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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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