ALMS, Mid-Ohio - Race Report
Smith Breaks His Duck

It was a cracker of a race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the end, with a great battle for the overall lead and an epic one in the GT category.  There was a substantial crowd present and, judging by the length of the lines of fans in the drivers’ autograph session, a lot of knowledgeable and keen sports car folks were treated to a feast of thrills plus a few spills.

Guy Smith and Chris Dyson broke new ground when their Mazda-powered Lola took the chequered flag by recording their first overall ALMS win (and, unbelievably, Smith’s first) and by being the first to run on isobutanol. 

It was also Dyson’s first overall win since Mid-Ohio in 2005, and there must have been considerable relief amongst the joy.  The car has promised much all season but, until now, not managed to deliver due to a series of reliability issues.  Not this time though.  Having inherited the lead from the Jon/Clint Field Intersport Lola - which had driven a solid race for the first two hours until sidelined by an engine problem - Chris Dyson drove the race of his life to hold off a hard charging Simon Pagenaud in the Highcroft HPD in the closing stages of the race.

Runners up, Highcroft Racing, just 0.506 seconds behind, weren’t too despondent about the result, with Duncan Dayton commenting after the race:  “We’ve extended our points lead in the Championship and this result is great for the Championship and the series.”  Pagenaud and David Brabham took the spot for the second straight race but stretched their lead in the LMP Championship to 23 points.  Autocon Motorsports’ pairing of Tomy Drissi and Bryan Willman were  third in class and fourth overall after starting next-to-last on the grid after missing qualifying due to a gearbox change.  The prototype results, of course, might have been very different had the CytoSport Porsche Spyder been running but, after Greg Pickett’s huge crash in practice, their weekend finished early. 

Pickett will miss the remainder of the season after being diagnosed with rib and back injuries on Friday.  Somewhat belatedly, he underwent further evaluation Friday afternoon at Mansfield Hospital and, after having a cat scan and x-rays, was discovered to have a compression fracture to the L3 vertebrae as well as fractures to his seventh and eighth left side ribs.  He was back at the track on Saturday, but will miss the remaining three races on the schedule as the recovery period is three to four months.  No news yet about who might replace him, but it is known that Saascha Maassen has clashing races so won’t be available for Road America and Mosport.

As for the other prototypes in the field, it was a dismal day. 

Jonny Cocker’s superb pole for Drayson came to nought when, 45 minutes into the race, Paul Drayson ended up in the gravel at Turn 10 after contact with a GTC car.  This brought out the first of the race’s three full course caution periods as he was dug out, but he made it back to the pits.  Initial suspension damage was repaired and the car returned to the race but it became clear that the car wasn’t in a fit state to finish the race, or even complete the 70% race distance necessary to score points.   Ian Dawson’s Libra Racing Radical struggled through the first hour until oil pressure/engine problems brought a premature halt to their debut in the ALMS...they weren’t really on the pace but it was good to see them back in competition over here.

So to the GT category, which – despite protestations from other series – must undeniably be the strongest in the world in terms of depth and quality.  It was another finger-nail-biting race for many, with a lot of lead-swapping, and a grandstand finish for Risi and Corvette.  Just 0.582 seconds separating them at the finish. 

Risi came into this weekend knowing that nothing less than a win for Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni was needed to re-boost their championship hopes.   It was far from an easy win though, and the #62 Ferrari had to fight all the way to end. 

There were two critical moments in Melo’s stint. The first was a call – by both Melo and his team mate on the pit wall, Gimmi Bruni, and Risi technical director Rick Mayer – for left-side only tyres with 50 minutes left. He exited the pits ahead of the #4 Corvette and his move three laps later on both the Rahal Letterman BMWs (neither of which stopped under the caution period) in the Keyhole – two wheels on the grass – was superb and a race-maker.   Melo then had to defend his lead and hold off a rejuvenated Olly Gavin after another restart with nine minutes left to take his first win at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, and the team’s third of the season. 

“I had a very consistent car and I could keep very good lap times,” Melo said. “I had some slow traffic on the last two laps and that brought the No. 4 Corvette very close. I tried to stay calm and not make any mistakes. This was very hard but important for us to win here for the Championship. Gimmi did a great job at the start, and it was a combination of Michelin tires, Ferrari, the team and my teammate which brought us the result. “

Both Corvette and Risi had highs and lows though as the talents of Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella – demonstrated with a stunning GT pole position and a very competitive performance in the race itself – were wasted after the #61 car had a coming together with another GT car just ten minutes before the end.  The resulting suspension damage frustratingly put Fisichella out of the race.  Equally frustrated were the drivers and crew of the #3 Corvette whose engine problem took them out of the race after just 50 laps.

Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner took the final podium spot for BMW but, to be honest, neither of the white cars had a stellar race.  Despite some excellent strategic calls in the pits which saw them in the lead on more than one occasion, there were off track excursions for Auberlen and Mueller and some unwanted contact from other vehicles.  As Bill said afterwards, “When you’ve got a third place car, you get a third place out of it.”

Pat Long and Jorg Bergmeister were unable to continue their record of success at the track but fourth place kept them at the head of the Drivers’ Championship stakes.  They never seemed to be quite on the pace expected of them during this weekend, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be bouncing back stronger than ever at Road America in two weeks time.

As far as the other GT runners were concerned, perhaps we should note that the Jaguar RSR had a solid run through to a ninth-place finish.  As Marc Goossens said afterwards, “We’re getting there on reliability; now we need to work on everything else.”
 
Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker won in the LMP Challenge class for Level 5 Motorsports to extend their championship lead.  Despite strong early showings from Gunnar Jeanette and Elton Julian in the Green Earth Team Gunnar ORECA, Bouchut made the winning pass with less than hour left when he got around Jeannette.

“When I jumped in the car, it was not so easy to drive,” Bouchut said. “But after some time, we picked up a lot of rubber on the tires and I had to be patient. After taking the lead, the focus was getting through the traffic. Gunnar and I had a great battle until he went off [causing the second caution period]. It’s a really nice track here. All the corners are challenges and this weekend was my 100th win. Here we go to win 100 more!” 

The duo finished third overall and the result means that Tucker has retained his lead in the Drivers’ championship.   PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ pairing of Luis Diaz and Ricardo Gonzalez placed second in their first LMPC race of the year and, despite the off track incident, Jeannette and Julian were third in LMPC in the G-Oil GETG entry.

Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen won their third GT Challenge race out of four for Black Swan Racing. Pappas drove the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car from last to second after being tapped by the #12 Autocon Lola at the start.  Bleekemolen got around ORBIT/Paul Miller Racing’s Bryce Miller just past the halfway point and led the rest of the way.

“Everyone has worked really hard at Black Swan and we’ve come a long way,” team owner Pappas said. “So the spin was disappointing but I had to keep my head down and work my way back up. The yellow really was good with timing for the driver change and fuel. To come back and run the way we did, it felt like karma was on our side.”

GMG Racing’s James Sofronas and Bret Curtis were second, their highest finish of the season. Sofronas was a scant 0.247 seconds ahead of Alex Job Racing’s Bill Sweedler and Romeo Kapudija.  Bryce Miller and Luke Hines led the ORBIT entry for the first 64 laps but an unfortunate incident with a prototype near the hour and a half sent the ORBIT car back in the pack to fourth.

Will Road America in two weeks time produce another thriller like that?  There’s no reason to think not.  Lucky, lucky fans.

Fiona Miller