Since moving to P1 this year, they had been plagued by bad luck, not finishing at Sebring or St, Pete.
Finally, the spell has been broken: Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud drove their de Ferran Racing P1 Acura ARX-2a to victory on the streets of Long Beach, leading the David Brabham/Scott Sharp Highcroft Patrón P1 Acura and the P2 Lowes/Fernandez Acura ARX-01b of Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz to an all-Acura podium.
“For us as a team, we’ve been existence for less than a year,” de Ferran said. “To be here at the top of the podium is a fantastic accomplishment for a team like ours.”
The victory was not without controversy. The runner-up Patrón Highcroft P1 Acura of Scott Sharp and David Brabham lost the lead on the first corner, but recaptured it after 28 minutes of racing and stayed ahead until their driver change pit stop, an hour into the race. While the car was in the pits, an IMSA official mistakenly penalized the car twenty seconds for improper pit crew safety equipment, giving the lead—and eventually the race—to the De Ferran Acura.
Another official then admitted that the first official had erred, the pit crew gear was to specification, and the penalty had been wrongly assessed.
“On our first pit stop the IMSA official incorrectly assessed a 20-second penalty for us for our fire extinguisher guy wearing the wrong type of helmet,” said team owner Duncan Dayton. “We were subsequently told that we shouldn’t have received the penalty. We had no choice but to protest the decision and it is pending review.”
David Brabham closed the gap to six seconds by the end of the race, but a full-course caution prevented a final showdown, which, given the gap, probably wouldn’t have happened anyway.
Lowes/Fernandez Ahead but Dysons Getting Closer
The Lowes/Fernandez effort nearly ended when Joey Hand in the GT2 BMW tried to sneak inside Boris Said in the Riley Corvette entering turn Eight. Hand hit the Corvette, sending both cars spinning across the track right in front of the Acura of Fernandez. Fernandez just managed to stop, inches from the Corvette. He lsot 12 seconds, extricating himself from the wreck, but kept the lead.
The Dyson cars are getting stronger with every race. At Long Beach, Guy Smith in the #16 Dyson Mazda-Loal led more than half the race.
Guy Smith described the start of the race: “I got alongside the Acura at the start and when he braked, I was going to brake later. I know our Mazda engine has good grunt off the line and I used that to complete the pass. I held the gap and pulled a bit on him in traffic. I was able to control the pace and speed up when needed.”
“We are starting to get all the pieces together for a competitive season,” said co-driver Chris Dyson. “We had a solid run and had the pace to match he leaders all day. We are very positive about the coming races.”
GT1Corvettes Win, Lose in Final Race
GT1 ended with a bittersweet result for Corvette Racing; Long Beach was the team’s final GT1 effort. The #4 car of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin took the class win. But the #3 car of Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen broke a half shaft with 42 laps completed, putting them out of the race.
O’Connell and Magnusson, the defending GT1 champs, would dearly have loved to fight to the finish in the last race in their GT1 CR-6 Corvette, a car which has brought them so much success in the last several years. While driving the GT1 Corvettes, the team has captured the last eight GT1 championships, with a record 74 class wins, 53 1-2 team finishes. The team swept all 23 rounds in 2007 and 2008 seasons.
Corvette Racing will run the GT1 cars at Le Mans, and return later in the ALMS season to race in the highly-competitive GT2 class.
Flying Lizards Land in First Place
Patrick Long and Jörg Bergmeister brought the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche RSR home ahead of the rest of the GT2 field for their third podium and second class win of the season.
After qualifying fastest, the Risi Ferrari 430 of Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer was sent to the back of the grid for a ride-height violation. Melo and Kaffer brought the car all the way back to second in class by the end.
The Farnbacher-Loles Porsche of Wolf Henzler and Dirk Werner started on the pioleand held the lead until the front suspension broke on lap 32. Henzler brought the car in for repairs, as did Werner later in the race, but the team lost too much time and finished last, five laps down.
The new BMWs showed a lot of promise, with the Tom Miller/Dirk Müller coming in third.
Final Yellow Seals the Result
To put a flaming exclamation point on the race, with six minutes left the Riley Corvette, with Boris Said at the wheel, burst into a ball of orange flame while approaching turn Five. Said pulled into the run-off area, hit the onboard fire extinguisher, and bailed out of the car. Four corner workers were almost instantly on the scene, extinguishing the flames and checking on Said, who was uninjured.
By the time the flames were out, the track was covered with firefighting foam, and the burned wreck of the Riley had to be towed form the run-off area lest another car miss the turn and need the run-off road. There was no way for the track crew to clean up the mess before the time limit. The race finished under yellow, ensuring De Ferran and Pagenaud their first ALMS win.
| Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach—Results | |||||
| Place | Place in Class | Class | Drivers | Difference | Car Make |
| 1 | 1 | P1 | De Ferran/Pagenaud |
| Acura ARX 02 |
| 2 | 2 | P1 | Brabham/Sharp | 1.016 | Acura ARX 02 |
| 3 | 1 | P2 | Fernandez/Diaz | 1 lap | Acura ARX-01 |
| 4 | 2 | P2 | Dyson/Smith | 1 lap | Mazda MZR-R |
| 5 | 3 | P2 | Leitzinger/Franchitti | 2 laps | Mazda MZR-R |
| 6 | 1 | GT1 | Baretta/Gavin | 3 laps | Corvette C6 |
| 7 | 3 | P1 | Field/Field/Ducote | 5 laps | Lola B06/10 |
| 8 | 1 | GT2 | Bergmeister/Long | 5 laps | Porsche 911 |
| 9 | 2 | GT2 | Mello/Kaffer | 5 laps | Ferrari 430 |
| 10 | 3 | GT2 | Mueller/Milner | 6 laps | BMW E92 |
| Championship Standings | |||
| P1 | P2 | GT1 | GT2 |
| David Brabham/Scott Sharp—Highcroft Acura | Adrian Fernandez/Luis Diaz—Fernandez Acura | Oliver Gavin/Olivier Beretta/Marcel Fässler—Corvette CR-6 | Jörg Bergmeister/Patrick Long—Flying Lizard Porsche RSR |
| Gil de Ferran/Simon Pagenaud—de Ferran Acura | Chris Dyson/Guy Smith—Dyson Mazda-Lola | Jan Magnusson/Johnny O’Connell/Antonio Garcia—Corvette CR-6 | Jaime Melo/Pierre Kaffer—Risi Ferrari |
| Dindo Capello/Allan McNish/Tom Kristensen—Audi R15 | Butch Leitzinger/Marino Franchitti— Dyson Mazda-Lola |
| Dominik Farnbacher/Ian James—Panoz Esperante |
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