24 Hours of Le Mans

ALMS Road America - Race Report - Second Hour

© American Le Mans Series

The second hour at Road America started with the green flag being waved. Jon Field in the Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 AER was still ahead of the #7 Penske and #20 Dyson Porsches, but the two Audi R10s were already closing in rapidly.

In GT2 the Panoz Team PTG #21 Panoz Esperante was passed by the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari. Not having made his pit stop the car was to drop down the order soon as two Lizards Porsches closed in rapidly.

Sixty-seven minutes into the race the two Audi drivers closed the gap to the Intersport Racing Lola. After 25 laps Luhr was only half a second behind Field, with Pirro about 2.3 seconds behind the pair. Two laps later Luhr had managed to overtake Field and left it to Pirro to hunt down Field and make it an Audi 1-2 again. Field however did not give up easily.

Tim Pappas came into the pit after he had completed 26 laps. The Black Swan Racing Ford GT lost a mirror and was called in to have it replaced.

The race escaped another full course yellow when Ryan Lewis, who was setting impressive times before, went off at the Carousel. Fortunately for the British driver he was able to get the Lola B06/10 AER back on track and into pit lane. Ryan Lewis overshot his pit box and stopped where the #37 of Jon Field was supposed to come in. The #30 was quickly pushed back as Jon Field came in. Clint Field took over from his father and left the pit shortly after, while John Faulkner took over from Ryan Lewis in a pit stop that took a bit longer as the team checked the car for any damage.

In GT2 it was still the Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT2 leading, two Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3 RSRs were chasing him with the #45 in second place and the #46 in third place. After leading for a short while the Panoz Team PTG car came in twice, one for a pit stop and one for a stop-and-go after too many people worked on the car.

Halfway through the second hour Lucas Luhr was still leading Emanuele Pirro. Third place overall and leading LMP2 was the Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura of Luis Diaz, which was lapping quickly.

Twenty-two minutes remaining in the second hour the second series of pit stops started. First the #2 Audi R10 of Lucas Luhr came in for a pit stop, immediately followed by Emanuele Pirro. As the Audi Sport North America team put fuel in and new tires on the cars Luis Diaz stayed out and took the lead. Marco Werner took over from Luhr, Fässler from Pirro. After that the lead changed between some LMP2 cars.

After all the prototypes had made their pit stops it was Marco Werner who was back in the lead, 16.5 seconds ahead of Marcel Fässler. Fernandez was back in third. Only ten minutes were left until the half way point of the race, with the sun setting and a car going extremely wide at the Carousel.

Werner and Fässler kept setting quick times, getting further away from the LMP2 cars. Fortunately there were no full course cautions during this second hour and the racing was fair and square.

At the two hour mark it was still an Audi 1-2. The #2 was just over 25 seconds ahead of the #1. The Fernandez Acura was first in LMP2 and third overall at just over 35 seconds from the leader. The #7 Penske Porsche RS Spyder was second in LMP2 with the #20 Dyson Racing Porsche RS Spyder in third.
Corvette had a 1-2 in GT1 with the #4 leading the #3, both cars having a big lead over the #008 Aston Martin DBR9. In GT2 the #87 Farnbacher Loles was in the lead, ahead of the #62 Risi Ferrari and the #45 Flying Lizards Porsche.