American Le Mans Series

Grand Prix of Mosport - Penultimate Hour Report

© Audi Motorsport

With just under two hours to go the Mosport circuit showed where it got its scary reputation from. A full field of GT2 cars using every inch of the track caused some hairy moments for the quicker GT1 cars and prototypes.

At the front the two Audi drivers were already sixteen seconds ahead of the Penske Porsche but the focus was still on GT2. Müller tried to overtake Henzler, but the Germans made contact and the field got even closer together. Taking advantage was Bill Auberlen in the Panoz as he squeezed through into third place in GT2. Mika Salo watched it all from behind as he closed in on the GT2 group, nearly a lap ahead of all of his rivals.
Johansson and Maassen got closer together and just as they were almost next to each other the Panoz of Bill Auberlen was ahead of them. The LMP2 cars both opted for a side of the GT2 car and passed the GT2 driver.

One hour into the race Salo had enough of being behind the GT2 group and decided to lap them all. As he passed through the field the Intersport Creation and Corvette Racing C6-R collided. As Gavin passed Field the Creation went partly through the grass and came back over the curbs hitting the Corvette, sending the GT1 leader into a spin. Gavin came to a halt against the wall, but rejoined the race. He immediately went to the pit and handed over the car to Beretta.

Five minutes later the safety car went out again after the Highcroft Racing Acura and number 73 Tafel Racing Porsche crashed. As Johansson tried to overtake Farnbacher the Porsche came off its line and hit the Acura. The Acura hit the wall and suffered serious damage to the front and back, while the Porsche suffered damage to the right rear wheel. Both cars came into the box immediately.

The moment the pits were officially open again both Penske Porsches got into the box for a regular stop, hoping to keep the lead they got when the Audis went in for their stop under green. One lap later the Audis got in again for their second stop.

As all the backmarkers were waved by the Highcroft Acura was being pushed behind the wall. With an hour and twenty minutes to go it seemed impossible to repair the car, get back in the race and score decent points.

During the final moments of the caution period the number 45 Flying Lizards Porsche served a long penalty for passing under yellow, despite being waved by by the other car. The officials however decided to punish Van Overbeek. Another heavy penalty was given to the Autocon team. They got a 2-lap stop and go penalty for leaving the pit lane when it was closed.

One hour 17 minutes to go and the green flag came out again. McNish jumped on the throttle and was immediately on the tail of the Porsches and was leading the race again shortly afterwards.

As the race went towards its final hour McNish had already taken a four seconds lead again.

_{Marcel ten Caat - Planetlemans.com}