Backstretch Motorsports

Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard gave Porsche and Penske Racing their second straight victory at Miller Motorsports Park with a 1-2 finish for the two Porsche RS Spyders. Dumas took the checkered flag in front of Patrick Long in the Larry H. Miller Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels.

Dumas and Bernhard captured their first overall victory for Penske since a season-opening win at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Emmanuel Collard. The pairing also were winners in LMP2 after seeing their eight-race class winning streak end in the previous round at Long Beach.

Dumas inherited the lead from Audi Sport North America’s Emanuele Pirro pitted from first place near the two-hour mark but still had to withstand challenges from the two Audi R10 TDIs. Lucas Luhr suffered a slow puncture with 30 minutes ago while running with 3 seconds of Dumas, and Pirro was knocked off course by David Robertson’s Ford GT just two minutes later.

Long and Sascha Maassen recorded their best finish of the season with the runner-up finish, 22.656 seconds adrift of the sister car. They were 4.183 seconds ahead of Simon Pagenaud and Gil de Ferran in the de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b, making its first start in the Series.
The first six cars were from the lighter, more nimble LMP2 cars that took advantage of its cornering abilities around the 3.048-mile, 15-turn circuit.

Luhr and Marco Werner were seventh overall but finished first in LMP1 for the third consecutive race. After entering with a two-race overall winning streak, the No. 2 Audi lost time with the spin and puncture and also a late-race penalty.

Intersport Racing’s Lola B06/10-AER finished second in class, its best finish of the season. Jon Field led early before a couple of spins and briefly losing power steering. Pirro and Frank Biela were third in class.

Corvette Racing’s Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen won their third GT1 race in four starts this season in the No. 3 Corvette C6.R. Magnussen finished more than a minute up on Oliver Gavin in the sister car.

Olivier Beretta began from the pole in the No. 4 Corvette but O’Connell and Magnussen won the race in pit lane. In each of the previous three rounds, the pole-sitting car ended up as the race winner.

Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Wolf Henzler and Jörg Bergmeister drove their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to their first GT2 victory since Sebring with a one-lap victory over the sister Lizard Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet.

Henzler jumped out to a 20-second lead early and gained nearly a lap on the field during the race’s first caution. Werner in the overall leading Audi was between the two Porsches, allowing Henzler a free pass around the circuit to catch the rear of the field.

The 1-2 finish was the second of the season for the Lizards and allowed Bergmeister and Henzler to move back into the class championship lead by one point over Tafel Racing’s Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher. They were third in GT2 on Sunday in the No. 71 Ferrari F430 GT.
Larry H. Miller Utah Grand Prix presented by
the Grand and Little America Hotels
Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, Utah
Sunday’s results
1. (1) Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Porsche RS Spyder (1, P2), 96.

2. (5) Sascha Maassen, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (2, P2), 96.

3. (2) Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Acura ARX-01B (3, P2), 96.

4. (7) Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Porsche RS Spyder (4, P2), 96.

5. (3) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (5, P2), 96.

6. (10) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (6, P2), 95.

7. (6) Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi AG R10/TDI (1, P1), 95.

8. (9) Christian Fittipaldi, Miami, FL; Bryan Herta, Valencia, CA; Acura ARX-01B (7, P2), 94.

9. (12) Ben Devlin, England; Gerardo Bonilla, Orlando, FL; Lola B07 46 Mazda (8, P2), 93.

10. (14) Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (1, GT1), 88.

11. (13) Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6.R (2, GT1), 88.

12. (11) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Lola B06/10 AER (2, P1), 88.

13. (15) Wolf Henzler, Germany; Joerg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (1, GT2), 87.

14. (17) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Patrick Pilet, France; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (2, GT2), 86.

15. (18) Marc Basseng, Germany; Dirk Werner, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (3, GT2), 85.

16. (19) Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (4, GT2), 85.

17. (22) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Panoz Esperante Ford (5, GT2), 84.

18. (28) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (6, GT2), 84.

19. (23) Doug Peterson, Bonita Springs, FL; Lou Gigliotti, Dallas, TX; Eric Curran, Easthampton, MA; Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6 (7, GT2), 83.

20. (20) Harrison Brix, San Jose, CA; Patrick Friesacher, Austria; Ferrari F430 GT (8, GT2), 83.

21. (8) Frank Biela, Germany; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi AG R10/TDI (3, P1), 79.

22. (21) Gunnar Jeannette, Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Johnny Mowlem, England; Ferrari F430 GT (9, GT2), 79.

23. (26) Rueben Carrapatoso, Brazil; Francisco Pastorelli, Netherlands; Nicky Pastorelli, Netherlands; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (10, GT2), 79.

24. (29) Nathan Swartzbaugh, La Habra Heights, LA; Craig Stanton, Long Beach, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (11, GT2), 77.

25. (4) Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-01B (9, P2), 70.

26. (25) David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT-R (12, GT2), 62.

27. (16) Mika Salo, Finland; Jaime Melo, Brazil; Ferrari F430 GT (13, GT2), 60, Accident.

28. (30) Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (14, GT2), 35, Electrical.

29. (27) Jonny Cocker, UK; Paul Drayson, London, UK; Aston Martin Vantage GT2 (15, GT2), 27, Engine.

30. (24) Alex Figge, Hollywood, CA; Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Ferrari F430 GT (16, GT2), 25, Accident.