top-five were separated by less than a half-second.

The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia of Jaime Melo held the provisional pole at one point but had to settle for third quickest, ahead of the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Jorg Bergmeister in fourth.

Mosport winner Oliver Gavin was fifth in his No. 4 Corvette C6.R, making it four different brands in the top-five.

In LMP1, Guy Smith made a late charge to claim his third pole position of the year. The Dyson Racing driver jumped to the top of the time sheets with just three minutes remaining, bumping the Muscle Milk AMR Lola-Aston Martin of Klaus Graf, who laid down a 1:12.892 early in the 15-minute session.

"We struggled quite badly with the setup," Smith said. "We pretty much threw everything but the kitchen sink at the car overnight. But today the car was quite good. Qualifying was a bit of a wild ride with [the car] a lot of time sideways. Luckily my rally experience came in useful! It was a good lap and I'm very happy with it."

Smith's 1:12.727 lap time was 0.165 seconds quicker than Graf's best. The sister No. 20 Dyson Lola B09/86 Mazda of Steven Kane wound up third, ahead of the improving AutoCon Motorsports Lola B06/10 AER, which recorded the fourth quickest time overall.

Fresh off the team's first 1-2 finish at Mosport, Gunnar Jeannette gave CORE autosport its second LMPC pole position of the year. Jeannette's 1:17.281 lap time time in his No. 06 Oreca FLM09 edged out Intersport's Kyle Marcelli by just 0.051 seconds.

“The competition is steep," Jeannette said. "Just like GTC, it's Pro-Am, generally there’s a pro guy and amateur of some level. I’ve got the best driver in the series in Ricardo [Gonzalez]. He’s raced in Europe and he’s done it all. He’s fantastic, [and] kind of makes my job too easy at times."

Class championship leaders Jeannette and Gonzalez will be going for their third victory of the season but will no doubt have stiff competition in the form of local favorites Intersport Racing, which qualified second and third.

Spencer Pumpelly gave TRG its first class pole position of the year after a spirited fight for the top spot in GTC. Pumpelly turned a best time of 1:26.602 in his No. 66 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, outrunning the No. 23 Alex Job Racing machine of Leh Keen by a mere 0.012 seconds.

Pumpelly and co-driver Duncan Ende are coming off their first victory of the season at Mosport following Pumpelly's dramatic last-lap pass on teammate Dion von Moltke.

"Looking at the lap times, we were a lot faster in practice," Pumpelly explained. "When I came across and turned that time, I didn't think there was any way it would stand up. I think it was due to the dirt on the track, especially for the guys going for every last bit and are using a lot of grass. Maybe we got the coin toss right when dirt was at its minimal."

Defending class champions Black Swan Racing wound up third, thanks to Jeroen Bleekemolen's 1:26.741-second lap time.
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