Tertre Rouge Times | News of the day from the world of endurance racing

Team Drayson seals the deal at Road America

Posted by Rusty RaeAugust 22, 2010No comments

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ELKHART LAKE, Wi — Jonny Cocker recovered from a late race gafe and passed the Muscle Milk Porsche on the last straight away of the last lap to take the first win for Team Drayson. Cocker was the top qualifier, setting a new qualifying record for the track and reeled in three LMP cars that were ahead of him in the last four laps for the team’s first win of the series.

Team Drayson shown moments of brilliance over the last year, since it moved from the GT Vantage Aston Martin to the Lola Judd-powered LPM car, but it has never been to finish a race on the top rung, with either a shunt and or a mechanical issue getting in its way. Today in Wisconsin, it wiped out all of those nightmares with a brilliant piece of driver by Cocker over the last five laps of the race as he first picked off the Dyson Mazda, and then the defending series champion HPD Acura before passing the Porsche for the win.

More coverage and photos a little later.

It’s Drayson on the pole (again) in the heartland of American

Posted by Rusty RaeAugust 22, 2010No comments

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ELKHART LAKE, Wi — It was Jonny Cocker in the Team Drayson Judd-powered Lola handily taking the team’s second straight pole at the 4.048 mile 14-turn course in the picturesque heartland of America, becoming the first driver this year to win two poles for his team and doing so by an amazing 1.321 seconds over the second place Lola Mazda team.

The challenge for Team Drayson now is to finish the race in the same position as they start — something that it has had extreme difficulty in pulling off during the 2010 season. This will put pressure on team owner Paul Drayson who will drive the first stint in the race Sunday and who had a shunt in a similar position at the last race at Mid Ohio two weeks ago.

Not surprising was the one-twp qualifying effort by the Corvette team in the course that features long straights and fast turns. The ZR1 Vette of Olivier Gavin posted the top time in the qualifying session for the GT class. The top six GT cars were within one second of each other.

All Photos by Dave R. Johnson.

Dyson’s Mazda takes Mid-Ohio

Posted by Rusty RaeAugust 9, 2010No comments

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LEXINGTON, Oh — It was simple as this: stay ahead of Simon Pagnaud and the Patron Honda for 20 plus laps on the 13 turn two-plus mile Mid Ohio track and win the race. And that is what Chris Dyson as the Dyson Team Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 LMP car took the checkered flag by .506 seconds over the Patrón Highcroft Racing’s Simon Pagenaud in the HPD.

Early on the race the pole-setting Drayson Lola with Judd power took itself out of the race when drive Paul Drayson made contact with another car and went into the gravel trap. The shunt caused enough damage to the car that it was never able to compete in the rest of the race.

In the always competitive GT class, it was the No. 62 Risi Ferrari F430 GTC of Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni that recorded the team’s first ever victory at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course and their third for the season with a come-from-behind effort after the primary fuel pump on the car went out and the team had to switch to and run the back-up pump.

Complete results are found here.

All photographs by Dave R. Johnson.