American Le Mans Series

Porsche Motorsports preview on Mosport race-weekend

© Planetlemans - Dennis Murray

In the American Le Mans Series race, the two Porsche RS Spyder prototypes, prepared by Penske
Motorsports, will look to lengthen their chassis and engine manufacturer championship points lead in the LMP2 class, while veteran drivers Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr continue their march towards the drivers championship. Maassen, now driving with Timo Bernhard in the #6 RS Spyder, is leading the LMP2 championship by two points over the rival Lola AER team, while his former co-driver Lucas Luhr, now driving in the #7 team car with Romain Dumas, is third, just four points back. The team split up Maassen and Luhr for the rest of the season to give Porsche the best chance to win the LMP2 drivers title, with the Maassen/Bernhard car winning two weeks ago at Road America to give Sascha the points lead.
After completing seven of the ten events in its first season of American Le Mans Series competition, the two Porsche RS Spyder V-8-powered prototypes have shown the sports car world they can perform at the front of the field, but have also shown the results of the new engine and chassis development. The two cars have scored four class wins between them, including a one-two overall victory at Mid-Ohio, and hold a significant points lead in chassis, engine and team LMP2 standings (Porsche currently leads the LMP2 chassis and manufacturers’ championship and Penske Racing is currently on top of the LMP2 team championship). But a combination of mechanical problems and on-track incidents has left the drivers points chase a close battle between the Porsche and Lola drivers.

After an opening win at Laguna Seca the end of last year by Porsche factory drivers Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr, the two-car team had problems at the opening two events this year at Sebring and Houston. While the RS Spyders showed their potential by leading both the LMP2 class and the overall race during the two events, both cars suffered mechanical gremlins and did not finish either race.

But Romain Dumas/Timo Bernhard broke through at Mid-Ohio with not only an LMP2 win, but an overall victory as well - beating all the LMP1 cars including the Audi R8, with the Maassen/Luhr team car finishing second. Dumas/Bernhard won LMP2 again at Lime Rock, with Maassen/Luhr winning the class at Salt Lake City in mid-July. Then, just one week later in Portland, Maassen/Luhr earned second-place points after an engine problem late in the event robbed them of a certain victory (five-lap lead with 20 minutes to go), and Bernhard/Dumas were a distant third after an accident put them in the pits for more than 22 minutes. At Road America, the new driver combination of Maassen and Bernhard won the class, with Luhr and Dumas a close second and the Lola third.{mospagebreak }GT2 - No clear favorite

Johannes van Overbeek, leading driver and co-owner of the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, holds an "uneasy" nine point GT2 class lead over a charging Petersen/White Lightning Porsche team headed by Jorg Bergmeister, one of last year’s GT2 champions.

Van Overbeek, who is alone atop the GT2 points heap as co-driver Wolf Henzler joined the team part way into the season, has won only one race, but has finished in the top five at every event to gain the lead. Porsche factory driver Marc Lieb will replace Henzler for Mosport as Wolf has a previous commitment. Bergmeister, who was co-champion in GT2 last year with Patrick Long, is alone in second place as Long ran one of the RS Spyders at Sebring and did not gain any GT2 points there. In the last four races, Bergmeister/Long have two victories and two seconds, while van Overbeek/Henzler have a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth.

The Ferrari 430 V-8 has certainly shown top speed in winning two ALMS GT2 events, while the Panoz Esperante has scored the other class win. The BMW M3 has also landed on the GT2 podium, scoring its best finish two weeks ago at Road America (second). Porsche leads the GT2 manufacturers championship points over Ferrari, 134 - 96.

Other Porsche 911 GT3 RSR entries in the GT2 class include Alex Job Racing Porsche of Mike Rockenfeller/Marcel Tiemann, and the second Flying Lizard Porsche entry of Seth Nieman/Lonnie Pechnik.