De Ferran and Pagenaud continue to dominate ALMS

Pagenaud and de Ferran celebrate

After a rookie season of near-misses, it’s starting to look like de Ferran Motorsports can do no wrong. Simon Pagenaud and Gil de Ferran won again in the American Le Mans Series, their third straight on the year, in the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on Saturday.

Pagenaud crossed the finish line in his Acura ARX-02a 43.776 seconds ahead of David Brabham, who appeared to be on his way to a second straight Lime Rock victory with Patr¢n Highcroft Racing teammate Scott Sharp. A punctured tire with 13 minutes left ended those hopes.

De Ferran and Pagenaud haven’t lost since the St. Petersburg street race in early April.

“We started in the middle of last year; not only do we have a steep learning curve in sports cars, but we started a team from scratch," said team owner de Ferran. “We are just over a year old, and we really used these last two months to our advantage. I am quite happy about the evolution of the team. We had a little good fortune today. But it was good. We had a good race."

It was a fantastic battle between the two Acuras. More often than not, things were nip-and-tuck between the two around the tight and twisty track and through the traffic. Patr¢n Highcroft seemed to be in ideal position to repeat last year’s maiden overall victory by taking fuel and left-side tires only during its last scheduled stop. The move allowed Brabham to get out of the pits before Pagenaud, who pitted two laps earlier, came around.

Twenty minutes later, Brabham pitted to replace rear tires and Pagenaud blew by.

“I honestly didn’t have the pace to come back on him," Pagenaud said. ““I am going to remember this race forever. I think my heart rate was at maximum all race because of the traffic and the ending."

Dyson Lola-Mazda

Dyson Racing won for the first time in the Series since 2005 as Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti broke a four-race victory streak for Lowe’s Fernandez Racing and Acura in the class. Franchitti moved ahead of Luis Diaz five minutes into the race, and the Lola-Mazda coupe gained valuable laps when the Acura pitted to replace its rear shock and also experienced downshift problems.

By the time Adrian Fernandez rejoined the race, Franchitti led by six laps.

“I don’t think we could have picked a better place (for the first win in the Lola-Mazda)," said Franchitti, who won for the first time in the Series. “It was a combination of a lot of hard work for both cars I have been so close, either overall or in class, it is really a sweet victory. I’m getting a sore face from grinning."

There wasn’t much grinning with about five minutes to go. Leitzinger gave the team a late scare with a brief stall when he had to avoid a spinning GT2 car. The Lola-Mazda’s clutch also malfunctioned early in the race, and Leitzinger had to restart the car following pit stops and after the stall on battery power.

“What a fantastic starter motor," quipped Leitzinger, who was part of the team’s victory at Mosport four years ago, also in a Lola chassis. “It felt a little destined to win today. When the car spun out in front of me and then we didn’t have a clutch, trying to go uphill, I thought it was over. But this is how it was going to go and it really was a great day. Marino did a stellar job. It is the first of many for him. I am very proud to drive with him. We are happy to be a part of his first win."

It was Mazda’s first class victory in the Series since Mid-Ohio in 2005 when Guy Cosmo and Jamie Bach won in a Mazda rotary-powered Courage in P2.

Fernandez and Diaz placed second in class Saturday. Gunnar van der Steur and Adam Pecorari placed third in van der Steur Racing’s Radical SR9-AER, the first race for the team since St. Petersburg last year.

Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR

Jörg Bergmeister won in GT2 for the fourth straight year as he and Patrick Long extended their class victory streak to four races. The Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, a new tub since its last race at Utah, won by a lap over Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer – the reigning Le Mans class winners – in their Ferrari F430 GT.

“I think I’m with the right team and the right teammates," Bergmeister said of his Lime Rock dominance. “The new car was really performing well. I got in the car with an 18-second lead and tried to maintain that gap. Jaime was pushing really hard before they received a penalty (for speeding in pit lane). Then the guys told me I could take it a little easier.

I wouldn’t say it’s a typical Porsche track. You saw how well the Ferrari was in qualifying and I think it’s fairly even here. There are other tracks that are much better for the Porsche. Just before warm-up we made a change with the differential and I think that’s why we had such a good car."

Long made what turned out to be the winning pass barely a half-hour in. The two cars ran nose-to-tail from the start and also mixed it up with BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team’s two BMW M3s as well. America’s lone Porsche factory driver had been pushing Kaffer’s Ferrari for a number of laps and was never more than a half-second behind.

The Lizard car also gained nearly a full lap on the wave-by during the race’s lone caution period.

“If you read the finishing order over the last few races, it may look like we’re walking away with the show. But there are so many cars that are giving us really tough challenges," Long said. “I knew I had a race car that could not only lead the race but pull away as well. The first time we got among the Challenge cars and then through some prototypes, I knew it was going to be fantastic."

BMW Rahal Letterman Racing’s Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand placed third in class with their BMW M3, the pairing’s first podium of the year.

Bob Faieta and Wesley Hoaglund won the Challenge class in their Gruppe Orange Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry. They appeared headed for a runner-up finish before the leading Snow Racing Porsche suffered a failed starter on its last stop.

“I lost radio contact and didn’t know what was going on. So I just drove as hard as I could," said Faieta, the class pole-winner Friday. “I kept seeing them in the pitlane.

“The track is tight and technical but you couldn’t ask for a better race track," he added. The weather was awesome, the track was great. Gruppe Orange put together a great team. Traffic really wasn’t an issue. These guys are so professional that they never put me in a bad spot."

The only adjustment the team made to the car was a minor swaybar adjustment Friday. Aside from that, a one-minute penalty for Hoaglund working on the car (he didn’t know that was illegal) was the only problem the Gruppe Orange car experienced.

“One of the airjacks didn’t work so I tried to pick the car up, not knowing that I couldn’t work on it," Hoaglund said. “So a 60-second penalty later, I thought I had given away our first win. But our spotters did a great job; they’re an experienced group and really served us well."

ORBIT Racing’s Ed Brown and Bill Sweedler were second in class, with a second Gruppe Orange entry of Nick Parker and Donald Pickering in third.

In the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge, the de Ferran Acura was the winner among the prototype entries for the third consecutive race. The Flying Lizard Porsche won the trophy for GT cars for the second time this season. The revolutionary competition awards teams and manufacturers who have the greatest overall performance with the smallest environmental impact.

The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The race is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, August 8. The race will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 9 on ABC. American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche and Live Timing & Scoring will be available at Racehub on americanlemans.com. You also can follow the Series on Twitter (almsnotes).

The race also will mark the sixth round of the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. Tickets are available at americanlemans.com and midohio.com.

QUOTES

GIL de FERRAN (#66 XM Radio de Ferran Acura ARX-02a): "This win is very good for our team. Coming back from a two-month layoff, we wanted to have a solid race. I give the Patr¢n Highcroft team a lot of credit for their effort today. They made a tremendous call on the last stop but they had some tough luck. Our XM Acura was strong throughout my stint. I made a mistake and hit the pit speed limiter and got hit by one of the Mazdas. It hurt the car’s handling a little, but we had a good pit stop to hold the lead in the middle of the race. I haven’t had three wins in a row since 1992 in Formula Three, so this is a great feeling right now. And we are going to Mid-Ohio, which I really like as a racing circuit. We will be ready again."

SIMON PAGENAUD (#66 XM Radio de Ferran Acura ARX-02a): “It is very exciting to win our third in a row. But it definitely wasn't easy today. The Patr¢n Highcroft team was right with us. On my final pit stop, we took on four tires because the track surface had a lot of dirt and loose bits on it. It was easy to slide around. But I don’t know if I could have caught David [Brabham] in the end before he had his problem. I was afraid of the same thing happening to me with the stuff on the track. Overall, the XM Acura was very fast and it is great to keep our winning streak going.“

DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Patr¢n Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-02a): "We had talked about making a late stop just for two tires and it was going to work to perfection. Unfortunately, I felt a vibration in the rear and then the whole car just dropped down to the ground in the last turn. I was going flat-out. That could have been scary. But I pitted quickly for a new tire. I think we had a good pace today to race against Gil’s team. We just didn’t get the luck we needed. I feel good about our team for Mid-Ohio."

SCOTT SHARP (#9 Patr¢n Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-02a): “Traffic played such a key role in the race today. Early on in my stint, I was getting really held up by the slower cars. Gil was able to pull away from me. But as the race went on, our Acura was getting better and I was able to close in on Gil. I think I might have been faster late in the run, but the team wanted me to play it safely. So, I waited and pitted pretty close to the de Ferran car. It was tough luck today, because the Patr¢n Highcroft team made a superb call with strategy. We just didn't get a break when we needed it."

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ (#15 Lowe’s Fernandez Acura ARX-01b): “This was our first mechanical problem of the year. We have been very strong all year. Even with the problem, we finished strong and never gave up and I think that speaks well about the team. When you are a few laps down, you try not to take chances and just stay away from trouble. My congratulations to the Dyson team. It is nice for them to win at their home track. We picked some points today towards the championship. We didn’t win but we still proved that we are a strong team and that we never give up."

LUIS DIAZ (#15 Lowe’s Fernandez Acura ARX-01b): “It was a tough race for us. We didn’t have as consistent of a car in the race as we would have liked, but at least we finished. I was struggling with traffic more than the Dyson guys so we need to keep working. At least we were being smart and trying to get some points and that’s a good thing. I was struggling quite a bit at the start. We were hoping that we would have a better car with older tires but that didn’t happen. On the gearbox issue, it got stuck in sixth gear. We did all the procedures that we could to try to fix that on the race track but, unfortunately, it was not an electrical issue. It was a mechanical issue."

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