Muscle Milk triumph but GT action grabs ALMS headlines at Laguna Seca

Muscle Milk Pickett Racing took a second successive outright ALMS win at Laguna Seca but, as is often the case in the American endurance series, it was the GT class battle that really caught the immagination.

The top-seven grand touring protagonists entered the race's closing hour split by just a handful of seconds, with little to choose between the Corvettes, BMWs, Ferraris and Porsches vying for top spot.

Oliver Gavin (Corvette) made what would end up being a winning pass on Team Falken Tire’s German hotshoe Wolf Henzler with close to 60 minutes left on the clock, but was never given time to relax. From there he withstood pressure from Bill Auberlen (#55 BMW Team RLL) and then Jan Magnussen in the sister Corvette, the Brit holding on out front to claim the triumph in the car he shares with Tommy Milner.

“It was so tight in our class," said Gavin afterwards. "You could never let off and think 'I'm alright now’. I had a few close calls in the pitlane, and then Wolf passed me for the lead. He was hard but fair, and he gave me just enough room to get by at the last turn. I managed to sneak by a lot of people today, and we managed to catch all the breaks. It was a great race.”

Magnussen and team-mate Antonio Garcia completed a Corvette one-two with the BMW machine of Auberlen and Jorg Muller third.

Overall victory went to LMP1 entrants Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr (Muscle Milk Pickett) in their Honda-HPD prototype. Luis Diaz, Scott Tucker and Franck Montagny claimed second, and with it LMP2 class victory, while Colin Braun and Jon Bennett took a fine third overall to win the PC category.

The series’ next event is a trip to Lime Rock Park on July 7.

Watch ALMS coverage on Motors TV in 2012


James Weeks