Lime Rock ALMS: Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf continue Pickett's streak
Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf clinched their third successive American Le Mans Series win of the season under difficult conditions at Lime Rock
Warm temperatures of around 35 degrees Celsius took their toll on several drivers who required medical attention upon completing their stints through exhaustion and dehydration.
Over-eagerness caused poleman Luhr to force a restart at the beginning of the race, which Chris Dyson took full advantage of in the Dyson Racing Lola to lead during the opening phase.
Luhr was relentless in his pursuit and finally put his Pickett Racing HPD back into the lead on lap 57 when he overtook Dyson under braking into Turn 1.
From there, Luhr romped off into the distance and his charge to victory - which team-mate Klaus Graf took once they swapped driver responsibilities in the last hour - was made easier as the Dyson crew encountered difficulties during their first pitstop.
The team - celebrating its 30th anniversary at Lime Rock - had to assist Guy Smith after the hour mark when the Brit's sealtbelts became tangled after Dyson left the cockpit, causing the duo to lose several laps as a result.
Ryan Briscoe took LMP2 honours for Level 5 Motorsport, although this is under scrutiny after he rear-ended race-long class leader Guy Cosmo into the barriers on the penultimate lap.
The Extreme Speed Motorsports driver still managed to finish second in his battered HPD.
Bruno Junquiera and Duncan Ende drove a fautless race for RSR Racing and emerged LMPC winners, with Jonathan Bennett and Colin Braun's CORE ORECA always in hot pursuit and coming home second.
The GT categories were typically action-packed. Class of the field was Dirk Muller, who secured GT victory in the BMW Z4 alongside John Edwards, while Nelson Canache Jr and Spencer Pumpelly converted their GTC pole into victory with a similar sublime drive.
Results - 184 laps: Pos Cl Driver Team Time/Gap 1. P1 Graf/Luhr Pickett HPD 2h45m41.407s 2. P1 Dyson/Smith Dyson Lola-Mazda + 6 laps 3. P2 Briscoe/Tucker Level 5 HPD + 6 laps 4. P2 Sharp/Cosmo Extreme Speed HPD + 6 laps 5. PC Junqueira/Ende RSR FLM + 7 laps 6. PC Braun/Bennett CORE FLM + 7 laps 7. P2 Franchitti/Tucker Level 5 HPD + 8 laps 8. PC Nunez/Booth Performance Tech FLM + 8 laps 9. P2 Brown/van Overbeek Extreme Speed HPD + 8 laps 10. PC Marcelli/Cumming BAR1 FLM + 9 laps 11. PC Schultis/van der Zande DragonSpeed FLM + 10 laps 12. PC Guasch/Cheng PR1 FLM + 12 laps 13. GT Edwards/Muller RLL BMW + 12 laps 14. GT Garcia/Magnussen Corvette + 12 laps 15. GT Long/Kimber-Smith CORE Porsche + 12 laps 16. GT Martin/Auberlen RLL BMW + 13 laps 17. GT Wittmer/Bomarito SRT Viper + 13 laps 18. GT Gavin/Milner Corvette + 13 laps 19. PC Mitchell/Drissi BAR1 FLM + 14 laps 20. GT Miller/Holzer Falken Porsche + 15 laps 21. GT Sellers/Henzler Falken Porsche + 15 laps 22. GT Bell/Sweedler West/AJR Ferrari + 16 laps 23. GTC Pumpelly/Canche Flying Lizard Porsche + 20 laps 24. GTC Heylen/Hedlund JDX Porsche + 22 laps 25. GTC Faulkner/Keating TRG Porsche + 23 laps 26. GTC Stanton/Ostella TRG Porsche + 23 laps 27. GTC Neiman/von Moltke Flying Lizard Porsche + 25 laps 28. GTC Dempsey/Lally Dempsey Porsche + 26 laps Retirements: GT Beretta/Malucelli Risi Ferrari 167 laps GTC Bleekemolen/MacNeil Alex Job Porsche 159 laps GTC Armindo/Cisneros NGT Porsche 145 laps P1 Meyrick/Legge DeltaWing 102 laps GT Farnbacher/Goosens SRT Viper 25 laps
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