Saturday, July 19, 2008

Hot Times in More Ways Than One
The results will show that Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard won the LMP 2 class at Mid-Ohio. David Brabham in the Highcroft Acura was catching the class leading Penske Porsche Spyder, but couldn't get the job done this week, and finished 2nd. We'll never know if the deFerran Acura would have had something for Dumas and Bernhard, because late in the race, the car was caught up in a pit fire, which happened when the fuel hose hung up as Simon Pagenaud started to drive away...when E10 hits a hot exhaust...a fire is not far behind. The IMSA medics were on scene to attend to the fueler, who suffered burns, and was taken to the Ohio State Medical Center, but not before waving to the spectators and fellow crewmen as he was loaded into the ambulance. IMSA has this rule that anyone going into the pits during a race be dressed in a flame resistant fire suit. The incident today is exactly why this rule exists.
The overall winners are Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner in the LMP 1 Audi R10 diesel, who expected this 2.25 mile road course to be the province of the smaller LMP 2 machines. Torque, tires and timing were the key for the victory...5th of 2008. We last saw Luhr and Werner win at Long Beach.
That'll put a wrap on today's submissions...we'll rejoin you for the IndyCar race tomorrow.

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