PLM : PR1/Mathiasen wins for 172 thousandths !
In LMPC, the finish went down to the wire with the ORECA-FLM 09 of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports driven by Lewis/Richard/Dobson coming out on top. After battling nearly every lap for 300 laps, the Intersport Racing team, composed of Marcelli/Ducote/Drissi missed out by just 172 thousandths ! Third in the race, Jeannette/Gonzalez take the American Le Mans Series title, tied with Eric Lux (Genoa Racing) who finished fourth. The LMPC class was hotly contested all year and it came down to the last minute to determine a champion.
LMPC. Henri Richard : « It’s a win full of fun… »
Once again the LMPC class was a hotly contest battle that saw Intersport Racing and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports fighting to the end. It wasn’t until the final lap that Lewis/Richard/Dobson (PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports) were declared the victors with only. 172 thousandths’ gap over Marcelli/Ducote/Drissi (Intersport Racing).
None of the six drivers gave an inch during the 368 laps covered by the eventual winner. « It was just fun » said Henri Richard after the podium. « To be totally honest, I didn’t know what place I was in because the team didn’t want to tell me in order to keep pressure off. It was the first time that I drove this car here and the team gave us a fantastic car. I gave the controls to Ryan, who took it to the finish. It’s a win full of fun for us today. »
The two title hopefuls were both fighting for the lead, but Jeannette/Gonzalez/Junco Jr (CORE Autosport) and Lux/Zügel/Grogor/Julian (Genoa Racing) were held up. At the end, the CORE Autosport foursome reached the 3rd step on the podium, ahead of Genoa Racing. After the final tally, it was discovered that three drivers are champions ! Jeannette, Gonzalez and Lux ! « It’s been a fantastic year and I had a lot of fun sharing the drive with Ricardo, » explained Gunnar Jeannette. « The team really went far since Sebring. » In its first year in the category, CORE Autosport takes the Teams title ahead of Genoa Racing.
Four at the Petit Le Mans and championship leader with only a three point lead arriving in Georgia, Eric Lux is also champion after an exciting race : « The start was pretty chaotic with a lot of traffic. The whole season has been tight, and the competition has been intense at each event. At the end of the day we are all racers and we all want to have intense battles, like was the case today and during the whole championship. »
The second CORE Autosport ORECA-FLM 09 of Dalziel/Montecalvo/Bennett finished in fifth place after an incident in the final laps. Contact in the early part of the race kept Performance Tech Motorsports (Boon/Nicolosi/Lueders) from contesting for the win. The trio crossed the line in sixth position.