rrae

Muscle Milk Porsche Spyder

Seen here taking the LMP2 class victory at Sebring, the team was the overall LMP winner at the ALMS race at Lime Rock.

LAKEVIEW, Cn — Getting the aid of the “Racing Gods of Lime Rock” the Muscle Milk Porsche Spyder driven by Klaus Graff (along with Greg Pickett) survived a late stop-and-go penalty at Lime Rock Race Park to earn its first overall victory in the American Le Mans Series and a break a three-win streak by pole-setter Patron Highcroft Honda, driven at the time by David Brabham (along with Simon Pagenaud).

The Patron Team with Brabham at the wheel had just reeled in the Porsche and was within striking distance. As they passed the start-finish line, Brabhad saw an opening and tried to move along side the Muscle Milk car, which would have ostensibly blocked Klaus with a slower GT car directly in front of him.  Klaus reacted to the traffic a little slower than Brabham, and confessed that he did not know that Brabham and the Honda were that closeto him  in a post race interview.

When Klaus moved to his right, he made contact with the Honda and push Brabham into the weeds at around 150 mph. While Klaus got a stop-and-go penalty for not paying attention, the Honda’s right rear tire, which had apparently been problematic during the last 20 minutes, deflated. Brabham limped back to the pits to replace the tire. Klaus sped back to the pits to serve the stop-and-go and left the pits just as the Honda arrived.

Klaus had a 30 second lead with less than five minutes to go in the race and that was it.

Earlier in the race, the Drayson Racing Team with Jonny Cocker at the wheel  jumped into the lead, showing a burst of brilliance before a combination of niggling five and dime problems cost it too much time in the pits for repairs. Once the Lola Judd was out of the picture the race between the Honda and Porsche.

In the GT class it was a Germanic day, with a Porsche and two BMWs topping the podium as Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister took victory. It was a hard-fought battle with their teutonic counterparts that put the Long-Bermeister team back on top of the points race in the GT class. Fourth place went to Pierre Kaffer and Mika Salo, in a Ferrari 430 GT. They were a lap down to the Porsche when the checkered flag dropped.

American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix
Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn.
Saturday’s results
1. (2) Greg Pickett, Crystal Bay, NV; Klaus Graf, Germany; Porsche RS Spyder (1, LMP), 171.
2. (1) Simon Pagenaud, France; David Brabham, England; HPD ARX-01c (2, LMP), 171.
3. (29) Elton Julian, Santa Monica, CA; Gunnar Jeannette, Salt Lake City, UT; Oreca FLM09 (1, LMPC), 162.
4. (9) Tom Papadopoulos, Long Island, NY; Alex Figge, Denver, CO; Oreca FLM09 (2, LMPC), 162.
5. (8) Patrick Long, Bellaire, FL; Joerg Bergmeister, Langenfield; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (1, GT), 161.
6. (18) Tommy Milner, Leesburg, VA; Bill Auberlen, Redondo Beach, CA; BMW E92 M3 (2, GT), 161.
7. (25) Dirk Mueller, Monte Carlo; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; BMW E92 M3 (3, GT), 161.
8. (13) Pierre Kaffer, Germany; Mika Salo, Finland; Ferrari 430 GT (4, GT), 160.
9. (14) Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Oliver Gavin, England; Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 (5, GT), 159.
10. (17) Andy Wallace, England; Scott Tucker, Leawood, KS; Oreca FLM09 (3, LMPC), 158.
11. (15) Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Ferrari 430 GT (6, GT), 157.
12. (22) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7, GT), 157.
13. (10) Wolf Henzler, Germany; Bryan Sellers, Braselton, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (8, GT), 156.
14. (24) Henri Richard, Los Altos Hills, CA; Andy Lally, New York, NY; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (1, GTC), 152.
15. (21) Marc Goossens, Huntersville, NC; Ryan Dalziel, Orlando, FL; Jaguar XKRS (9, GT), 152.
16. (23) Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Jeroen Bleekemolen, Netherlands; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (2, GTC), 151.
17. (16) Ed Brown, Las Vegas, NV; Guy Cosmo, West Palm Beach, FL; Ferrari 430 GT (10, GT), 150.
18. (26) Jerry Vento, West Palm Beach, FL; Shane Lewis, Jupiter, FL; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (3, GTC), 149.
19. (20) Christian Zugel, Holmdel, NJ; Tom Sedivy, Raleigh, NC; Oreca FLM09 (4, LMPC), 146.
20. (27) Bret Curtis, Valencia, CA; James Sofronas, Newport Beach, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (4, GTC), 146.
21. (30) Luke Hines, England; Bryce Miller, Summit, NJ; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (5, GTC), 140.
22. (5) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B06/10 AER (3, LMP), 140, Mechanical.
23. (28) Bill Sweedler, Westport, CT; Romeo Kapudija, Lincolnwood, IL; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (6, GTC), 123.
24. (4) Paul Drayson, England; Jonny Cocker, England; Lola B09 60/Judd (4, LMP), 113.
25. (19) David Murry, Atlanta, GA; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Design Ford GT (11, GT), 110.
26. (7) Brian Wong, Newport Beach, CA; Kyle Marcelli, Barrie, ON; Oreca FLM09 (5, LMPC), 108.
27. (12) Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 (12, GT), 35, Accident.
28. (11) Jaime Melo, Milan; Gianmaria Bruni, Italy; Ferrari 430 GT (13, GT), 22, Accident.
29. (3) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Lola B09 86/Mazda (5, LMP), 7, Mechanical.
30. (6) Scott Tucker, Leawood, KS; Christophe Bouchut, France; Oreca FLM09 (6, LMPC), 0.

LAKEVIEW, Cn — While mother nature played havoc with the racing surface at Lime Rock park Friday afternoon, David Brabham was up to his old tricks as he captured Patrón Highcroft Racing’s third pole position of the ALMS season.

With steady rain falling at Lime Rock throughout the day, Brabham and teammate Simon Pagenaud were second fastest in both practice sessions aboard the Honda Performance Development factory-backed ARX-01c.  But when it came time to “dance in the rain”, Brabham was up to the challenge touring the course in 0:0:58.106 for a new quyalifying lap record at almost a 93 mph average.

The times was not only good for the pole but more than a half-second faster than the number two Porsche RS Spyder and nearly two seconds ahead of the third fastest qualifier the Mazda Lola. In fourth place on the grid is the Drayson Lola Judd who were just a tick of the clock behind the Mazda.

On a dry track on Saturday morning showed the fans just how fast the Honda is slicing eight seconds off his qualifying time with a 0:50.700 lap at 106 mph. However, Team Drayson driver Jonny Cocker in the Lola Judd was a blink-of-the-eye behind, just 0.035 seconds off the leader’s pace. 

Patrick Long took the Porsche 911 RSR to front of the GT class with a best lap of 1:03.904  or 84.502 mph. He was followed by another Porsche and the Ferarri of Jaimie Mello who clocked in nearly half a second off Long’s pace. Saturday morning, however, it was the BMWs of the Rahal-Letterman stable that led the practice session on the dry track while the pole setting Porsche was third, three tenths of a second off the time driven by Long.

Complete qualifying results can be found here.

All photos by Dave R. Johnson Photography.