ALMS, Mosport - Quick Race Report
Win #3 For CytoSport

It was another exciting race, with ding-dong battles in several classes, but it could have been even better and even closer had it gone the full distance.  Several teams were frustrated to have had to finish under the Safety Car, brought out for a ceremonial finish after a red flag stoppage with 29 minutes left on the clock.

Klaus Graf brought the Cytosport Porsche Spyder home in first place overall for his third race win of the season, this time with Romain Dumas, ahead of David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud.  That was enough to keep the ALMS centenarian and his considerably younger team mate in the lead of the championship points battle until the season finale at Petit Le Mans.

The red flag came out as a result of GTC driver Luke Hines’ hard crash into the safety barrier on the left side of the circuit on Mosport’s fastest section.  Officials from IMSA estimated more than three hours of repair work to replace the barrier and restart the race and, after a lengthy spell in the pit lane, the event finished under yellow.

Gunnar Jeannette and Elton Julian also took their fourth win of the year in LMPC for Green Earth Team Gunnar.  The victory moved Jeannette and Julian into a tie with Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker for the class championship; Tucker drove to the runner-up spot with Christophe Bouchut.

Continuing the theme, with another fourth win of the year, were Pat Long and Jorg Bergmeister.  The ever-consistent Flying Lizard pair won over the Risi Ferrari of Bruni and Vilander who were just two of several GT drivers who felt deprived of a chance for a run at the leaders thanks to the rather anticlimactic finish.  BMW’s Auberlen and Hand finished third making it three different manufacturers on the podium.

Velox Racing won its first American Le Mans Series race as Shane Lewis and Lawson Aschenbach drove their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to a hard-earned victory. The duo was running second to long-time leader Hines when the ORBIT/Paul Miller Racing entry crashed.  The Velox duo drove back from a pitstop penalty during the race’s first full-course caution and were well poised to pick up the victory laurels when Hines made his high profile exit.

Fiona Miller