Backstretch Motorsports

Audi returned to its dominating style at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a 1-2 finish in the Acura Sports Car Challenge on Saturday with Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner taking the first overall victory for the R10 TDI since April. Luhr crossed the finish line 7.717 seconds ahead of teammates Emanuele Pirro and Dindo Capello.

Luhr drove the last 1:55 with the same set of Michelin tires and one more stop for fuel. Werner started fifth on the grid but moved up to third on the first lap, was second on the third lap and took the lead for good when Werner passed pole-sitter Gil de Ferran’s Acura ARX-01b a minute later.

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Gil de Ferran won his third straight pole position at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Friday…seven years since his last. The storybook debut season for De Ferran Motorsports continued with de Ferran’s first pole in the American Le Mans Series, a record-breaking 1:07.969 (119.596 mph) for the Acura Sports Car Challenge.

De Ferran’s Acura ARX-01b led a second straight overall sweep of the front row for Acura in a home race before thousands of Honda and Acura employees and guests. The two-time CART and former Indianapolis 500 winner qualified 0.224 seconds ahead of Patrón Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham, who sat on the pole a week ago at Lime Rock and won the race overall with Scott Sharp.

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Friday at Lime Rock Park, Tim Pappas said all he wanted to see was his Black Swan Racing finish the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix. That may not sound like much but consider that the team didn’t receive its Falken-shod Ford GT-R until earlier that morning. So Saturday’s eighth-place finish for Pappas and co-driver Anthony Lazzaro was more than gratifying.

There’s not much time for relaxation with this weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge looming at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The bigger track will give a true reading as to where the Ford-Falken package lies.

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David Brabham did it again. Another late-race pass meant victory in the American Le Mans Series, this time a historic first overall victory for Acura and Patrón Highcroft Racing. Brabham passed Penske Racing’s Timo Bernhard with 90 seconds left Saturday to win the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix with Scott Sharp.

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Racing at home never felt so good for David Brabham and Dirk Werner. Brabham scored his fifth overall pole position and Werner his first class pole in qualifying Friday for the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Brabham’s Patrón Highcroft Racing and Werner’s Farnbacher Loles Racing both are based in nearby Danbury, Conn., about 50 miles from the freshly repaved circuit.

Brabham’s lap of 46.696 (115.642 mph) came on his final flying lap around the new 1.51-mile, 10-turn layout as Acura swept the front row with its ARX-01b entries. Brabham’s second overall pole with Acura came at the expense of Simon Pagenaud, driving de Ferran Motorsports’ entry with team owner Gil de Ferran. The young Frenchman turned a time of 47.082 (114.694 mph).

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The American Le Mans Series returns from its annual Le Mans break and heads to the shortest circuit on its schedule - historic Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. The 1.51-mile, 10-turn venue has undergone major renovations for this week’s American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix. Many of the track’s original characteristics remain, however. It’s still short, fast and extremely busy over the course of a single lap.

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Venerable ALMS Team Celebrates Twenty-Five Years of Racing

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – Twenty-five years ago, Rob Dyson raced a1983 Firebird at the IMSA Coca-Cola Three Hours of Lime Rock. Of the thirty-seven cars entered in that race, there is only one team still racing today: Dyson Racing.

The upcoming American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on July 12 marks their celebration of twenty five years in professional motorsports. It is a silver anniversary built on success at the highest levels: sixty-one victories, one hundred sixty five podiums and seventeen championships.

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FAULKNER, LEWIS JOIN INTERSPORT RACING AT MID-OHIO

Intersport Racing announced today Star Mazda veteran John Faulkner will join Champ Car Atlantic star Ryan Lewis in the team’s second LMP1 car as driver for the Acura Sports Car Challenge July 17-19 at Mid-Ohio in the 2008 American Le Mans Series.

Lewis will be behind the wheel for the balance of the season while Faulkner is slated to drive at Mid-Ohio, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta and the Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Jon and Clint Field and Richard Berry will continue as drivers of the No. 37 Very Berry Exotics entry. The trio is fresh off a second place finish in the Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park, having led the race overall for a brief period.

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Two ALMS races within eight days
US comeback for defending champion Dindo Capello
“Clean Diesel” with advantage over Ethanol

Ingolstadt [2008/06/30] – After a seven-week break, the American Le Mans Series continues in the middle of July with back-to-back races: At Lime Rock (Connecticut) and Mid-Ohio (Ohio) the world’s fastest sportscar contest two races within eight days on 12 and 19 July.

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For all the planning, preparations and sometimes panic with getting cars and equipment ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not much is said about the return trip back to the States for American Le Mans Series teams. This year the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park is four weeks after Le Mans, which is a contrast to the two-week turnaround needed to ship cargo to Europe for the Le Mans Test Day following the Utah Grand Prix.

Corvette Racing has become a bit of an expert, having crossed the Atlantic each year since 2000 and winning its class five times in that span. Gary Pratt, co-founder of Pratt & Miller which builds, supplies and supports the factory Corvettes for General Motors, takes us through the post-Le Mans process.

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