ALMS: De Ferran win again at Utah

Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud scored theirs and de Ferran Motorsports’ second ALMS victory in a row at Miller Motorsports Park on Sunday where they led home an Acura 1-2-3.

De Ferran led away from pole and immediately benefitted from Highcroft Racing’s ARX-02a being swallowed up by the fast-starting Intersport Lola of Jon Field. The turbocharged car had worked well at Utah’s high altitude last season where it had led the race in the early stages and was again quick off the line.

Unable to pass, a frustrated Scott Sharp lost 20 seconds behind the Lola as De Ferran bolted at the front to effectively kill the contest off in the early stages. Although Sharp did manage to eventually pass, a delayed pitstop then cost the Highcroft crew even more time and despite David Brabham’s best efforts, finished over a minute behind the rampaging Pagenaud who added to his LMS victory in Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.

The Fernandez Racing Acura completed the podium and sealed P2 honours, although its 100% winning record came under serious threat from the Dyson Lola squad. The No.16 car lost several laps in the pits having headed Luis Diaz during the first stint, leaving team mates Marino Franchitti and Butch Leitzinger to fight it out. A better fuel strategy for the Fernandez car saw it jump ahead towards the end and although Leitzinger reeled in Adrian Fernandez at the finish, it wasn’t enough to deny the Mexican.

Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister took the GT2 spoils in their No.45 Flying Lizard Porsche, finishing comfortably clear of the similar Farnbacher Loles 911. The Risi Ferrari was third having climbed back through the field after an earlier altercation with one of the Rahal Letterman BMWs.

The new Challenge Class was won by regular championship frontrunners Martin and Melanie Snow, the husband and wife duo finishing an impressive 25 laps clear of their closest challengers.

Catch ALMS coverage from Utah next Sunday at 5pm on Motors TV.   

 1.  P1   de Ferran/Pagenaud         Acura ARX 02a       2h46m14.913s
 2.  P1   Brabham/Sharp              Acura ARX 02a        + 1m13.693s
 3.  P2   Fernandez/Diaz             Acura ARX-01B        +    3 laps
 4.  P2   Leitzinger/Franchitti      Lola B09 86 Mazda    +    3 laps
 5.  P1   Field/Field/Ducote         Lola B06/10          +   10 laps
 6.  P2   Dyson/Smith                Lola B09 86 Mazda    +   11 laps
 7.  GT2  Bergmeister/Long           Porsche 911 RSR      +   13 laps
 8.  GT2  Henzler/Lieb               Porsche 911 RSR      +   13 laps
 9.  GT2  Melo/Kaffer                Ferrari 430          +   14 laps
10.  GT2  Farnbacher/James           Panoz Esperante      +   14 laps
11.  GT2  Pastorelli/Stuck           Porsche 911 RSR      +   15 laps
12.  GT2  van Overbeek/Neiman        Porsche 911 RSR      +   16 laps
13.  P1   Mowlem/Johansson           Ginetta-Zytek 09HS   +   16 laps
14.  GT2  Mueller/Milner             BMW E92 M3           +   18 laps
15.  GT2  Hand/Auberlen              BMW E92 M3           +   20 laps
16.  GT2  Feinberg/Hall              Dodge Viper          +   21 laps
17.  Ch   Snow/Snow                  Porsche 911 GT3      +   21 laps
18.  GT2  Murry/Robertson/Robertson  Doran Ford GT-R      +   22 laps
19.  Ch   Parker/Skerlong            Porsche 911 GT3      +   46 laps
20.  P1   Lewis/Willman              Lola B06/10          +   63 laps
21.  Ch   Hoaglund/Faieta            Porsche 911 GT3      +   66 laps
22.  Ch   Baker/Cosmo                Porsche 911 GT3      +   21 laps
23.  Ch   Brown/Sweedler             Porsche 911 GT3      +   23 laps


Tom Hornsby