Laguna Seca ALMS: Pickett's Luhr/Graf beat Rebellion's Heidfeld/Jani
Pickett HPD duo Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr came out on top in a race-long duel with Nick Heidfeld and Neel Jani's Rebellion Lola-Toyota to win the four-hour American Le Mans Series event at Laguna Seca
The two cars swapped the lead both on track and in the pitlane numerous times during the race, but the crucial moment came when they made contact in the final hour.
Luhr and Jani came together in traffic at Turn 3, giving the Rebellion Lola a left-front puncture.
The race officials were satisfied that the incident did not merit a penalty, leaving Luhr free to bring the Pickett car home for a second straight victory.
Jani and Heidfeld were still able to take second, too far down the traffic line to make a late bid at a restart with one lap to go after the expiring DeltaWing had prompted a final caution period.
The Dyson Lola-Mazda dropped out with fuel pressure problems.
Level 5 took a one-two in LMP2, Marino Franchitti's car leading home Ryan Briscoe's. Team boss Scott Tucker had stints in both.
The GT fight was typically close, with eight cars still in lead contention at the halfway mark.
Corvette duo Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia ultimately stamped their authority on the race in the final stint, defeating the Bryan Sellers/Wolf Henzler Falken Porsche and the Dirk Muller/John Edwards BMW.
Both one-make classes were decided in last-lap lead changes.
LMPC leader Colin Braun slipped up at the final-lap restart, allowing Luis Diaz, who shared his PR1/Mathiasen car with Mike Guasch, to pounce and snatch the win from the CORE entry.
Andy Lally appeared to have Dempsey/Del Piero's first win wrapped up in GTC, only for Nick Tandy to overtake him at Turn 5 on the last lap, securing victory for the Tandy/Henrique Cisneros NGT Porsche.
Results - 150 laps:
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap
1. P1 Graf/Luhr Pickett HPD 3h59m05.504s
2. P1 Heidfeld/Jani Rebellion Lola-Toyota + 6.352s
3. P2 Tucker/Franchitti Level 5 HPD + 4 laps
4. P2 Tucker/Briscoe Level 5 HPD + 4 laps
5. PC Guasch/Diaz PR1/Mathiasen FLM + 5 laps
6. PC Bennett/Braun CORE FLM + 5 laps
7. PC Nunez/Shears Performance Tech FLM + 6 laps
8. PC Marcelli/Cumming BAR1 FLM + 6 laps
9. GT Magnussen/Garcia Corvette + 8 laps
10. GT Henzler/Sellers Falken Porsche + 8 laps
11. GT Muller/Edwards RLL BMW + 8 laps
12. GT Sweedler/Bell West/AJR Ferrari + 8 laps
13. GT Farnbacher/Goossens SRT Viper + 8 laps
14. PC Schultis/van der Zande 8Star FLM + 8 laps
15. GT Miller/Holzer Miller Porsche + 8 laps
16. P2 Sharp/Cosmo Extreme Speed HPD + 8 laps
17. PC Drissi/Mitchell BAR1 FLM + 9 laps
18. GT Long/Kimber-Smith CORE Porsche + 10 laps
19. GT Beretta/Malucelli Risi Ferrari + 11 laps
20. GTC Cisneros/Tandy NGT Porsche + 13 laps
21. GTC Dempsey/Lally Dempsey/Del Piero Porsche + 13 laps
22. GTC MacNeil/Bleekemolen Alex Job Porsche + 13 laps
23. GTC Keating/Faulkner TRG Porsche + 13 laps
24. GTC Hedlund/Heylen JDX Porsche + 13 laps
25. GTC Avenatti/Davis Dempsey Del Piero Porsche + 13 laps
26. GT Gavin/Milner Corvette + 14 laps
27. GTC Stanton/Novich TRG Porsche + 15 laps
28. GTC Canache/Pumpelly/Neiman Flying Lizard Porsche + 16 laps*
29. PC Junqueira/Ende RSR FLM + 18 laps
30. GTC Ehret/von Moltke Flying Lizard Porsche + 21 laps
31. GTC Ballou/Wagner Competition Porsche + 28 laps
* Not running at finish
Retirements:
P1 Meyrick/Legge DeltaWing 104 laps
GT Auberlen/Martin RLL BMW 85 laps
P2 Brown/van Overbeek Extreme Speed HPD 64 laps
P1 Dyson/Smith Dyson Lola-Mazda 21 laps
GT Bomarito/Wittmer SRT Viper 12 laps
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