ALMS, Lime Rock - Race Report
Dramas Galore

There were no last lap heroics for any of the winning teams but it was a hard fought victory for each of them none the less. There were repeat winners; de Ferran 3rd overall win and Flying Lizards 4th win in class.  And there were the first time winners; Dyson’s historic win for Mazda in P2 and Gruppe Orange in the Challenge class.

It was a fantastic effort put forth by both P1 Acura teams, and their drivers. de Ferran largely controlled the first two hours of the race, but it was a punctured tire on the Highcroft car that cemented the #66’s third straight win of the season. Simon Pagenaud, “I saw in front of me there was a lot of smoke going on. I was hoping it was David (Brabham) with issues because I honestly didn’t have pace to comeback on him. I decided to change four tires – I thought it was the right decision because around the track there was a lot of debris. Going around the GT3 cars it was a safe choice.”

Gil de Ferran started the race and was able to methodically build a nice gap over Scott Sharp.  For most of the first hour the gap stayed at about 12 seconds, fluctuating with traffic.  Gil de Ferran, “I had a good start and I was able to pull away from Scott. I knew it was going to be a long race, so I took it easy on the brakes so Simon could have a good car in the end.”

de Ferran did have one dramatic moment during his stint. While entering the turn 5 chicane he inadvertently hit the pit lane speed limiter which killed his momentum through the uphill chicane.

Following de Ferran into the chicane was the #16 Dyson Lola, Chris Dyson not expecting the P1 Acura to literally die in front of him. The Mazda struck the back of the Acura causing a piece of the rear bodywork on de Ferran’s car to come loose.  With the #66’s momentum broken and some body work flapping in the wind, Sharp was able to erase the gap and close right up on the tail.

de Ferran though showed why he is a championship driver by regaining his composure and thwarting Sharp’s advances.  Gil was able to rebuild some of his lead before pitting at the caution period, where he turned the car over to Pagenaud.

Brabham took over from Sharp and was unable to pass Pagenaud on track, but matched his pace; never losing sight of the leader. For the next hour these two battled their way through traffic with amazing precision, and it appeared the race may be decided on the last pitstop.  de Ferran’s team called Pagenaud in first and gave him four new Michelins and fuel before sending him back out.

Brabham was in next and Highcroft decided to gamble.  They knew matching the #66’s pace was not the issue, but being able to pass him cleanly would be.  With track position being their goal they decided to save time in the pits and only change left side tires. The gamble paid off and Brabham returned to the fight just ahead of Pagenaud.  With the #66 glued to the tail of the Highcroft car, it appeared we would have an absolute dogfight for the overall lead all the way to the finish. But a punctured left rear tire on the Highcroft car would send Brabham in for another pit stop effectively killing their chance for the win.

Ironically the punctured tire was one of the tires that the team had just put on.  David Brabham, "Today was a bit of a roller coaster of a day, but I am not too disappointed because we did everything we needed to do in this race. We got ourselves in front and I had the race under control; but unfortunately I got a puncture, and when the competition is that close you can't afford to have anything like that happen.”

A few laps behind the leaders a wonderful scrap was going on for third place in P1 between the Intersport Lola and the Corsa Ginetta-Zytek.  Mowlem was able to hold off Clint Field during their first stint but Jon Field caught and passed Johansson during the next stint.  Ultimately the Intersport car had to retire with a broken output flange on the axle.  Johansson continued on and finished third overall, giving Corsa Motorsports its first podium finish and the first podium for a hybrid powered car.

Intersport Racing were disappointed with the way it ended but were very excited about their car’s performance.  Jon Field, “We have found something with this car.  We lost the power steering early in the race and we have been down on power since lap one.  I think we may have a broken header or something like that.  If we would have had full power I think we may have something for (the Acuras).  The car was handling great.  The tire Dunlop gave us was excellent.  We had lots of grip and were starting our third stint on that tire set, when it broke.  We should be good at Mid-Ohio and really good at Road America.”

It was an emotional scene in the Dyson Mazda pits as Leitzinger took the checker flag for the team’s first win since 2005. John Doonan of Mazda was in tears as he finally got see the fruits of his labor pay off.  This is exactly what he and Mazda were hoping for when they aligned themselves with the Dyson organization last year. Although the #20 crossed the finish line uncontested, it was by no means an easy race.

Butch Leitzinger, “We have never won the same race twice. It felt a little destined to win today. When the car spun out in front of me and then we didn’t have a clutch trying to go uphill, I thought it was over. This is not the way we like to win a race. We like a straight shot. But this is how it was going. It was just a good day. Marino did a stellar job. I am very proud to drive with him. We are happy to be a part of his first win.”

Franchitti started the race for the #20 team and right away began pressuring the #15 of Luis Dias.  It was obvious that both Mazdas were quicker than the Acura and soon Franchitti and Chris Dyson made their way by.

Dias complained that the car was “pushing all over the place” and the team worked on the rear shocks during an extended pit stop. There was also a gearbox issue that had to be addressed as well. What was a nearly perfect practice and qualifying for the Lowes Fernandez team turned wrong for the race.  Luis Dias, “It was a tough race for us. We didn’t have as consistent a car in the race as we would have liked, but at least we finished. I was struggling with traffic more than the Dyson guys so we need to keep working. At least we were being smart and trying to get some points and that’s a good thing. We were hoping that we would have a better car with older tires but that didn’t happen. On the gearbox issue, it got stuck in sixth gear. We did all the procedures that we could to try to fix that on the race track but, unfortunately, it was not an electrical issue; it was a mechanical issue. I had to come in and we lost a lot of time there and we couldn’t recover from that.”

Fernandez took over after the extended pitstop many laps down and began working his way back before a left front puncture - which necessitated a nose replacement - cost them more time.  But they soldiered on and were rewarded with a second in class finish; the early retirement of the #16 Dyson Mazda helping their cause.

Both Dyson cars pitted during the caution.  Chris was first in and reported losing engine power.  The #16 would never return to the track and was officially retired with electrical problems.  As the #16 was sitting helpless in the pits Franchitti brought in the #20 for routine service and driver change.  Leitzinger refired the Mazda engine but lost clutch pressure and stalled trying to leave his pit stall.  The car did not want to refire; so at one point both Dyson cars sat dead on pit road.  It was, needless to say, a very anxious few moments in the Dyson pit area.

At that point it looked like Mazda’s first win would have to wait until the next race; but the car refired and Leitzinger was on his way.  There would be one more ‘moment’ for this team before they got to celebrate. 

With just minutes remaining, and Fernandez still quite a few laps back, all Leitzinger needed to do was to bring home in one piece. Following the Panoz and the Autocon Lola into turn 5, the Panoz locked the tires and span broadside through the corner.  The Lola braked hard and took the inside line under the Panoz. Leitzinger had to go to the outside to avoid the Autocon Lola which put him on a collision course with the passenger door on the Panoz.  He managed to avoid any contact but it appeared that the car stalled in all the mayhem.  It seemed like forever, but Leitzinger finally got back underway and took the checkered flag a few laps later.

The van der Steur Radical had some problems but finished the race running and got a hard earned podium spot; a nice reward for the extra effort by team owner and driver Gunnar van de Steur.  Story has it that a broken suspension piece from yesterday’s running threatened to put them out of the race.  But, last night, Gunnar drove back to their shop in Maryland - which is several hours away - machined a new piece himself and drove back to the track; not arriving back here until the early hours of the morning.

It’s now four wins in a row in ALMS competition for the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche of Long & Bergmeister, and four wins in four years at Lime Rock for Bergmeister.  Jörg Bergmeister cruised across the finish line with a one-lap lead, but it took some hard-driving from Long, as well as a caution flag and penalty on the Ferrari, to afford him that cushion.

“Through great pit work and strategy, plus Patrick’s strong stint, we gained a good lead over the Ferrari, and it was my job to manage the lead, save gas, and bring the car home in first place.  Every lap here is a little different with traffic, and there is no chance to relax.  I credit my success here at Lime Rock – four wins in four years – to being with the right co-drivers and right teams,” said Bergmeister.

Kaffer started the Risi Ferrari out front thanks to Melo’s qualifying heroics.  The Swiss driver led the first several laps, but was under constant attack from Long.  It was a four-way battle up front with both Rahal BMWs seemingly attached to the bumper of Long’s Porsche.

It appeared the Porsche and the BMWs were being held up ever so slightly by the Ferrari. But, with them all being so closely matched, there was never a real opportunity to make a clean pass.  Long finally applied a little more pressure than was probably intended and contacted the rear of Kaffer’s Ferrari.  It upset Kaffer’s car just enough to let Long slip by.

Both cars suffered slight damage, to the exhaust on the Ferrari and the nose of the Porsche.  It was hard enough contact that Risi asked the IMSA officials to review the incident, but no action was taken.  Long was able to build a small lead as now Kaffer was stuck in a fierce battle for second with the BMWs.  The course went under caution and, by chance, the race leading Acura was between Kaffer and Long; thus giving the Lizard driver the free pass to nearly lap the field.

The rest of the GT2 field lined up behind the safety car awaiting ‘the wave by’, which by rules comes one lap before the track is to go green.  But two more caution laps were run before going green which caused some teams to complain.

After the pitstops Bergmeister had nearly a full lap lead over Hand in the #90 BMW, Melo and then Müller. 

A broken halfshaft would soon take Müller out of the mix, leaving Hand and Melo to battle for second.  And what a classic battle it was. 

Melo and Hand swapped positions several times with some text book overtaking, while racing each other very cleanly.  Finally Hand spun off going through turn 1 while defending the inside line from Melo. Hand righted the car and got back underway immediately but this gave Melo some breathing room as he tried to track down Bergmeister.

Both the Ferrari and the Porsche would need either a long caution period, or a splash of fuel, to make it to the end. The decision was made by Risi to bring Melo in for a splash for fuel, but no tires.  As the team prepared for the upcoming pit stop, it was discovered that the fuelling hose had broken right at the nozzle.  Frantic repairs were made with rags and racing tape as fuel leaked out onto the pavement.

With no less than four fire extinguishers at the ready Melo slid into his pit box for fuel.  The stop was executed cleanly, but unfortunately a malfunctioning pit lane speed limiter would cause the Ferrari pilot to speed exiting the pits resulting in a stop-n-go penalty being issued.

That ended Melo’s charge to the front and gave Bergmeister time for a four-tire change and a clear path to the car’s fourth class win of the season.

Despite all the obstacles, Melo would still bring the Risi Ferrari home for a bittersweet second place finish.  Jaime Melo, “I’m quite disappointed really; but, you know, we tried hard all the way through and just tried to close the gap.  It was going okay, but then we had the penalty on the final stop and that was that.

“It was a good battle with Joey Hand and although it was close there was no contact. He spun on T1 because there was a Viper on the outside of him.”

Hand finished a fine showing of the BMW’s potential with a third place finish.  The #92 car was repaired and returned to the race, but its 10th place finish was not reflective of the car’s pace this weekend.

The Porsches of Farnbacher-Loles and Vici finished fourth and fifth respectively.  Bryce Miller had seat trouble during his stint which put the #87 in a hole they were not able to completely recover from.  The Vici drivers, meanwhile, reported brake problems early on and battled some overheating later in the race.

A pit stop error stopped a very nice run that David Murry was having in the Robertson Ford.  He had been running in fifth position, and keeping pace with the leaders until the first pitstop, when the car was dropped down off its jacks with just three wheels on.

The PTG Panoz had a forgettable race.  After a decent first stint by Ian James the team felt it lost track valuable track position after the wave-by confusion.  Farnbacher had a couple of spins and also some rear-diffuser damage, causing them to lose more time.

In the Challenge class, Guy Cosmo charged to the front to take the early lead, only to hit the tires in the first chicane; causing the only caution of the race.  The Snow Racing Porsche took over the lead, but a starter failure would strand them on pit road, handing the lead over to the pole-sitting #57 Porsche.  Faieta and Hoagland would go on to capture the win in the second race of the new Challenge class.

Although the 2009 edition of the Northeast Grand prix did not finish in dramatic fashion, it certainly had its moments. It was an exciting race and enjoyable to watch.  The grid was less than full by any account, but the short and tight circuit here hid that shortcoming well.  With another successful event under its belt, the series can look forward to Mid-Ohio and welcome back the Corvettes and the Cytosport Porsche.

Between the DSC reporters, Northwest wins this round by picking three out of four class winners correctly.  I nailed both prototype classes but struck out in GT, while Gary only missed in P2.