Audi drivers Lucas Luhr ansd Marcus Werenr clinched the P1 series points race after the car of teammates Emanuele Pirro and Marcel Fässler was dsiaqualified for failing to meet minimum post-race weight.
The ALMS Series Detroit Sports Car Challenge ran on the Belle Isle street circuit, a tight, bumpy 2.1-mile, 14-turn course with no real high-speed sections, where the P2 and GT2 cars had a chance to compete head-to-head with their more powerful—but heavier—P1 and GT1 brethren. On average, the P2 cars qualified one mile per hour faster than the P1 cars, while the GT2 cars qualified on average one mile per hour slower than the GT1 cars.
P2 cars held the first seven spots on the starting grid, ahead of the series-leading Audi of Lucas Luhr. Acuras held the first four spots, with Scott Sharp/David Brabham Patron Highcroft Acura on the pole. This made for extremely close racing and extremely difficult passing.
Acuras in Control
Scott Sharp led the first half of the race, with the Acuras of Simon Pagenaud and Luis Diaz battling behind him. The Audi, as usual, did much better on race day than in qualifyting, and moved up easily through the field to catch the leaders.
Porsche driver Roman Dumas battled hard to stay ahead of Lucas Luhr’s Audi through the first third of the race, but finally made a tiny error and Luhr swept through. This put the Audis third and fourth, and they ran like a train, nose to tail, as they have in so many races this year.
Negotiating traffic is one of the most difficult and exciting aspects of Le Mans-series multi-class racing. Drivers who can wait patiently, act aggressively and think strategically can use slower traffic to their advantage.
When race leader Scott Sharp caught up with the pack battling for the lead in GT2, he passed the first two on the back straight, then waited to pass then next two after the first corner, knowing that because the GT2 cars were fighting hard for the class lead, they would not make much room for him.
Crashes Take Their Toll
One hour into the race, Lucas Luhr lost control and crashed hard. He first spun after hitting a bad bump coming through Turn Eight, doing no damage. He sped off to regain the lost time, but entering Turn Thirteen his foot slipped off the brake pedal at 130 mph and he crashed sideways into the tire barrier. Luhr was in position seal his win in the GT1 series points race at Detroit. Possibly the pressure of trying to pass teammate Emanuele Pirro to take class lead made him careless.
After the restart following Luhr’s accident, Acuras held the first three spots, followed by the Porsches, while Pirro in the remaining Audi made a series of risky passes to try to catch up.
After the restart the order was Sharp, Simon Pagenaud, and Luis Diaz in Acuras, leading Patrick Long and Guy Smith in Porsches, then Emanuele Pirro in the Audi. Almost immediately Guy Smith went too hot into a corner and spun, dropping to eleventh, while Pirro passed Long to take fourth.
A few laps later Luis Diaz in the Lowes Acura crashed, badly damaging the rear suspension. Scott Sharp drove masterfully through traffic, staying clear of the battles behind him and slipping through slower cars quickly and carefully, opening up a sizeable gap over the rest of the leaders.
Tom Milner in the GT2 Panoz Esperante GTLM drove an excellent race, contesting the lead with the Flying Lizard Porsche and the Rizi Ferrari. Sadly the car crashed late in the race, dropping it out of a possible podium finish.
Scott Sharp backed off at about the halfway point, trying to conserve fuel to make it through the rest of the race with only one more pit stop. Simon Pagenaud took advantage to take the lead.
The Porsche gets the best fuel mileage and could run richer for more power; the Audi had to conserve fuel just a bit.
On the restart Franck Montagny in the Andretti Green Acura took the lead, closely pursued by Timo Bernhard in his Penske Porsche, with Marcel Fässler in the Audi in third. David Brabham in the Patron Hightower Acura held fourth after Gil de Ferran spun. A lap later Brabham caught right up on the leaders going through traffic. Brabham, who took over the car from Scott Sharp, continued Sharp’s smart traffic management, using patience as well as acceleration to maintain momentum while maneuvering through slower cars.
The Sharp and Brabham’s Hightower Patron car was fighting for the P2 points lead; they were only ten points behind the leading Timo Bernhard/Roman Dumas Penske Porsche. Brabham made a surgical pass of the Fässler Audi, sticking the Audi behind a GT2 car and diving inside to get by into third.
On the next lap Timo Bernhard hit GT2 points leader Johannes van Overbeek while trying to pass, while Montagny got through. Bernhard was undamaged, but lost ground. Overbeek had to pit, costing him the GT2 class lead.
Timo Bernhard was penalized for this incident; the race judges deemed it avoidable contact. Bernhard was called in, but his team manager told him to ignore the penalty and stay on the track, while the team appealed.
Finally Penske relented and called Bernhard into the pits, costing the car half a lap. Then after leaving the pits, Bernhard went too fast into Turn Seven, clipped the tire wall, and damaged the left front bodywork, forcing him to make another pit stop and costing him even more time.
Exciting Racing in Every Class
The race for the GT2 class win and series points was being fought out back in the pack, as Overbeek tried to regain the class lead. The GT2 race had serious implications for the overall race though, because while racing for class position, the GT2 cars would be less willing to let P2 and P1 cars through.
IRL IndyCar driver Scott Briscoe was given a drive in the second Penske Porsche. In practice he was the fastest driver on the track, lapping .8 seconds faster than the rest of the field. With half an hour left in the race, Briscoe was in fourth behind Fassler in the Audi. The Long/Briscoe Porsche was third in the P2 points race, fifty points back, but was racing hard for Porsche in the constructors’ competition.
In GT1, the C6 Corvettes were battling each other without quarter, racing all out despite being teammates. Oliver Gavin was running tenth, just ahead of Jan Magnussen. Their chief competitor, Terry Borcheller in the Bell Motorsports Aston Martin DBR-9 was in 20th after crashing earlier.
The Final Sprint
After a full-course yellow, the race went green with ten minutes left. On the restart Montagny got a huge jump—coming within inches of passing the pace car—and opened up a large lead over the Brabham. Fassler’s Audi was third, followed by Gil de Ferran and Timo Bernhard.
Montagny kept turning very fast laps, maintaining a four-second lead over Brabham, who was playing it safe, racing for series points rather than risking a wreck trying to catch Montagny.
Montagny took the checkered flag without incident, winning the race and the P2 class. Brabham and Fässler took second and third, though the Audi was later disqualified for being underweight. This gave the P1 win to the Intersport Racing AER Lola of Clint Field, Jon Field, and Richard Berry.
Oliver Gavin in the C6 Corvette finished tenth and first in GT1. Wolf Henzler in the Flying Lizard Porsche came in twelfth, winning the GT2 class.
