Aston Martin Racing wins at Laguna Seca while Guy Smith and Chris Dyson claim title
Stefan Mucke, Adrian Fernandez and Harold Primat gave Aston Martin Racing a boost in what has been a miserable season by winning the American Le Mans Series' six-hour race at Laguna Seca
Dyson Racing's Chris Dyson and Guy Smith clinched the LMP1 title with second place, despite some late dramas for their co-driver Jay Cochran looking like they might delay the championship celebration.
It was an extremely eventful day for the #16 Dyson crew, starting when a failure in the warm-up led to a pre-race engine change completed in just under one and a half hours.
Dyson then led from pole, until his car fell off the pace eight minutes in and tumbled to fourth behind Mucke, the sister Dyson Lola-Mazda driven by Butch Leitzinger, and Lucas Luhr's Muscle Milk Lola-Aston Martin.
Leitzinger battled to the front and started pulling away, while the two Lola-Astons diced with each other in his wake, twice making contact along the way - with the second of these incidents earning Luhr a penalty.
The #16 Dyson car stayed on the lead lap and got back up to speed, allowing Smith to jump to the front with a rapid second pitstop just before the one and a half hour mark. Smith would then pull away through the middle of the race, while Luhr clawed his way back onto the lead lap after his penalty only for the Muscle Milk car to develop an engine issue that required over an hour back in the garage before it was resolved - ending the team's title hopes.
Cochran could not maintain Smith's pace when he took over for the final stint, and he was reeled in and overtaken by Mucke. He then gave the team a scare by first collecting a puncture with contact in traffic, then by spinning and getting beached at the Corkscrew. But he was able to regain second place when the sister car - which had fallen back during Humaid Al Masaood's stint - made a series of late pit visits that dropped it back to third.
The GT title was also resolved in favour of Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW drivers Joey Hand and Dirk Muller, who were part of a fiercely-contested three-way battle with the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long and the Risi Ferrari of Jaime Melo and Toni Vilander.
Flying Lizard finally took its first win of the year with a last lap move on the Ferrari as it ran short on fuel, with the BMW pair also slipping through on the run to the line to clinch the class title in second. The Risi car was later penalised for making contact with the Flying Lizard car on the last lap, giving Extreme Speed Ferrari duo Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek a class podium.
Top GT car on the road at the flag was Porsche's experimental hybrid. Romain Dumas and Richard Lietz chose to sit out qualifying at the back before tearing through the field.
Elton Julian (Genoa) and Gunnar Jeanette (CORE Autosport) also tussled all the way to the flag in the LMPC contest, with Julian ultimately beating his rival by just 0.329 seconds.
GTC saw a close finish too, as TRG's Spencer Pumpelly moved past Jeroen Bleekemolen's Black Swan car four minutes from the flag to take the class win.
Results - 248 laps:
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap
1. P1 Fernandez/Primat/Mucke AMR Lola-Aston 6h01m02.936s
2. P1 Dyson/Smith/Cochran Dyson Lola-Mazda + 3 laps
3. P1 Al Masaood/Kane/Leitzinger Dyson Lola-Mazda + 3 laps
4. P2 Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz Level 5 HPD + 7 laps
5. PC Lux/Julian/Guasch Genoa FLM + 7 laps
6. PC Jeannette/Gonzalez/Junco CORE Autosport FLM + 7 laps
7. PC Ducote/Ducote/Marcelli Intersport FLM + 9 laps
8. PC Bennett/Montecalvo/Wallace CORE Autosport FLM + 9 laps
9. PC Moro/Drissi/Vera Intersport FLM + 11 laps
10. UNC Dumas/Lietz Porsche Hybrid + 12 laps
11. GT Bergmeister/Long Flying Lizard Porsche + 12 laps
12. GT Muller/Hand RLL BMW + 12 laps
13. GT Sharp/van Overbeek Extreme Speed Ferrari + 12 laps
14. GT Auberlen/Werner RLL BMW + 12 laps
15. GT Gavin/Magnussen Corvette + 12 laps
16. GT Melo/Vilander Risi Ferrari + 12 laps
17. PC Nicolosi/Boon/Lueders Performance Tech FLM + 13 laps
18. GT Beretta/Milner Corvette + 13 laps
19. PC Dobson/Richard/Villeneuve PR1 Mathiasen FLM + 16 laps
20. GT Brown/Cosmo Extreme Speed Ferrari + 17 laps
21. GT Neiman/Holzer Flying Lizard Porsche + 18 laps
22. GT Miller/Maassen Miller Porsche + 24 laps
23. GTC Ende/Pumpelly/Ludwig TRG Porsche + 26 laps
24. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen/Bleekemolen Black Swan Porsche + 26 laps
25. GTC LeSaffre/Faulkner Green Hornet Porsche + 27 laps
26. P1 Burgess/McMurry/Willman Autocon Lola-AER + 28 laps
27. GTC Sweedler/Wong/Lewis Alex Job Porsche + 28 laps
28. GTC Sofronas/Welch GMG Porsche + 28 laps
29. GTC von Moltke/Buckler/di Guida TRG Porsche + 32 laps
30. GTC Ragginger/Kauffmann/Cisnero NGT Porsche + 33 laps
31. GTC Ham/Thompson/Blackett JDX Porsche + 35 laps
32. P1 Luhr/Graf Muscle Milk Lola-Aston + 48 laps
Retirements:
GT Junqueira/Wilden RSR Jaguar 186 laps
GT Henzler/Sellers Falken Porsche 101 laps
GTC Avenatti/Faieta/Wagner Competition Porsche 96 laps
GT Jones/Moran RSR Jaguar 5 laps
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