ALMS - Mid-Ohio: First win for Dyson and Mazda

Dyson Racing won an absolute classic race Saturday in the American Le Mans Series as Chris Dyson held off Patrón Highcroft Racing’s Simon Pagenaud by 0.506 seconds in the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. Dyson and Guy Smith each won overall in the Series for the first time, as did their Castrol-liveried, Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupe running on isobutanol.

After showing flashes of brilliance but being knocked around by Lady Luck early in the season, things finally went right for the Dyson camp. After Intersport Racing’s Clint Field dominated for the first two hours, Dyson led the final 24 laps in one of the best races the Series has seen. Dyson Racing won overall at Mid-Ohio in 2005, a race where Mazda also won its first Series race in LMP2.

“I really just tried to keep my head down and concentrate on the corners ahead,” Dyson said. “Simon is a really hard charger, and Mid-Ohio is one of the most physically demanding track we race on. I couldn’t be happier for everyone on this team. … We had a good car all weekend and I felt very comfortable. We had run with the Highcroft car during the practices all weekend. They were stronger than us on some points but we were better in other parts. I tried to work the traffic to take advantage of our strengths.”

The Dyson LMP led the final 34 laps after some good fortune from the aforementioned Lady Luck. The team was bringing Dyson in for the team’s final pit stop when the race went under its second caution period. The car exited pit lane right as the pits closed, and the Patrón Highcroft HPD ARX-01c ducked in three laps later once the pits had opened.

It was that kind of Dyson Day.

“This was the first race I’ve started since Road America last year. Looks like I’ll be starting a few more races from now on,” Smith said. “We had a great start, and Clint was great. I was able to build a gap over the Patrón car. The Mazda engine was working great and so were the Dunlop tires. Chris drove a great race and it’s one of the best I’ve seen from him. We’ve had an exceptional car most of the year. We knew we were competitive and have a great package. Spirits were low but we came in with a new attitude and showed the strength of this Dyson Racing team.”

Pagenaud and David Brabham were runners-up for the second straight race but maintained their LMP championship lead. Autocon Motorsports’ pairing of Tomy Drissi and Bryan Willman placed third in class and fourth overall after starting next-to-last on the grid.

“That last lap was a long one,” said Dyson Racing team owner Rob Dyson. “We have been waiting for this one for quite awhile. We had a car that was always quick but had all the ingredients that didn’t always work. It’s great to see us bring this one home first. We’ve had great success here over the years. Guy and Chris really put the pedal to the metal. The biggest thing for us is that they both did a great job in traffic.”

The other nail-biter was the GT victory for Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo and Gimmi Bruni in their Ferrari F430 GT. Melo drove the final 90-plus minutes on a reserve fuel pump when the primary system failed and dropped Melo to sixth place for a time. He worked his way back into the lead by going around both of Rahal Letterman Racing’s BMW M3 GTs 55 minutes later. He beat Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin by 0.582 seconds for Risi’s first victory at the venue.

There were two critical moments in Melo’s stint. The first was a call – by Melo and Risi technical director Rick Mayer – for left-side only tires with 50 minutes left. He exited the pits first and got around the BMWs – neither which pitted during a caution period – on the second lap following the restart. He then had to hold off Gavin after another restart with nine minutes left.

“I had a very consistent car and I could keep very good lap times,” Melo said. “I had some slow traffic on the last two laps and brought the No. 4 Corvette very close. I tried to stay calm and not make any mistakes. This was very hard but important for us to win here. Gimmi did a great job at the start, and it was a combination of Michelin tires, the car, the team and teammate. (The pass on the BMWs) was the only chance to get around them because it was almost impossible to get around them on a straight line. I actually got a little bit in the grass but it worked.”

Melo on the decision to take left-side tires: “That was a decision we made coming into the pits. I wanted a full set but had the Corvette right at me so we decided to change just the left side and it was a good move. The tires were very consistent and I didn’t have any issues and I could manage any situation.”

Bruni got around class pole-sitter Toni Vilander in the second Risi Ferrari at the start and led the first 48 minutes.

“Most of this win is Jamie’s. He made very good moves on the BMWs and Corvette,” Bruni said. “I pitted from the lead and lost four or five places before Jaime drove back to the lead. I know how good he is. The race was good. I made a good move on the No. 61 team car to lead early and it was a matter of building a gap.”

Gavin and Olivier Beretta placed second in class for their first victory of the year, one year after Corvette debuted in the GT2 class. Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner placed third for BMW Rahal Letterman Racing in the first of the BMW M3s.

Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker won in LMP Challenge for Level 5 Motorsports to extend their championship lead. Bouchut made the winning pass in his ORECA FLM09 with less than hour left when he got around Green Earth Team Gunnar’s Gunnar Jeannette, who drove with Elton Julian.

“When I jumped in the car, it was not so easy to drive,” Bouchut said. “But after some time, we picked up a lot of rubber on the tires and I had to be patient. After taking the lead, the focus was getting through the traffic. Gunnar and I had a great battle until he went off. It’s a really nice track here. All the corners are challenge and this weekend was my 100th win. Here we go to win 100 more!”

Tucker retained his lead in the driver’s championship with the victory. It would be quite an accomplishment in his first year of Series competition. The duo also finished third overall.

“The first stint went pretty well,” said Tucker, the team owner. “We had a small incident at the start but after that things started to settle down. The first yellow worked out well for us. The whole team has been working very hard for the championship and are very happy to be leaving here leading.”

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ pairing of Luis Diaz and Ricardo Gonzalez placed second in their first LMPC race of the year. Jeannette and Julian were third in G-Oil’s GETG entry.

Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen won their third GT Challenge race in four tries for Black Swan Racing. Pappas drove the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car from last to second after being hit at the start. Bleekemolen got around ORBIT/Paul Miller Racing’s Bryce Miller just past the halfway point and led the rest of the way.

“Everyone has worked really hard at Black Swan and we’ve come a long way,” team owner Pappas said. “So it was disappointing but I had to keep my head down and work my way back up. The yellow really was good with timing for the driver change and fuel. To come back and run the way we did, it felt like karma was on our side.”

GMG Racing’s James Sofronas and Bret Curtis were second, their highest finish of the season. Sofronas was a scant 0.247 seconds ahead of Alex Job Racing’s Bill Sweedler and Romeo Kapudija.

Miller and Luke Hines led the ORBIT entry for the first 64 laps. An unfortunate incident with a prototype near the 1:35 mark sent the ORBIT car back in the pack to fourth.

“Tim did a great job of coming back,” Bleekemolen said. “I knew we had a good chance with the most consistent car. The ORBIT car was quite fast down the straight but I knew I could get around him. When he got hit by a prototype and that was just about it. From then on, it was about keeping the car on the track.”

With the victory, the BSR duo moved into the class championship lead. Not bad for a team that missed the season-opener at Sebring and placed eighth in class at Long Beach.

“We wanted to try GT2 and it didn’t make sense for us at the Winter Test,” Pappas said. “We put this together at the last minute, got the car four days before Long Beach and just had a horrible weekend. Jeroen and I have done our part but it is absolutely amazing to watch our team because they are just fantastic.”

(c) ALMS PR