BRABHAM STAYS QUICKEST AT LIME ROCK PARK

Northeast GP pole-sitter keeps PHR on top

David Brabham followed up Friday’s run to pole position with the fastest time in Saturday’s warmup session for the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Brabham’s best lap of 50.700 (106.509 mph) was a scant 0.035 seconds better than Drayson Racing’s Jonny Cocker.

The Patrón Highcroft HPD ARX-01c will start from the point after a brilliant wet session that saw Brabham claim his second overall pole at Lime Rock in three years. He will drive with Simon Pagenaud, the duo going for their fourth consecutive overall victory.

Gunnar Jeannette went quickest in LMPC for the first time on the weekend for Green Earth Team Gunnar. His lap of 55.478 (97.336 mph) was just 0.343 seconds better than Level 5 Motorsports’ Andy Wallace and another 0.151 seconds quicker than Scott Tucker in the second Level 5 ORECA FLM09.

BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team went 1-2 in GT with Dirk Müller setting the fastest lap at 56.137 (96.193 mph). Tommy Milner was 0.181 seconds back in the sister car with the class pole-sitting Porsche of Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jörg Bergmeister third in class at 56.416 (95.718 mph).

 

Jeroen Bleekemolen went quickest again in GT Challenge for Black Swan Racing. His lap of 59.404 (90.903 mph) in Black Swan Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry gave him a 0.302-second cushion of TRG’s Andy Lally. GMG Racing’s James Sofronas was another 0.085 seconds adrift.

The American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix is the fifth round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. The two-hour, 45-minute race is set for 2:05 p.m. ET today from Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. SPEED will air the race live at 2 p.m. ET. Live radio coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche – a production of Radio Show Limited – as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242. Visit the Series’ schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.

You can follow the Series on Twitter (almsnotes) and on our Facebook page and the official YouTube channel.

GRAF, CYTOSPORT LEAD THE WAY AT DAMP LIME ROCK

Porsche RS Spyder just ahead of Brabham in PHR prototype

Klaus Graf set the quickest time in a damp first practice for the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix on Friday morning, a lap of 1:02.289 (86.693 mph) in Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Porsche RS Spyder. Graf outpaced Patrón Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham by just 0.069 seconds around the wet 1.5-mile, 10-turn Lime Rock Park circuit.

Graf and team owner Greg Pickett will share the Porsche prototype, which hasn’t won at race at Lime Rock since 2007. The CytoSport entry only did seven laps on the session as rain fell more steady the longer the session went.

Brabham and Simon Pagenaud are on a three-race winning streak in PHR’s HPD ARX-01c. They each also are past overall winners at the track – Brabham in 2008 and Pagenaud last year.

Drayson Racing’s Jonny Cocker was third overall at 1:03.417 (85.151 mph) in the Judd-powered Lola B09/60 that he will drive with team owner Paul Drayson.

Elton Julian was the quickest LMP Challenge driver with a lap of 1:03.955 (84.434 mph) in Green Earth Team Gunnar’s ORECA FLM09. The class is racing at Lime Rock for the first time. Julian, driving with Gunnar Jeannette, was 0.593 seconds better than Level 5 Motorsports’ Christophe Bouchut. He and team owner Scott Tucker have won three of four races this year and lead the class championship.

Tom Papadopoulos in PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ entry sat third in class at 1:05.694 (82.199 mph). He will drive with Alex Figge.

Risi Competizione’s two Ferrari F430 GTs paced the GT class with Jaime Melo’s lap of 1:04.008 (84.364 mph) just 0.237 seconds quicker than Mika Salo. Melo – driving with Gimmi Bruni – was a teammate of Salo for three years at Risi although the pairing never won at Lime Rock.

Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin was third in class at 1:04.485 (83.740 mph). The top five cars in class were within 0.815 seconds of each other.

Jeroen Bleekemolen was quickest in GT Challenge for Black Swan Racing with a best lap of 1:07.994 (79.419 mph) in BSR’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry. He and team owner Tim Pappas are on a two-race winning streak in the class, and Bleekemolen was 0.359 seconds ahead of TRG’s Andy Lally; he will drive with Henri Richard.

The next practice session is set for 3 p.m. ET. Qualifying will be shown live at 4 p.m. on americanlemans.com.

GIBSON WINS WIRE TO WIRE AT LIME ROCK, SHEARS HOLDS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

LAKEVILLE, CONNECTICUT (JULY 24, 2010) -- In a virtual repeat of last year, Gary Gibson ended a run of bad luck today in Round 9 of the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship, winning wire to wire and avoiding the problems suffered by the Championship contenders behind him in the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.

Championship leader Charlie Shears, driving the #21 Inspire Motorsports/US Builders DP02, came back to finish 9^th after a lengthy pit stop to replace the rear wing, damaged when he was hit from behind in the first turn. The incident was perhaps made worse by the fact that the damage was caused by a charging Jonathan Bennett (#54 Inspire Motorsports/Composite Resources) – Shears’ teammate and the Inspire team owner, who ended his day in the turn one tires.

Gibson put his #13 Inspire Motorsports/Perfect Pedal DP02 on the pole this morning and picked up where he left off as the race began, getting out ahead of the incident between his two Inspire Motorsports teammates. But not far from his mind was his first lap incident two weeks ago, which saw him go from pole to out of the race at the green flag when he was hit from behind.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to go when you’re on the pole,” said Gibson. “I just went like a scalded dog at the start, I wanted to get out of there. I was able to get a good jump on cold tires and maintain it from there. I didn’t see anything behind me – I didn’t look up til the third lap! The guys gave me a perfect car, I just had to adjust the sway bar three quarters of the way through. They did a great job putting it back together, the car was basically a pile of parts when we put it on the truck after the last race.”

 

Anthony Nicolosi (#8 Performance Tech/Medical Connections) also picked his way cleanly through turn one and held onto second place for most of the day, losing it only briefly to Matt Downs (#12 Eurosport Racing/Hormel Bacon Bits) – who handed it back to Nicolosi when Downs’ DP02 bobbled briefly.

“I had a great start, got on the inside and picked off Charlie before he got hit, so I just wanted to stay with Gary, who gapped me on the cold tires,” said Nicolosi. “He kept that gap – he was really strong. The car came off just a touch, I had to adjust the bar and that’s when Matt got by me. I was thinking about letting him go, just to save it. But then he broke, and Antonio (Downs) put the pressure on, but I held him off. “

Matt Downs survived an eventful day, coming up through the field to second place, from his sixth place starting position, before suffering an apparently intermittent mechanical issue. Downs was happy, though to have held on to third in the Championship.

“Something broke, maybe I hit too many curbs and wasn’t as kind to the car as I should have been!” said Downs. “But the car worked really well, it’s just hats off to Gary. I qualified down in sixth - we couldn’t compete this morning, but we came back in the race. When Shears went out, I thought, I just have to finish. Third, fourth, fifth, didn’t matter, but then the car broke, then it came back, then Shears passed me – I didn’t know if he was ahead of me! But it was fun.”

Antonio Downs (#4 Eurosport Racing/Lamex Foods) finished third in the race, hanging onto second in the Championship. He and Nicolosi battled coming down the stretch for second place on the podium, Nicolosi managing to stay ahead of Downs.

“Anthony and I had a good battle right there at the end,” said Downs. “I might have been a little faster but he was able to keep it in there. So I’ll take third!”

Also enduring mechanical issues as well as dealing with the heat and humidity was John Weisberg, nursing his #75 BERG Racing/Redcom West WR100 home for the Lites 2 win.

“The heat wasn’t as bad as trying to overcome the difficulties in the car,” said Weisberg. “At the 20 minute mark, the throttle was pinned and I was stuck in sixth gear. So I was driving it on the ignition switch. Coming down the front straight, I’d turn the ignition off, get the car slowed down and then turn it back on and try to accelerate in sixth gear, doing both chicanes and the uphill in sixth gear.”

The Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship features racing between two sports racer prototype classes, Lites 1 and Lites 2, presenting a dimension of competition as drivers must be aware of classes with distinctly different speeds as they navigate the race track. This is the same challenge faced by the drivers of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón.

The Championship continues on August 20-22, with Rounds 10 and 11 held in conjunction with the 2010 Road America Showcase in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Follow along on the race weekend at www.litestiming.com, on Facebook and Twitter, and visit www.prototypelites.com for the latest schedule and updates.

Jonathan bennett and Inspire motorsports MAKE THEIR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

#21 Charlie Shears (Inspire Motorsports/US Builders) leads #4 Antonio Downs (Eurosport Racing/Lamex Foods) and #66 Frankie Montecalvo (Gunnar Racing/Bayshore Recycling)

LAKEVILLE, CONNECTICUT (July 23, 2010) – When Jonathan Bennett decided to join the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship last year, he knew he had an interest in owning a team someday. But after a series of seemingly random coincidences put the pieces together earlier this year, Bennett now owns a team with a rosy future – and today’s not looking too bad, either.

“I’m a little bit at a loss for words!” smiles Bennett, after finishing on top of the Friday morning practice sheet in Utah – this after leading practice sessions and qualifying two weeks earlier in New Jersey. “The team’s given me a great car and I’m rolling the dice and driving it really hard, so that seems to be working right now.”

Bennett had looked around at different series last year and decided that driving an L1 car in the Lites Championship was the best place for him. Driving the #54 DP02 with Composite Resources colors, his teammates include series point leader #21 Charlie Shears (US Builders) and #13 Gary Gibson (Perfect Pedal). Bennett drove in six races at the end of last season, finishing second at Petit Le Mans, so that he could start the 2010 season with some experience under his belt. Eventually owning the team was a distant thought.

“I have a fairly successful business in South Carolina (Composite Resources) – it was a struggle for 12 or 13 years, but it’s alive and well and doesn’t require constant attention from me. It’s like here – I have a good crew! And at some point, you have to pull the trigger. I’ve always wanted to drive the fastest car I could afford to, so this was the logical next step. And I’m not spending my child’s college tuition.

“I got into the car late last season so I wouldn’t be starting from the back this year. I had some good races and began talking with Kerry Jacobson, the owner of Inspire – I always had an interest in owning a race team, but I knew it was a very difficult business. It’s difficult to keep it sustainable.”

But when Jacobson thought about expanding the Lites team while trying to keep his club racing business going, Bennett was willing to help, and the idea grew - quickly - from there.

“I basically talked him into splitting the company, where he would take the club racing side and I would take the race team. We kept the Inspire Motorsports name, but we’re in the process of changing the branding now - a complete rebranding of the company is coming up, probably by Road America.

“I think we’re doing practical growth. I injected some funds and hopefully we can get it to some level of financial stability. And our hope is that we have a professional look and the personnel to back it up, so that we can become a team that’s running not only a DP02, but an LMPC car or an LMP car. Yea, maybe it’s a little bit like building a rocket ship in your backyard, but you have to have goals! And I think an LMPC car is in our immediate future – I don’t know how, but I hope with our team performance and level of professionalism, it’ll come.”

Step one for Bennett was to put his team in place. A large part of the puzzle was to add a team manager who had significant racing experience and could guide the team upward. With the racing season already fully underway, Bennett despaired of finding someone with the kind of background he was looking for – until he went to the gym and had a chance meeting with the man who would become his team manager, Morgan Brady.

“I was wearing an ALMS tee shirt at the gym, and Jonathan came up to chat with me,” relates Brady. “I told him about my background, that I’d been working in racing for quite a few years, that I used to manage a team in British Formula 3 and had worked for US F1, and Jonathan said ‘I’m about to buy a team, so I think we have something to talk about!’”

“At that point, we had not even bought pencils and paper yet. I hadn’t even bought the team,” remembers Bennett. “But I asked Morgan to hold tight – when he agreed to come on board, and bring one of his lead mechanics from US F1, I finally could see a path to actually starting. We’d been talking about this happening in the off season, but I decided it should happen now.

“The technicians at Inspire had a lot of experience in DP02s and Morgan had a lot of contacts from other areas of racing, like Formula Atlantic – if you take a leading Formula Atlantic team mentality and apply it to DP02s, I don’t think that’s really been done yet. We’re bringing people from European road racing, from Atlantics – there are guys who are working for unstable teams that are looking for a stable, quality DP02 team with aspirations of going higher. I can’t explain it, but we’re just trying to do the best job we can do and people are starting to notice.”

Bennett has seen the immediate results of his efforts in his recent statistics.

“Working with Morgan, and with my driving coach, I’ve become a more analytical driver – I can come in and describe what’s going on with the car. I complained to my coach at Laguna that I was stuck in “8^th to 6^th land.” I think I was trying to be too perfect – but you can’t experience the limit if you’re too perfect. He said, “you have to go out there every once in a while, put the car in the turn and just really dig - and you’re not doing that.” At that moment, I thought, am I going to be comfortable where I’m at? I knew there was more, and I’m willing to crash the car – it’s not something I’m looking to do, but you have to jump in the car and treat it as a sports car. And I ask Morgan, if I really tear two corners off the car, that’s okay? He said, “that’s what we’re here for.”