ALMS series wows crowds at Lime Rock Park

Lime Rock — Spectacular weather and a healthy crowd of racing fans set the stage for the American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Chris Dyson and Guy Smith survived the always heavy race traffic for the win in their G-Oil Lola-Mazda LMP1 prototype, holding off Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf in their Muscle Milk Lola-Aston Martin. Finishing third were Humaid Al Masaood and Stephen Kane in the Dyson sister car, the Oryx Racing Lola-Mazda.In LMP Challenge, Elton Julian and Eric Lux nipped Gunner Jeannette and Ricardo Gonzalez by less than two seconds for the win, finishing fourth overall.The GT-class race was won by Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller in their Team RLL BMW M3, besting second-place Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long’s Porsche 911 RSR by half a lap, while in the GT Challenge battle (all Porsche GT3 Cup cars), the team of Dion von Moltke and Mike Piera got around Duncan Ende and Spencer Pumpelly very late in the race for the victory.Robertson Racing scores podiumFour weeks after their first international podium finish, Robertson Racing scored a second consecutive podium finish at Lime Rock park with third place in the Northeast Grand Prix.The Atlanta-based team’s number 4 Ford GT was driven by David Murry and Anthony Lazzaro. Murry’s start saw him climb to sixth in the early stages at a circuit. Three of the leading contenders ahead tangled, promoting the Ford to third.Differing pit-stop strategies, as well as the Extreme Speed Ferrari punting Lazzaro into a spin at turn one early in his stint, saw the car running fifth with just 15 minutes remaining before a full-course yellow seemed to end any hopes of the team’s first ALMS rostrum.Lazzaro had other ideas though and produced a stunning final run to first exact revenge on ESM’s 458 and then reel in Team Falken Tire’s entry. Despite two seconds separating them with just one lap remaining, the Porsche was forced to weave dangerously on multiple occasions to keep the Ford at bay as the pair raced for the chequered flag.Series rules do not tolerate such defensive driving and, as a result of an immediate post-race protest, stewards decided to hand the 911 a 90-second penalty, promoting Robertson Racing to third. Meanwhile, a mechanical issue for Le Mans 24 Hours podium heroes David and Andrea Robertson curtailed their involvement with 45 minutes remaining.Compiled from racing news releases.

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