Backstretch Motorsports

BRASELTON, Ga., Oct. 4, 2008 – A race that began with Johnny O’Connell’s daughter singing the national anthem on the starting grid at Road Atlanta ended 9 hours and 41 minutes later with a victory in the 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans for O’Connell and his teammates Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows. O’Connell and Magnussen clinched the American Le Mans Series GT1 drivers championship with their eighth win of the season in the No. 3 Compuware with one race still to run.

[read more...]

The battle that everyone expected at Petit Le Mans powered by the Totally New MAZDA6 lived up to its billing. Audi remained unbeaten at Road Atlanta as Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Emanuele Pirro spotted the field two laps at the start of the race but came back for a stunning victory in the 11th annual 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic.

McNish and his Audi R10 TDI crossed the finish line 4.512 seconds ahead of Peugeot’s Christian Klien and the Peugeot 908 HDi that he drove with Stephane Sarrazin and Nic Minassian. A record weekend crowd of 113,000 witnessed the week-long fight between the top two powers in sports car racing.

[read more...]

All four classes set qualifying records Friday at Petit Le Mans powered by the Totally New MAZDA6, highlighted by Stephane Sarrazin’s run to the overall pole position for Saturday’s 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic at Road Atlanta. Sarrazin’s time of 1:06.242 (138.039 mph) nipped Audi Sport North America’s Allan McNish by 0.085 seconds as the battle between the two marques intensified even more.

[read more...]

By J.J. O’Malley

TOOELE, Utah (Sept. 19, 2008) - Ricardo Zonta saved his best for last Friday at Miller Motorsports Park, running a lap of 2:35.664 (103.747 mph) to capture the pole for Saturday’s SunRichGourmet.com 1000 presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels, the final event of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.

It was the first career pole for Zonta, a former Formula One regular, and also the first time the Lola chassis captured a pole in Daytona Prototype competition. Zonta will co-drive the No. 76 Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola with Nic Jonsson in search of his first career Rolex Series victory.

[read more...]

Friday has turned out to be quite a day for Patrón Highcroft Racing. David Brabham captured the overall pole position for the Detroit Sports Car Challenge presented by Bosch, only hours after Acura announced that Patrón Highcroft would be one of its two LMP1 entries for the 2009 American Le Mans Series season.

Brabham put in a quick lap of 1:13.483 in the Patrón Highcroft Acura ARX-01b. He and Scott Sharp will start first overall for the first time since Lime Rock Park, where the duo captured the first overall victory for Acura. The pairing have won three of the last four rounds in LMP2 including the last two races at Road America and a week ago at Mosport.

[read more...]

The front of any American Le Mans Series grid gets plenty of attention. But the GT2 action has been fast and furious all season. It also has been the closest championship battle throughout the 2008 season, which is starting to wind down.

Entering this weekend’s Detroit Sports Car Challenge presented by Bosch, Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jörg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler own a 10-point lead over Tafel Racing’s Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher for the class driver championship. The Lizard duo has been leading for most of the season, which started with a victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring to start the season, a race that currently is the difference. While the Lizards won 30 points for their victory, Tafel finished seventh in class and received just 14 points.

[read more...]

Audi Sport North America’s Dindo Capello made Mosport International Raceway the fastest circuit in the American Le Mans Series with a stunning lap time of 1:04.318 (138.116 mph) in qualifying Saturday for the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport. Capello smashed his own previous record at the track by 1.735 seconds, one of 10 cars to go under last year’s pole time.

Audi swept the front row with its two diesel-powered Audi R10 TDIs. Marco Werner was just 0.094 seconds behind his teammate as Audi asserted itself for the first time on the weekend. The top five cars qualified within 0.525 seconds of each other.

[read more...]

Audi Takes LMP1 Class Win; O’Connell,Corvette Easily Win GT1
Flying Lizards Break Through with 1-2 GT2 Finish

If the grueling Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida is an indicator, the 2008 ALMS campaign will be another record book season for Penske Racing Porsce RS Spyders. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Emmanuel Collard drove to an historic overall win at the 56th running of the American endurance classic.

Proving the computer simulations that show the LMP2 class to have a distinct advantage over their LMP1 counterparts, the lighter prototypes stole the thunder from the higher horsepower , heavier machines — the first overall win at Sebring by an LMP2 car that was further punctuated by four P2 lead-lap finishers, a race record. Dumas took the checkered flag by 12.979 seconds over Adrian Fernandez in the Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b he shared with Luis Diaz. The P2 class swept the overall podium with Dyson Racing’s Porsche RS Spyder of Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti and Andy Lally placing third.

[read more...]