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| ALMS Utah Race: Acura Scores Overall Win |
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In the first major professional sportscar race since the passing of track owner, Larry H Miller, Acura swept the overall podium. Gil De Ferran and Simon Pagenaud won with a nearly lap lead over the Patron Highcroft entry of Scott Sharp and David Brabham.
"We're getting to learn the car more and more," he added. "This car is a very new concept, so understanding the car and knowing what works and what doesn't is tough. We made a couple of bad decisions Saturday morning, but by going the wrong way it was so clear that we knew exactly which way to go after that. We are always seeking perfection, and the process I enjoy very much is how to make the car go faster, and Simon and I are having a great time on this program because it is very interesting. We are always working with the Acura engineers to work on making the car quicker."
Acura is starting to look like the new Audi as it has now taken home wins in both races since the Audi departed after the Sebring 12 Hours.
Third place in P1 went to the Lola B06/10 of Intersport Racing. Jon Field, his son Clint, and Chapman Ducote drove the car but finished with only 93 laps compared to the winning cars 103 laps. In what was a record P1 class since Sebring, two other entries participated bringing that class's total to five entries.
In the P2 class, Acura dominated as well with Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz scoing the win by a scant six Tenths of a second. Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti scored the second place spot. Eight laps behind Chris Dyson and Guy Smith scored the final podium spot in the three car class.
Fernandez and Diaz won their fourth straight race in class.
"We knew it would be tough with the top speed of the Mazdas," Diaz said. "And it was frustrating behind some of the LMP1s because they have some very good top speed but in the corners we can be faster. We decided to be patient. We know patience can pay off. Adrian drove a great race and the team did what we asked them to do. I was so proud of our team in the pits. They show they are the best at changing tires and servicing the car. And I'm so happy for Acura and Lowe's; the guys have been working really, really hard in the shop."
The GT1 class went uncontested as the Corvette Racing team is no longer running the class.
In GT2, ten cars vied for the victory with Porsche taking home the top spot on the rostrum. Jorg Bergmeister and Pat Long took home the win in the Flying Lizard Porsche 911 RSR. Porsche also took home the second spot with Farnbacher Loles. The third place machine was the Ferrari 430 Berlinetta of Risi Competizione.
"The biggest thing is the test we had here after Long Beach for two days," Bergmeister said. "We only had to make minor changes to the car for qualifying and we only did one lap to save the tires. At the beginning, Marc was very good but I was able to keep in behind me after the first lap."
For the first time this year, ALMS allowed Porsche GT3 Cup challenge cars to share the track with the other ALMS entries. Officials limited the class to eight entries, although only five cars were entered in the race. Those familiar with sportscar racing will recognize race winner's Martin and Melanie Snow, who had race sportscar for many years at the professional level.
"It felt good stepping back in among the prototypes," Martin Snow said. "They were very courteous, and we still had some pretty good battles. I made one lap in qualifying and I was about 0.6 seconds off pole, and my crew said I should have gone for another lap. But I wanted to save my tires because this is such a long race. I told Melanie to take her time and just keep a smooth pace to make sure we got to the driver change."
The second place finisher in the class was 25 laps behind. While the third place entrants only completed 37 of the winners 82 laps. Two cars, including the second and third place finishing car, were disqualified after the race due to ride height infractions.
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