TRACKBYTES HEADLINE NEWS
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De FERRAN, PAGENAUD DOMINATE in UTAH
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photo by John Thawley TOOELE, Utah — The driving duo of Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud were unmatched Sunday in the Larry H. Miller Utah Grand Prix, the fourth race on the 2009 American Le Mans Series.
Coming off their first ALMS overall win at Long Beach last month, de Ferran and Pagenaud showed phenomenal speed throughout the weekend with a new qualifying mark Saturday by Pagenaud and a dominating performance Sunday in the No. 66 de Ferran XM Radio Acura ARX-02a sports car at Miller Motorsports Park.
The victory for de Ferran Motorsports was an anniversary present for the team, as the Brownsburg, Ind.-based squad made its ALMS debut at Utah last year, finishing third overall in an LMP2 Acura ARX-01b.
But Sunday, there was little doubt that de Ferran, the 2003 Indy 500 champion, and Pagenaud, coming off a win last week in Spa, Belgium in the Le Mans Series race, were going to be denied. De Ferran started the two-hour and 45-minute contest in impressive fashion, jumping to a 30-second lead in the first 30 laps
Patrón Highcroft heads into Le Mans break with P-1 points lead
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photo by John Thawley TOOELE, UT, Sunday, May 17, 2009: Patrón Highcroft Racing has retained its American Le Mans Series LMP1 championship lead after finishing second in the latest round of the series at Salt Lake City’s Miller Motorsport Park today.
While the Acura ARX-02a duo of Scott Sharp and David Brabham battled to finish 1 minute, 13.693 seconds adrift of the winning Acura of Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud, the team still scored its best ever result at Miller Motorsports Park. Accident damage and mechanical woes had previously left the Danbury, CT-squad outside the top 20 in previous years.After four rounds of the 2009 series, Patrón Highcroft Racing hold a 17-point lead leading into the traditional mid-season break scheduled for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
With the Miller Motorsports Park situated more than 3000 feet higher above sea level than any other circuit in the championship, the naturally aspirated engine aboard the Acura ARX-02a was at a disadvantage to any turbo machine. This proved to be the first hurdle at the start when the turbo-powered machine of Jon Field slipped through into second place. Sharp lost precious seconds behind the privateer entry who enjoyed a significant straight-line speed advantage.
Streak in tact: Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Wins Nail Biter in Utah
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photo by John Thawley Adrian Fernandez performed flawlessly under pressure to capture an LMP2 class win and third-place overall result in the closing minutes of the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix this afternoon. Like the class pole position yesterday, it was a hard fought battle as Fernandez held off the charge of Butch Leitzinger, who maintained the LMP2 lead throughout the majority of the race, to cross the finish line a scant one second ahead of the #20 Dyson Mazda.
Luis Diaz started the race, surviving a chaotic start. As expected, Diaz lost the P2 lead on the opening lap to the Mazdas who held a speed advantage on the straight. It was a frustrating stint for Diaz as he lost touch with the Mazdas while battling two of LMP1 cars. When he pitted on Leader Lap 36 to turn the controls over to Fernandez at the one-hour mark, he was shown third overall and first in class due to pit stops.
Fernandez returned to the track third in class and fifth overall and had his hands full during his first stint with oversteer on the #15 Lowe’s Acura. He assumed the class lead on Leader Lap 60 [with just over an hour remaining] when the #20 car pitted.
Battle in the Great Basin: Desert Stormed
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photo by John Thawley TOOELE, UT May 17, 2009 –It was the battle of the race and the battle of the season to date: Butch Leitzinger in the #20 BP Mazda Lola and Adrian Fernandez in the Lowe’s Acura in today’s American Le Mans Utah Grand Prix. Forty-five minutes from the end, Butch was first in LMP2. He was pushing hard to open up a big enough gap to Fernandez to allow for a quick splash and go. He stopped twenty minutes later and he came out of the pits with Fernandez in site. Leitzinger chased him down, the gap closing each lap. At the end, he was sixth tenths back, finishing second in class. It was racing drama at its best.
Dyson Racing held the class lead for the majority of the 103 lap race. Marino Franchitti started the #20 car, drove the first two stints and led forty-eight laps. Chris Dyson started the #16 Mazda-powered entry and led his opening laps, opening up a half-minute gap to the Lowe’s entry by lap seventeen. Dyson and Guy Smith finished third in class and sixth overall after Smith had to come in for extra pits stop to diagnose and fix an electrical problem half way through the race.