Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
American LeMans
ALMS: Lime Rock Preview
GT title race heats up in Northeast
John Dagys  |  Posted July 22, 2010   Lakeville, CT
The highly competitive GT division has often stolen the headlines in the American Le Mans Series as of late. (Dan Boyd/LAT)
With a depleted prototype field, the GT class has often taken center stage this year in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron. And what a battle it has been.

As seen two weeks ago in Salt Lake City, the gloves have come off in the hotly contested GT championship. Risi Competizione’s Jamie Melo and Gimmi Bruni scored a convincing victory, propelling the Ferrari duo to the top of the point standings.

But the fight is far from over. Three different driving squads sit within 13 points of Melo and Bruni heading into Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. And with only a two-point cushion over the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, GT is currently the closest title race out there.
Jamie Melo and Gimmi Bruni now lead the GT race and are joined by Pierre Kaffer (M) and Mika Salo this weekend in Risi Competizione's second Ferrari. (LAT)

The defending class champions saw their two-race win streak come to an end in Utah after being delayed by two punctures in the two-hour and 45-minute contest. Bergmeister and Long settled for a fifth place finish, losing their point lead in the process.

The bad luck from the Lizard’s also benefited the BMW camp, as BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team jumped to the lead in the team and manufacturer standings with second and fourth place finishes in the desert.

In fact, it appears the battle for GT honors has become as much of a war amongst teams as it has been for manufacturers. For the second consecutive race, Ferrari has brought in reinforcement, with Risi Competizione again fielding a second F430 GT, this time for drivers Mika Salo and Pierre Kaffer.

The duo, who are no strangers to success within the Houston-based organization, will likely be playing a similar role that Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander had at Utah, and that’s to support the Risi’s point-leading car.

And with only three points separating BMW from Ferrari from Porsche in the manufacturers’ race, having an extra Prancing Horse in the field can also help the Italian brand in its championship quest.

The surprise of the GT class this year has been the relative lack of pace from the Corvettes. Embarking on its first full-season with its GT2-spec Corvette C6.Rs, the Pratt & Miller organization came close to tasting its first victory of the year at Le Mans but suffered a double engine failure in the 24-hour classic.

The cruel luck continued at Utah, when electrical problems delayed the No. 4 machine of Olivier Beretta early in the race, while the No. 3 machine suffered a pit infraction, resulting in a third place finish.
After two consecutive mechanical failures while running in podium contention, will Dyson Racing's luck turn around at their home track of Lime Rock?

With Corvette Racing almost on the verge of being knocked out of the championship hunt, a breakthrough win on Saturday would help put the team back in the race. Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen are the highest of the two Corvettes, trailing Melo and Bruni by 22 points.

But don’t count out BMW, as the Bimmers have a new weapon this weekend in the form of updated bodywork. Developed on the full ACO-spec E92 M3s which compete in Europe, the revised aerodynamic package isn’t likely to have a massive effect on the two BMW RLR entries, but could be all that’s needed for the Ohio-based team to score its first victory of 2010.

The biggest challenge for all competitors, though, will likely be traffic. Despite the 30-car field being the smallest this season, the 1.5-mile Connecticut bullring is also the shortest circuit, and arguably one of the most unforgiving tracks the series visits.

For LMP teams, the focus will be to stay out of trouble. Coming off their third consecutive victory in Utah, Patron Highcroft Racing’s HPD ARX-01c should be right at home, figuratively and physically.

The team from nearby Danbury, Conn. has fond memories of Lime Rock, as it was site of their first overall victory in 2008. David Brabham has since gone onto capture six additional wins, including the last three this season with co-driver Simon Pagenaud.

There’s no doubt Brabham and Pagenaud will be tough to beat again. Their closest competition will likely come from Team CytoSport and Dyson Racing, both also with LMP2-spec cars.

Klaus Graf holds onto second in the title race, trailing the Highcroft duo by 11 points. With Chris Dyson in third, a further 20 points adrift, it appears the Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder could be the only challenger to the championship that was almost Highcroft’s from the very beginning.

Drayson Racing’s Lola B09/60 Judd and Intersport Racing’s Lola B06/10 AER will struggle to be on similar form of two weeks ago, with the tight and twisty circuit favoring the lighter and more nimble prototypes from Highcroft, CytoSport and Dyson.

The LMPC championship race is nearly a mirror-image of LMP. Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut seek their fourth victory of the season after coming off another dominating win in Utah.
With two of AJR's three Porsches not here this weekend, Orbit Racing and TRG are likely to contend for GTC class honors. (John Dagys)

If there’s anyone able to stop the duo, it’s Gunnar Jeannette, who sits 11 points back in third. The Green Earth Team Gunnar Oreca FLM09, which has one win to its credit, will again be co-driven by Elton Julian as Christian Zugel moves over to Genoa Racing’s entry for this race, pairing with Tom Sedivy.

The game of musical chairs doesn’t stop there, as Tom Papadopoulos rejoins PR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports, replacing Max Hyatt in the No. 52 machine with Alex Figge, who makes his second LMPC start.

While there’s been a few driver changes in LMPC, it’s nothing compared to level of developments that have unfolded in GTC over the past week. In a shocking move, Alex Job Racing has withdrawn two of its three Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars for the remainder of the season, including the team which was comfortably leading the title race.

Butch Leitzinger and Juan Gonzalez had a 13-point lead in the drivers’ standings heading into this weekend’s round, but both the No. 81 car and the sister No. 80 machine of Luis Diaz and Ricardo Gonzalez have been parked.

Whatever the reason may have been, the bottom line is that GTC has lost two of its most competitive entries. However, it’s opened the door for other teams, such as the Black Swan Racing Porsche, to creep closer to the championship.


Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen are fresh from their second consecutive class victory at Utah and now pose as title favorites, despite missing the first round at Sebring. The Black Swan duo sit seven points away from TRG’s Andy Lally and Henri Richard, who are theoretically now at the top.

With four races down and five more to go, the battles will certainly be brewing this weekend, not only in GT, but in all four categories.

Practice kicks off on Friday, followed by qualifying, live on SPEED.com starting at 4:05 p.m. ET. The Northeast Grand Prix gets the green flag, Saturday at 2 p.m. ET (Live, SPEED).

Play! SPEED Fantasy Racing and Super 7 Sweep
john_dagys's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dagys

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.