Pickett make it four in a row at Mosport

The Mucle Milk-backed Pickett Racing squad took their fourth successive ALMS win in Sunday's trip to Mosport Park

German pairing Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr had secured pole for the two-and-three-quarter hour run at the Canadian venue and were well worth their LMP1 class win. Their Honda-HPD machine came home 10 seconds clear of the Dyson Lola-Mazda of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith

LMP2 class victory went to Conquest duo Martin Plowman and David Heinemeier Hansson, the former single-seater squad's first win in the category. The Conquest pair fought a race-long battle aboard their Morgan-Nissan with Level 5's HPD, driven by Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker. A late penalty for the latter allowed Conquest to ease off and win by a little under 20 seconds. Meanwhile LMPC victory went to the RSR FLM machine of Bruno Junqueira and Tomy Drissi, who beat a pair of CORE Autosport efforts to the win.

But, as has become standard in the series, it was the GT class battle that proved most engaging. By the latter stages a three-way fight had ensued between the leading Flying Lizard Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, Corvette's #3 entry of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia and the Extreme Speed Ferrari shared by Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek.

Starting the final lap in this order, Magnussen lunged at Bergmeister for the lead only for van Overbeek to split the two and steal second spot. Bergmeister now had breathing space and came home for the victory - or so he thought.

However the Lizard squad would lose their win when the car failed post-race scrutineering, handing the Extreme Speed squad a maiden ALMS win - barring a successful appeal.

Championship-wise, Pickett's win puts them 12 points clear of the Dyson squad, while in LMP2 Conquest are now 15 shy of leaders Level 5 and CORE Autosport top the LMPC standings, a full 40 points clear of RSR. Corvette head the GT class from BMW Team RLL, who completed the Mosport podium thanks to Joey Hand and Dirk Muller, with the Extreme Speed Ferrari squad third.

The series' next meeting is at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 4.

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James Weeks