American Le Mans Series

AGR returns to podium at Mosport

© American Le Mans series

Andretti Green Racing drivers Marino Franchitti and Bryan Herta drove the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01a prototype in a sensational fashion Sunday in the Grand Prix of Mosport, the ninth stop in the American Le Mans Series. Franchitti and Herta, seeking their first podium finish since Houston, mounted a spectacular challenge for the dominant Penske Porsches on the fast 2.45-mile Mosport International Raceway road circuit.
At the conclusion of the two-hour, 45-minute contest, the Andretti Green pair had to settle for third in the LMP2 class after racing wheel-to-wheel with the Penske machines that had won six straight ALMS events overall. At the start, Franchitti gave the front-running Porsche of Romain Dumas a strong bid for the lead before an electrical malfunction on the No. 26 Acura hurt his chances for the top position. After an hour of dicing inches apart from the Penske car, Franchitti’s machine developed a glitch in the dashboard. As a result, the Andretti Green car didn’t have traction control, rev or shift lights throughout the remainder of the race.

But Franchitti and Herta soldiered on to bring the XM Acura back to the podium behind the two Penske Porsches. It was the seventh consecutive overall win for a Penske Porsche, won this time by Timo Bernhard and Dumas.

The No. 15 Lowe’s Fernandez Acura Lola B06/40 ran as high third overall Sunday before a piece of bodywork from another race car slowed the charge of drivers Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez. The errant piece became stuck in the front of the Lowe’s Acura, causing an ill-handling car for part of the race. When the crew removed the part on a pit stop, Fernandez came from eighth to sixth at the finish.

The toughest break of the day fell upon the Highcroft Acura team of Stefan Johansson and David Brabham. Coming off podium finishes at Lime Rock and Road America, the veteran pair looked primed to fight with the Penske Porsches and the AGR Acura Sunday at Mosport. However, Johansson, the former Formula One star and past Le Mans winner, had driven the No. 9 Acura to second overall when his car was struck by a slower GT-2 Porsche in Turn Two. Johansson was able to limp the car back to the pits but the rear suspension damage was too severe to continue the remainder of the race. Despite the DNF, Johansson and Brabham stay third in LMP 2 points.

The next ALMS race is Sept. 1 in Detroit.Bryan Herta (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01a): "I’m really pleased to get back on the podium because it gives us some momentum now. We had some electronic issues and we got a penalty due to those things. Marino [Franchitti] did a fantastic job running with the leaders early in the race. And at the end we had the same pace or better even with those problems. I think we can take a lot of positives out of this race. Every track that we have been able to test ahead of time has been a good one for us. That has been a key to the XM Acura team. We need some more time testing this new car. We didn’t have rev or shift lights, any traction control or dash lights in general. We were missing some things that could have made us a little quicker. But overall I’m pleased with the car, the crew and our pace. I think we’ll have a good car for next week in Detroit."

Marino Franchitti (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01a): "The XM Acura was awesome today. I think we had the measure of the Penske Porsches today. But we had a couple of little electronic issues which took a few laps for me to work out. We lost the dash and other lights but we were keeping [Romain] Dumas honest. I think we actually had a faster car but it is very difficult to pass here. I could have tried but it was early in the race and I didn’t want to force anything with the Porsches. The Acura ARX-01a chassis was fantastic and the AGR guys had the car right on the money today. This is a great team effort to fight some little problems and get back on the podium. I was proud of the job Bryan did with no lights or dash and he fought hard to finish third. We are going to Detroit with renewed optimism."

Credit: Acura Motorsports