msrpk.com blog

"Win From the Pole? Not As Easy As It Sounds"

The winning team of Gil deFerran (left) and Simon Pagenaud (right) briefing reporters after the Northeast Grand Prix, Round 5 of the American LeMans Series, at Lime Rock Park.

DeFerran started the race and drove away from Scott Sharp, after the first start was waved off. Traffic from the slower ALMS Challenge (GT3) cars, and GT2 cars played a part, and gave both drivers some interesting moments. DeFerran also was clipped during one of his stints on track, and accidentally turned on the pit lane rev limiter which slowed him down.

All this time, the Patron Highcroft team of Scott Sharp and David Brabham waited to pounce into the lead, if the deFerran team bobbled. Late in the race, Brabham drove into the lead...and looked like he'd duplicate the Highcroft win of 2008--not so fast.

Brabham suffered a puncture with under 15 minutes to go, and had to pit while leading. That gave the lead back to Pagenaud, who drove to victory. The Patron Highcroft team still leads the LMP1 standings by 13 points over the deFerran squad, who'll get some time to do some more tidying up before the next ALMS race, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 8th.

The much ballyhooed Corsa Ginetta Zytek hybrid prototype was able to stay with the Acuras early, but ended up 3rd overall and made history as the first hybrid to compete and complete a major American auto race.

The LMP2 win went to the Dyson Racing Mazda driven by Marino Franchitti (yes, that's Dario's younger brother) and Butch Leitzinger--first win for the 4 cylinder LMP2 program. The Fernandez Racing Acura had mechanical issues but finished second in class and seventh overall, many laps off the pace.

We'll rejoin you from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, July 24. Blog posts and tweets at any time before then if necessary.