Backstretch Motorsports

The start of the American Le Mans Series’ second half has an uncanny similarity to the way the first ended…with Simon Pagenaud on pole position. The young Frenchman won his second straight pole position in the Series and third of the season for de Ferran Motorsports and Acura with a record qualifying run for the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on Friday.

Pagenaud set a LMP1 record with a lap of 46.971 (114.965 mph) in de Ferran’s XM Acura. His time was just good enough to edge out Patrón Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham by 0.374 seconds. [read more...]

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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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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Dirk Werner: “There is a very high level of competition here - there are great drivers and the cars are a lot of fun to drive.”

The age-old axiom of first finishing before you can finish first has never sounded truer in the ears of Farnbacher Loles Racing. Performance hasn’t been an issue in the first four rounds of the American Le Mans Series season. Results on the other hand have been a bit hard to come by for the team in the midst of its first full season of Series competition.

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Lakeville, CT. — Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards capped off a Pontiac-strong Grand-Am GT Classic weekend at Lime Rock Park , delivering the win for the No. 07 Banner Racing GXP.R team. Runner-up honors went to the SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 team of Nick Ham / Sylvian Tremblay.
Completing the podium was the Wilmington, NC based Stevenson Motorsports/ Bryan Mark Financial sponsored Pontiac team of Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis
The 1.53-mile, seven turn, road course nestled in the Berkshire Mountain region of Connecticut saw the entire 164 Lap event run caution free and the winner’s average speed was 99.193 MPH

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News and Notes

- This is the first career KONI Challenge Series victory in any class for Jeff Segal and Jep Thornton of Automatic Racing.

- This is the first career KONI Challenge Series victory in any class for Automatic Racing, the 2007 Grand Sport champion. Automatic Racing had previously finished a team best second on several occasions.

- This is the first BMW victory of the season and fourth in the past five races, dating back to last season. Only Porsche - with Craig Stanton and Tim Traver - has won during that streak (Daytona, 2008).

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LAKEVILLE, Conn. (May 24, 2008) – Kuno Wittmer, of Montreal, Que., further enhanced his SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship point lead with a victory Saturday at Lime Rock Park. Polesitter Pierre Kleinubing, of Coconut Creek, Fla., and Chip Herr, of Lititz, Pa., completed the podium for the first of two SPEED Touring Car races at Lime Rock Park over Memorial Day Weekend.

Starting second, Wittmer immediately launched into the lead in the No. 44 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX as polesitter Kleinubing was left spinning his tires at the line. Once Kleinubing got away, he slotted into second behind Wittmer and ahead of the No. 97 Tindol Motorsports MAZDA6 of Herr.

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