ALMS 2010: Long Beach

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Aston beats Highcroft to pole

Adrian Fernandez put Aston Martin on pole position for round two of the American Le Mans Series in Long Beach - but only after a very tight battle with Highcroft HPD's Simon Pagenaud.

In the first event for the new combined and performance-balanced single LMP class, the LMP1 Aston and LMP2 HPD proved evenly-matched.

Fernandez set the early pace, but was then pipped by Pagenaud just before a mid-session stoppage to clear debris.

When qualifying resumed for a final shoot-out, Fernandez reclaimed the top spot with a 1m13.213s lap, and Pagenaud had to settle for second after lapping just 0.072 seconds slower on his last effort.

The pole combatants ended up a second clear of the rest of the field, with the Dyson Lola-Mazda and CytoSport Porsche lining up third and fourth on the grid.

Jon Field was back after his ferocious Sebring practice accident and took Intersport's older Lola to fifth.

Drayson will start back in sixth after Jonny Cocker went down an escape road early in the session and had difficult extricating the car.

Jaime Melo gave Risi Ferrari another pole in the rebranded GT class. The Brazilian needed only a single run early in the session to immediately go half a second clear of his rivals, before returning to the pits to watch them fail to beat him.

Wolf Henzler underlined Falken Porsche's gains this year with second. The two Corvettes will start third and fifth in class, split by the top Flying Lizard Porsche, with the Rahal Letterman BMWs and Extreme Speed Ferraris next up.

Level 5 driver Christophe Bouchut was fastest among the LMPC field, just ahead of Gunnar Jeanette's Green Earth Gunnar entry. Black Swan Racing's Jeroen Bleekemolen took GTC pole, beating TRG's Andy Lally in the all-Porsche GT3 class.

Pos Cl Drivers Car Time Gap
1. P Primat/Fernandez Lola-Aston Martin 1m13.213s
2. P Brabham/Pagenaud HPD 1m13.285s + 0.072s
3. P Dyson/Smith Lola-Mazda 1m14.191s + 0.978s
4. P Pickett/Graf Porsche 1m14.259s + 1.046s
5. P Field/Field/Konstant Lola 1m15.136s + 1.923s
6. P Drayson/Cocker Lola 1m17.084s + 3.871s
7. PC Tucker/Bouchut ORECA 1m17.273s + 4.060s
8. PC Julian/Jeannette ORECA 1m17.520s + 4.307s
9. P Drissi/Davis Lola 1m17.611s + 4.398s
10. PC Hildebrand/Sutherland ORECA 1m18.186s + 4.973s
11. PC Bonilla/Marcelli ORECA 1m18.422s + 5.209s
12. GT Melo/Bruni Ferrari 1m19.581s + 6.368s
13. GT Sellers/Henzler Porsche 1m20.179s + 6.966s
14. GT Magnussen/O'Connell Corvette 1m20.308s + 7.095s
15. GT Bergmeister/Long Porsche 1m20.424s + 7.211s
16. GT Beretta/Gavin Corvette 1m20.438s + 7.225s
17. GT Auberlen/Milner BMW 1m20.486s + 7.273s
18. GT Mueller/Hand BMW 1m20.564s + 7.351s
19. GT Brown/Cosmo Ferrari 1m20.587s + 7.374s
20. PC Tucker/Hunter-Reay ORECA 1m21.151s + 7.938s
21. GT Sharp/van Overbeek Ferrari 1m21.346s + 8.133s
22. GT Law/Neiman Porsche 1m21.457s + 8.244s
23. GT Robertson/Murry Doran Ford 1m21.960s + 8.747s
24. PC Pagerey/Wong ORECA 1m22.014s + 8.801s
25. GT Gentilozzi/Dalziel Jaguar 1m22.985s + 9.772s
26. PC Mowlem/Papadopoulos ORECA 1m23.599s + 10.386s
27. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen Porsche 1m23.857s + 10.644s
28. GTC Richard/Lally Porsche 1m24.098s + 10.885s
29. GTC Curtis/Sofronas Porsche 1m24.256s + 11.043s
30. GTC Gonzalez/Leitzinger Porsche 1m24.288s + 11.075s
31. GTC Sweedler/Kapudija Porsche 1m24.462s + 11.249s
32. GTC Lewis/Vento Porsche 1m24.672s + 11.459s
33. GTC Miller/McMullen Porsche 1m24.730s + 11.517s
34. GTC Rodriguez/Bieker Porsche 1m24.968s + 11.755s
35. GTC Beggs/Baron Porsche 1m25.952s + 12.739s
36. GTC Gonzalez/Diaz Porsche 1m26.771s + 13.558s

Autosport

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Pagenaud wins thriller for Highcroft

Simon Pagenaud scored a brilliant victory for Patron Highcroft Acura by taking the lead in dramatic fashion from Adrian Fernandez's factory AMR Lola coupe on the last lap of a 100-minute thriller at Long Beach.

In a perfect advert for the American Le Mans Series' new regulations to equalise LMP1 and LMP2 and create one category, the Aston and the Acura crews put on a race-long battle that was only settled in the last 45 seconds of the race when Fernandez made a mistake and allowed the more nimble but less powerful HPD ARX-01c through to win.

Harold Primat took advantage of Aston Martin's pole position and built an early lead from a fast-starting Jon Field, with Pagenaud's co-driver David Brabham dropping to third.

But within minutes of the green flag the first caution was raised after Tom Papadopoulos crashed his LMPC Oreca. This was followed by another caution almost immediately as Chris Dyson skated his Lola into the wall at Turn 1.

All of Primat's hard work already undone, his misery was then compounded at the restart as Field powered by into the lead.

It was at this point that the Aston began to encounter brake problems and, for all its power, held up Brabham. The Australian got frustrated, as he later admitted, and went for an opportunistic pop down the inside of Primat just after the 30 minute mark. The pair made contact, damaging the back of the Aston and instigating a stop in the penalty box for Brabham.

The significant build up of debris also prompted the third, and race-changing caution period, around half distance.

Highcroft's excellent stop vaulted the team into the lead, recovering all of the time it had lost to Brabham's penalty, while the Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder also got ahead of both Field's Intersport Lola and Fernandez (now installed in the Aston).

Fernandez put on a charge and quickly dispensed of the Intersport car, though it took him longer to get by Klaus Graf in the Muscle Milk Porsche.

All the while Pagenaud maintained around 4s gap to the race behind him, but once into second, the Mexican closed the Acura down fast. With around 10 laps to go, Fernandez got past Pagenaud on the back straight. Once in the lead however, he couldn't pull away as his rear brakes faded further and lapping traffic became a problem. In the end it all culminated in that last lap error at Turn 5, and once ahead again Pagenaud ensured he stayed there.

Graf and Tom Pickett took a well-deserved third ahead of Guy Smith, who forged the Dyson Lola back up to fourth following its earlier off.

The GT battle was just as exciting and also pivoted on that crucial third caution.

The Rahal Letterman BMWs pitted early and the team chose to gamble on running the cars on one set of tyres through the race. This gave Tommy Milner and Joey Hand track position and moved them ahead of early leader Wolf Henzler's Falken Tyres Porsche through this phase of the race.

Patrick Long (Flying Lizard Porsche) and Gianmaria Bruni (Risi Ferrari) also moved up to third and fourth in the stops.

But as the tyres on the M3s faded, so Long, always one for a street fight, began to force his way through, trailed by the Ferrari and a hard-charging Jan Magnussen in the Corvette.

Long made short work of Hand and quickly closed up behind Milner. As Hand dropped further back, Long looked for ways past Milner and eventually dummied him from left-to-right on the backstretch. Magnussen, who had scrabbled his way to front of the pursuing pack, also got past Milner before the race's end.

Gunner Jeanette and Elton Julian took the Le Mans Prototype Challenge class win, finishing fifth overall in an excellent drive while the GT Challenge honours went to Butch Leitzinger in the Alex Job Porsche.


Pos Driver Class Car Result
1. Brabham/Pagenaud LMP HPD ARX-01c 67 laps
2. Primat/Fernandez LMP Aston Martin Lola + 0.353s
3. Pickett/Graf LMP Porsche RS Spyder + 9.472s
4. Dyson/Smith LMP Lola B09 86 Mazda + 10.903s
5. Julian/Jeannette LMPC Oreca FLM09 + 1 lap
6. Tucker/Bouchut LMPC Oreca FLM09 + 2 laps
7. Hildebrand/Sutherland LMPC Oreca FLM09 + 2 laps
8. Bergmeister/Long GT Porsche 911 RSR + 2 laps
9. Drissi/Davis LMP Lola B06 10 + 2 laps
10. Magnussen/O'Connell GT Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 + 2 laps
11. Auberlen/Milner GT BMW M3 GT + 2 laps
12. Melo/Bruni GT Ferrari 430 GT + 2 laps
13. Mueller/Hand GT BMW M3 GT + 2 laps
14. Sellers/Henzler GT Porsche 911 RSR + 2 laps
15. Sharp/van Overbeek GT Ferrari 430 GT + 2 laps
16. Brown/Cosmo GT Ferrari 430 GT + 3 laps
17. Pagerey/Wong LMPC Oreca FLM09 + 4 laps
18. Beretta/Gavin GT Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 + 4 laps
19. Gonzalez/Leitzinger GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 4 laps
20. Curtis/Sofronas GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 4 laps
21. Sweedler/Kapudija GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 4 laps
22. Bonilla/Marcelli LMPC Oreca FLM09 + 5 laps
23. Robertson/Murry GT Doran Ford GT-R + 5 laps
24. Lewis/Vento GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 5 laps
25. Drayson/Cocker LMP Lola B09 60 + 5 laps
26. Miller/McMullen GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 6 laps
27. Rodriguez/Bieker GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 6 laps
28. Gonzalez/Diaz GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 7 laps
29. Pappas/Bleekemolen GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 7 laps
30. Field/Field LMP Lola B06 10 + 19 laps
31. Richard/Lally GTC Porsche 911 GT3 Cup + 19 laps
32. Gentilozzi/Dalziel GT Jaguar XKRS + 22 laps
33. Law/Neiman GT Porsche 911 RSR + 39 laps
34. Beggs/Baron GTC Porsche 911 GT3 + 61 laps
35. Mowlem/Papadopoulos LMPC Oreca FLM09 + 64 laps


Autosport

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