Pickett make it five in a row while GT battle hots up in Mid-Ohio

Muscle Milk Pickett Racing secured a fifth straight ALMS win with a dominant display at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The driving duo of Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr faced little resistance from LMP1 class rivals Dyson Racing, who only hit the front during the early pitsop phase. Pickett's HPD-Honda would then continually extend the gap at the front to come home a lap clear of Dyson’s Lola-Mazda.

In LMP2 the #055 Level 5 machine of Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut returned to winning ways after losing out to the Conquest Endurance entry at Mosport. The Franco-American duo overcame their class sparing partners, Bouchut resisting a late onslaught from the Nissan-powered car to leave Martin Plowman and David Heinemeier Hansson to settle for runner-up spot.

LMPC honours were decided late as a pit-stop for the #06 CORE Autosport machine of Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel allowed Marino Franchitti and Rudy Junco (PR1/Mathiasen) to snatch the win.

As ever the GT class was both the biggest and best contested on the circuit. Corvette pairing Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner claimed the win from Flying Lizard's Porsche, shared by Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, by a margin of just 0.3 seconds. The podium was completed by Jorg Muller and Bill Auberlen's RLL BMW entry, with TRG duo Al Carter and Spencer Pumpelly taking GTC honours.

Graf and Luhr leave Mid-Ohio 16 points clear of class rivals Chris Dyson and Guy Smith, while Bouchut and Tucker have extended their LMP2 advantage over the Conquest pairing of Plowman and Heinemeier Hansson. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia surrender their GT lead to the sister 'Vette of Gavin and Milner after clashing with a GTC car and finishing 10 laps down.

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James Weeks