American Le Mans Series

Petit Le Mans – Hour 8: Into the dark

© Planetlemans

It was getting darker as the race went into its eighth hour and most teams are now switching their headlights on. Tomas Enge in the Aston Martin overtook Ron Fellows in the Corvette and a nice battle for position started. Both drivers were side by side for several times until Enge made a decisive move and created a gap between him and the Corvette of Fellows.
While everyone was focussing on the fight between Corvette and Aston Martin it was Clint Field in the Intersport Racing car. The car went through the grass and seemed to lose speed. The car returned to the pit lane and the mechanics immediately started working on the steering. The bad luck for Intersport meant Penske had the chance to regain a lot of time. Sascha Maassen was the first car to take advantage of the Intersport difficulties and took the lead. Lucas Luhr was now over three minutes behind Field, but with the Intersport Lola being put behind the wall it was easy for Luhr to get into second place.

With seven hours and fifteen minutes of racing on the clocks it was still an Audi 1-2, with Capello being in the leading car overall. Minassian was still third overall.

In the pit lane the #4 Corvette had to change brake discs and pads, an unusual sight for a Corvette on Road Atlanta. The pit stop meant the #4 dropped back behind the sister Corvette. Aston Martin Racing took maximum advantage of the 4 minute pit stop and was now 1st and 2nd in the GT1 class. The LMP2 Porsches, the Zytek and Creation also came into the pit for a driver change, apart from a short stall of the #6 Porsche the stops went smoothly.

A few minutes after the #4 Corvette had come in for the brake discs and pads change, the other GT1 cars came in as well. Both Aston Martins were in and out in a regular stop, but the #3 Corvette also had its brake discs and pads changed. The Intersport Lola got out for one lap, before returning to the pit again for a quick check-up. The car then went out on the track again.

Just before eight hours were driven, with the flood lights fully lit and the cars driving at dusk it was Kurosawa in the Zytek who slowed down on the track and was being passed by several other cars. There are 52 laps left…