American Le Mans Series

Patrón Highcroft Racing wins at Long Beach

© American Le Mans Series

Simon Pagenaud and David Brabham won the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach for Patrón Highcroft Racing. The HPD ARX-01c drivers beat the Aston Martin Racing Lola of Harold Primat and Adrian Fernandez in an interesting duel on the streets of Long Beach, California. A duel that was only decided in the final lap.

Harold Primat and Chris Dyson were the first two drivers to come through turn 1 after the start. All cars stayed clear of the wall and the opening minutes of the race went by without a problem.

Five minutes into the race though the first full course caution was a fact when Tom Papadopoulos put the number 52 FLM09 car into the wall at turn 6. Papadopoulos managed to get back to the pit, where the car was retired from the race.

At 4.50 pm the green flag was waved but it only lasted for a lap as it was Chris Dyson who parked his Dyson Racing Lola B09/86 Mazda in the wall at the first corner. The second full course caution would last ten minutes.

On the restart Jon Field in the number 37 Intersport Racing Lola passed Harold Primat and Field managed to create a gap to the cars behind him. Half an hour into the race he was some eight seconds ahead of the Aston Martin Racing car. By then Hildebrand was leading in the LMPC class, Henzler’s Team Falken Tire Porsche was first in GT with the GMG Racing Porsche leading the GTC class.

While losing ground to Field Harold Primat saw the HPD ARX-01c of David Brabham getting closer on each lap. 39 minutes into the race the two cars made contact at turn 8, sending the Aston Martin into the tires. Brabham moved into second place, but had to come into the pit for a stop-and-go for avoidable contact a lap later. Primat continued, but his car suffered left rear bodywork damage.

Olivier Beretta in the GT2 Corvette suffered bodywork problems around the same time and came into pit after 45 minutes where the team removed the loose bodywork off. Meanwhile Darren Law stopped out on the track at turn 10 and just a minute later Paul Gentilozzi brought the Jaguar in with problems.

The third full course caution started at 5:32 when Harold Primat went straight into the run off at turn 1 and the yellow flag was waved for what officially was debris on track. When the pits reopened 5 minutes later most teams came in for their pit stop and driver change. Ken Davis (Autocon Lola) and Jonny Cocker (Drayson Lola) had problems leaving the pit.

With just over 30 minutes left in the race the green flag was shown and the race was restarted. Ricardo Gonzalez and David Robertson came in for a stop-and-go one lap later, while Oliver Gavin came in twice with mirror problems.

Just before six o’clock Clint Field had to come in again as the team suspected a fuel cell leak, the car did not return to the track. Simon Pagenaud took the lead, almost five seconds ahead of the Aston Martin Racing Lola of Adrian Fernandez. Gunnar Jeannette was the leader in LMPC; Milner had meanwhile taken the lead in GT with AJR first and second in GTC.

Ten minutes before the end of the race Jonny Cocker had an on-track incident with a Porsche and the Drayson Racing Lola had to come in to the pit where the rear bodywork was replaced, as well as some front bodywork.

The battle for victory heated up in the final minutes. Five minutes before the end of the race Fernandez had closed the gap to Pagenaud and into turn 1 the Mexican passed the Patron Highcroft Racing car to take the overall lead.
The two cars remained close to each other and going into the last lap Fernandez was still leading. However, at turn 5 he went wide and Pagenaud managed to pass the Lola Aston Martin again.

Pagenaud would not make a mistake and crossed the finish line in first place, just 0.353 seconds ahead of Adrian Fernandez.
Patrick Long managed to pass the BMW in his stint and took the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche to first in the GT class.
Green Earth Team Gunnar and the number 81 Alex Job Racing Porsche won their respective classes.