Graf and Luhr win in American Le Mans Series' closest ever finish
Muscle Milk Lola-Aston Martin duo Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr inched closer to Dyson's Guy Smith and Chris Dyson in the American Le Mans Series title race by taking their fourth win of the year in the Road America round
Though the Lola-Aston had looked comfortable in the lead in the middle section of the four-hour event, the Dyson Lola-Mazda had a second wind in Smith's hands in the last half hour and put Graf under huge pressure through the final laps. Despite some close calls in traffic as the clock ticked down, Graf was able to hang on and triumph by just 0.112 seconds - the closest ever overall margin of victory in the ALMS.
The opening stint had seen a superb performance from ALMS rookie Steven Kane, who thrust Dyson's #20 car past Graf on the opening lap, and led the opening hour - successfully retaliating when the Lola-Aston got ahead on an early restart.
Kane's inexperienced team-mate Humaid Al Masaood then lost ground when he took over the car, and was delayed in the pits with a water leak before eventually crashing out.
Third overall went to Butch Leitzinger and Rudy Junco as they gave PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports its maiden LMPC class win, beating the #63 Genoa car.
The Ferrari F458 Italia claimed its first ALMS win as Risi's Toni Vilander and Jaime Melo emerged from a typically close-fought GT contest, passing the #55 BMW of Dirk Werner and Bill Auberlen late on.
The #56 BMW had led the opening stages and ended up third, as Dirk Muller overtook the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche with just a few minutes remaining. The #4 car was the best of the Corvettes in fifth, just ahead of the Falken Porsche, having survived an early tangle with the Risi Ferrari as they exited their first pitstops, while the sister car retired with crash damage after a spin by Tommy Milner.
A dramatic GTC class finish saw Jeroen Bleekemolen move from third to first in the Black Swan car he shares with Tim Pappas in the final few laps, beating the #66 TRG car, while erstwhile leader Sean Edwards (NGT) slowed with a puncture.
Results - 107 laps:
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap
1. P1 Luhr/Graf Muscle Milk Lola-Aston 4h01m47.255s
2. P1 Dyson/Smith Dyson Lola-Mazda + 0.112s
3. PC Junco/Leitzinger PR1 Mathiasen FLM + 3 laps
4. PC Lux/Zugel/Julian Genoa FLM + 3 laps
5. P2 Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz Level 5 Lola-Honda + 4 laps
6. PC Bennett/Montecalvo CORE FLM + 4 laps
7. P1 Burgess/McMurry Autocon Lola-AER + 4 laps
8. PC Field/Ducote/Ducote Intersport FLM + 5 laps
9. PC Jeannette/Gonzalez CORE FLM + 5 laps
10. GT Melo/Vilander Risi Ferrari + 6 laps
11. GT Auberlen/Werner BMW + 6 laps
12. GT Muller/Hand BMW + 6 laps
13. GT Bergmeister/Long Flying Lizard Porsche + 6 laps
14. GT Gavin/Magnussen Corvette + 6 laps
15. GT Henzler/Sellers Falken Porsche + 6 laps
16. PC Nicolosi/Boon/Marcelli Performance Tech FLM + 6 laps
17. GT Miller/Maassen Miller Porsche + 6 laps
18. GT Sharp/van Overbeek Extreme Speed Ferrari + 6 laps
19. GT Neiman/Holzer Flying Lizard Porsche + 7 laps
20. GT Murry/Lazzaro Robertson Doran Ford + 7 laps
21. GT Brown/Cosmo Extreme Speed Ferrari + 7 laps
22. GT Robertson/Snow Robertson Doran Ford + 10 laps
23. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen Black Swan Porsche + 11 laps
24. GTC Ende/Pumpelly TRG Porsche + 11 laps
25. GTC Edwards/Kauffmann/Cisneros NGT Porsche + 11 laps
26. GTC Sofronas/Welch GMG Porsche + 12 laps
27. GTC LeSaffre/van Lagen Black Swan Porsche + 14 laps
28. GTC von Moltke/di Guida TRG Porsche + 15 laps
29. GTC Hansson/Farnbacher Napleton Porsche + 16 laps
Retirements:
PC Field/French/Marsal Intersport FLM 89 laps
GT Jones/Moran RSR Jaguar 83 laps
GT Beretta/Milner Corvette 77 laps
P1 Al Masaood/Kane Dyson Lola-Mazda 62 laps
GTC Ham/Thompson Porsche 60 laps
GT Junqueira/Wilden RSR Jaguar 9 laps
GTC Sweedler/Wong Porsche 2 laps
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