The Mazda leads the Aston Martin home as the Mazda team wins on its home courts.

LIME ROCK PARK, LAKEVILLE, CT — Winning on your home court is a key ingredient for winning a championship in any sport and on the Americdan Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron the duo of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith did just that in a heated battle that saw the lead change six times with Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing  before they took the checkered flag. BMW Team RLL also picked up where it left off, scoring its third consecutive GT victory

Dyson Racing won by 19.969 seconds over the Muscle Milk squad. It was the first ALMS win for Chris Dyson at his home track. Dyson’s second Lola-Mazda, driven by Humaid Al Masaood and Steven Kane, finished third five laps off the pace.

While the Dyson-Smith team also set fast time in qualifying, this was not a simple walk in the part for the team as right from the start Lucas Luhr and the Lola Aston Martin took the race to Mazda team. Weaving through a swarm of traffic in the opening laps  on the 1.474-mile road course. Luhr dispatched Dyson on lap 16, but was then forced to pit early to replace a flat tire.

Both cars hit pit lane on lap 56 during the race’s first full-course caution. Having taken on fuel during its earlier stop, Muscle Milk’s stop was slightly shorter than Dyson’s, allowing Klaus Graf to exit sooner and take the lead.

After leading the race for six laps, traffic again came into play as Graf made contact with a GTC car in the Esses, enabling Smith to retake the lead. Another round of pit stops shuffled the Lola-Aston Martin back into the lead briefly, but Smith grabbed the lead for good on lap 74 of the 187-lap, two-hour and 45-minute race.