Dumas still on top in Saturday practice
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Dumas quickest in his Porsche |
For the second straight session, Penske Racing’s Romain Dumas was the quickest driver at Mosport International Raceway. The French Porsche works pilot toured the 2.459-mile, 10-turn circuit in 1:05.547 (135.054 mph) in the Porsche RS Spyder that he will drive with Timo Bernhard. The LMP2 championship leaders are going for their second straight overall victory at Mosport in the American Le Mans Series.
Dumas, who bettered the track record set in qualifying last year by Audi’s Dindo Capello, was 0.131 seconds quicker than Andretti Green Racing’s James Rossiter in the team’s Acura-ARX 01b that he will drive with Franck Montagny. The top seven drivers were within 0.668 seconds in what was an electric practice session.
The top three cars were LMP2 entries with Patr¢n Highcroft Racing’s Scott Sharp third at 1:05.969 (134.190 mph) in the Acura that he will drive with David Brabham. The duo have won three times in class this season (once overall) and were victorious in P2 at Road America two weeks ago.
Intersport Racing’s Jon Field went quickest in LMP1 at 1:05.984 (134.160 mph) in the team’s E85-powered Lola B06/10-AER. Field will drive with son Clint and Richard Berry as Intersport outran the two factory Audi R10 TDIs. The diesel prototype of Capello and Emanuele Pirro turned in a time of 1:06.108 (133.908 mph), which was 0.383 seconds better than the sister car of Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr.
Their car is a different chassis than what tested Friday after the tub was damaged when a piece of the track surface broke away at Turn 4. The stone made a significant dent in the tub at the front-left portion of the chassis. Being Audi, of course, the team had a spare and put the car together overnight and went through technical inspections first thing this morning.
In GT1, Johnny O’Connell was quickest Saturday morning – just as he was Friday – in the Corvette C6.R that he will drive with Jan Magnussen. O’Connell’s time of 1:14.550 (118.774 mph) was 0.321 seconds quicker than the sister Corvette Racing entry of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin. Gavin went off at Turn 2 and hard into the tire wall. The damage appeared to be relatively minor with work to be done on the right front wheel and front bodywork.
Bell Motorsports’ Aston Martin DBR9 was third quickest in GT1 with the car of Terry Borcheller and Chapman Ducote at 1:19.271 (111.673 mph).
Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo went fastest again in GT2 with a lap of 1:17.628 (114.036 mph) in the Ferrari F430 GT that he will share with Mika Salo. The pairing won in class last year and are searching for their first Series win this season.
The Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jörg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler were second in class at 1:17.912 (113.620 mph), just 0.017 seconds ahead of Tafel Racing’s Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher. The championship standings have a similar order with the Lizard pairing leading Tafel’s drivers by 7 points.