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.

Penske Racing’s Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard won for the fourth straight year at Mid-Ohio and the third consecutive season in LMP2. Dumas held off a hard-charging David Brabham in the closing minutes – a flashback to last week’s race at Lime Rock – and won by 0.609 seconds.

After Brabham and Sharp, Patrick Long and Sascha Maassen placed third in Penske’s second Porsche RS Spyder.

There was major drama in GT1 between Corvette Racing’s two Corvette C6.Rs. Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen won for the fifth time this season and fourth race in a row but a race down pit lane was the story of the race. Both cars pitted at the two-hour mark and left their pit boxes at the same time. They raced to the pit exit and ran a red flag in the process.

The two cars bumped and bang through the exit with Olivier Beretta coming out first. But both cars were penalized a total of 7:40 for the incident. Once they were back out, O’Connell made the winning pass with 25 minutes remaining.

Tafel Racing’s Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher won for the third time this season in GT2 with a convincing by taking a dominating victory with their Ferrari F430 GT. Mueller took the checkered flag by 1:04.135 ahead of Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Johannes van Overbeek, who teamed with Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Farnbacher started fourth and pitted from second place. The team beat the Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche out of pitlane and gained track position during the first safety car period.

Class championship leaders Jörg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler finished third in class, just 0.459 behind their Flying Lizard teammates.

Acura Sports Car Challenge
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
Saturday’s results
1. (5) Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi AG R10/TDI (1, P1), 111.
2. (7) Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Emanuele Pirro, Italy; Audi AG R10/TDI (2, P1), 111.
3. (3) Timo Bernhard, Germany; Romain Dumas, France; Porsche RS Spyder (1, P2), 111.
4. (2) Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-01B (2, P2), 111.
5. (6) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (3, P2), 111.
6. (8) Sascha Maassen, Germany; Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (4, P2), 111.
7. (9) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Porsche RS Spyder (5, P2), 111.
8. (10) Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Porsche RS Spyder (6, P2), 111.
9. (19) Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Ferrari F430 GT (1, GT2), 104.
10. (20) Patrick Pilet, France; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (2, GT2), 104.
11. (18) Wolf Henzler, Germany; Joerg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (3, GT2), 104.
12. (17) Richard Westbrook, England; Dirk Werner, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (4, GT2), 104.
13. (16) Jaime Melo, Brazil; Mika Salo, Finland; Ferrari F430 GT (5, GT2), 103.
14. (4) Raphael Matos, Brazil; Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; Acura ARX-01B (7, P2), 103.
15. (12) Ryan Lewis, UK; John Faulkner, Pittsford, NY; Lola B06-10 AER (3, P1), 103.
16. (21) Harrison Brix, San Jose, CA; Patrick Friesacher, Austria; Ferrari F430 GT (6, GT2), 102.
17. (23) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Panoz Esperante Ford (7, GT2), 102.
18. (27) Jim Tafel, Alpharetta, GA; Alex Figge, Hollywood, CA; Ferrari F430 GT (8, GT2), 101.
19. (25) Nicky Pastorelli, Netherlands; Francesco Pastorelli, Netherlands; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (9, GT2), 101.
20. (30) Ben Devlin, England; Gerardo Bonilla, Orlando, FL; Lola B07 46 Mazda (8, P2), 99.
21. (14) Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Corvette C6.R (1, GT1), 98.
22. (15) Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Corvette C6.R (2, GT1), 98.
23. (29) Paul Drayson, London, UK; Jonny Cocker, UK; Aston Martin Vantage (10, GT2), 94.
24. (24) David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT-R (11, GT2), 93.
25. (13) Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Creation CA07-002 Judd (4, P1), 92.
26. (1) Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Acura ARX-01B (9, P2), 67, Fire.
27. (28) Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (12, GT2), 43.
28. (22) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (13, GT2), 37.
29. (26) Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Anthony Lazzaro, Acworth, GA; Doran Ford GT-R (14, GT2), 27, Electrical.
30. (11) Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Richard Berry, Evergreen, CO; Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B06/10 AER (5, P1), 23, Engine..