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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