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| Lime Rock Race Notes: Multimatic Motorsports |
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One of the most successful cars in endurance racing history, the Audi R8, closed out its historic eighth year of international sports car competition with a historic 48th American Le Mans Series (ALMS) overall race victory at the New England Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park yesterday.
All of the Audi R8 victories in ALMS and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans have come with Michelin tires.
Switching from the longest track to the shortest, and the newest prototype to the oldest, Michelin and its partner teams continued their dominance in international sports car racing at Lime Rock.
Following its overall win and three class titles at the 8.48 mile-long track in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Michelin teams posted similar results at the 2 hour, 45 minute race held on the 1.54 mile Lime Rock track.
Initially hoping to stay in the ALMS title fight while the exciting new Sebring 12 Hour winning Audi R10 TDI diesel cars prepared for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello instead took the Audi R8 of Champion Racing to their second victory in the past three ALMS races.
LMP2-PENSKE PORSCHE RS SPYDERS DOUBLE UP - Backing up their overall victory at Mid-Ohio with a front-row sweep in Lime Rock qualifying, the Porsche RS Spyders of Penske Racing were again highly impressive in leading the race for extended periods.
Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas were forced to settle for LMP2 class honors and second place overall. They were followed by their teammates, Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr, giving Michelin another 1-2-3 overall race finish.
GT2-PETERSEN WHITE LIGHTNING WINS - The persistence and talent of the Petersen White Lightning Porsche team paid off with the GT2 class honors. Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister took a car that the team had received in parts earlier in the week and put it in the winners circle. They were followed by the Flying Lizard Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek and Wolf Henzler.
GT1-CORVETTE STREAK ENDS - The Le Mans-winning Corvette team saw their 12-race winning streak ended by 0.033 seconds as they were unable to overcome the effects of weight penalties now totaling 198 pounds (90kg).
Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell brought the #3 Compuware Corvette C6R home second after teammates Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta in the #4 were taken out after early contact with another car. Gavin and Berretta and the #4 Corvette had won the last eight consecutive ALMS races in GT1 class.
OVERALL - The three wins at Lime Rock give Michelin the overall victories at all four ALMS races to date and 12 of 16 ALMS class wins. The Audi R10 TDi diesels will return to ALMS competition at the next event at the impressive new Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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