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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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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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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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (June 18, 2008) - The EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will mark the halfway point for the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Daytona Prototype competition. Brumos Racing has shown steady improvement in each race the first half of the season, with both cars top-10 finishers the last two races.

Totaling four top-10 finishes this season, the No. 59 Brumos entry is currently within five points of Grand-Am’s top five in Team Point Standings, while the No. 58 car is just three points away from the top 10, following their recent season-best second-place finish.

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LM P1
Audi achieves second Le Mans hat-trick

Capello/Kristensen/McNish win thriller
Audi R10 TDI remains unbeaten at 24 Hour classic
Eighth Audi victory out of ten starts at the Sarthe

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WATKINS GLEN, NY (June 7, 2008) – Scott Pruett took the lead with 45 minutes remaining and was never headed as he and Memo Rojas drove the #01 Telmex Lexus to 3.033-second victory in today’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen Rolex Sports Car Series race at Watkins Glen International.

The win is the fourth in six races for the Ganassi/Lexus team and gives both the drivers and the team a 36-point championship lead heading into the midway point of the season at Mid-Ohio. In addition, Lexus continued its domination of endurance racing with its fifth win in the last eight Grand-Am endurance events and now holds a 15-point lead in the manufacturer’s championship.

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Timo Bernhard stole the thunder from Gil de Ferran and de Ferran Motorsports at Miller Motorsports Park with a stunning pole position run for Porsche and Penske Racing in qualifying for the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels. Bernhard turned a lap of 1:31.050 (120.514 mph) in the Porsche RS Spyder he will share with Romain Dumas.

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Talk about a change of scenery. The Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels could not be more of a contrast to the previous two rounds of the American Le Mans Series. Instead of tight, twisty street circuits, Miller Motorsports Park is a wide-open, extremely fast test of the abilities of both man and machine. That is certainly true in the Series’ two production-based GT classes.

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Back at the track where he and Romain Dumas started their run to the American Le Mans Series LMP2 championship a year ago, Timo Bernhard took pole position for Porsche and Penske Racing at the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach on Friday. The German Porsche factory pilot posted a lap of 1:11.330 (99.324 mph) in a competitive and record-breaking day in southern California.

Bernhard’s lap around 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit was good enough for a 0.094-second gap over Luis Diaz in Lowe’s Fernandez Racing’s Acura ARX-01b. Bernhard, who again will team with Dumas, also broke Dario Franchitti’s track record of 1:11.838 set last season in Andretti Green Racing’s Acura.

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