ALMSGuy Smith and Chris Dyson look to repeat their 2010 win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend.
Published on 8/05/2011
American Le Mans Series driver Guy Smith was fast Thursday. He was fast Friday morning. More importantly, he was fast Friday afternoon for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge and earned his first career pole position at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The British pilot turned a lap of 1 minute, 12.727 seconds (111.771 mph) for Dyson Racing in qualifying for the fifth round of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón.
Smith was 0.165-second quicker than Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing’s Klaus Graf in his Lola-Aston Martin coupe.
Smith and Chris Dyson were overall race winners at the circuit in 2010, and their Mazda-powered Lola coupe was fastest in three of the first four sessions of the weekend. Last year’s victory was the first for both Smith and Dyson, as well as for tire partner Dunlop and for an ALMS car running on isobutanol.
Through two days of practice and qualifying, it looks as if the Dyson duo isn’t exactly eager to settle for anything short of a repeat.
“I wish it was that easy,” Smith said. “We struggled quite badly with the setup and we pretty much threw everything at it but the kitchen sink. Qualifying was a wild ride with the car sideways a lot of the time. It was a good lap and I’m very happy with it.”
Smith didn’t post his first flying lap until nearly the halfway point of the 15-minute session. He felt a misfire in the Lola-Mazda on his outlap, but the Dyson squad sorted the issue about five minutes later. It took Smith four laps to post his pole-winning time.
“It’s a real challenge,” Smith said of the circuit. “You go somewhere like Mosport and it’s high speed and a challenge in a different way. Here you have times where the car is getting air, time where you have to use the curbs. This is one of those circuits where you can be 23/100s of seconds off but can suck it up and find some time. When you get a good time it’s very rewarding.”
Graf’s best lap was 1:12.892 (111.518 mph) in the car he drives with Lucas Luhr. Steven Kane qualified third at 1:13.607 (110.435 mph) in the Oryx Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda he drives with Humaid Al Masaood. Smith and Dyson entered Mid-Ohio leading the LMP1 championship over the duo of Graf/Luhr.
“For them, you give nothing. Those guys are so good and they are both great drivers,” Smith said. “It’s a difficult track to pass on so if you lose the lead then it is difficult to recover. You get some GT cars between us and it would be fantastic. But it never works like that. Those guys put up a good fight.”
In the GT class, Joey Hand led another 1-2 qualifying result for BMW Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan with a lap of 1:20.539 (100.930 mph) in the BMW M3 GT that he will drive with Dirk Müller. The class championship co-leader was just 0.116-second clear of Dirk Werner in the sister BMW, and the top eight cars were within 0.741 second.
“This is a track that puts on one of the best shows of the year,” said Hand, who saw BMW Team RLL’s three-race win streak end at Mosport. “I lived in Cleveland for awhile and have some track knowledge. The talent in our class is so deep. That’s why having pole here is big. You’re definitely throwing down every lap. A proper qualifying lap is where you got to let it all hang out.”
Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo sat behind the two white M3s in qualifying. Last year’s GT race-winner set a lap of 1:20.745 (100.672 mph) on Friday in the Ferrari 458 Italia that he shares with Toni Vilander. With so many teams and manufacturers within such a small interval, Hand is more than aware of how “on it” he, Müller and BMW Team RLL need to be in order to get back on the winning track.
“There is a lot of back-and-forth here. It’s right-left-right-left,” Hand said. “Our cars are famous for being agile and stopping well. If you get a car with good balance then you’ll be really good. If you get a car without balance then you’ll struggle. The strength of this team is that everyone works together and brings it. Today we took a car that wasn’t that great out of the trailer and worked on it to where it was comfy for me.”
STARTING LINEUP
1. Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, New York; Guy Smith, Bracken, Yorkshire, UK; Lola B09 86/Mazda (LMP1), 1:12.727, 111.771
2. Lucas Luhr, Monte Carlo, Monaco; Klaus Graf, Dornham, Germany; AMR/ Lola Coupe B08 62 (LMP1), 1:12.892, 111.518
3. Steven Kane, Newtownards, Ireland; Humaid Al Masaood, Abu Dhabi, UAE; Lola B09/86 Mazda (LMP1), 1:13.607, 110.435
4. Tony Burgess, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, Ariz.; Lola B06/10 (LMP1), 1:17.035, 105.521
5. Gunnar Jeannette, Salt Lake City, Utah; Ricardo Gonzalez, Monterrey, Mexico; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:17.281, 105.185
6. Kyle Marcelli, Barrie, Ontario, Canada; Tomy Drissi, Los Angeles, Calif.; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:17.332, 105.116
7. Jon Field, Dublin, Ohio; Clint Field, Dublin, Ohio; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:17.670, 104.658
8. Eric Lux, Jacksonville, Fla.; Christian Zugel, Holmdel, New Jersey; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:17.972, 104.253
9. Javier Echeverria, Mexico City, Mexico; David Cheng, Sammamish, Wash. (CN); Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:18.540, 103.499
10. Jon Bennett, Fort Mill, South Carolina; Frankie Montecalvo, Highlands, New Jersey; Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:18.684, 103.309
11. Anthony Nicolosi, Palm Beach, Fla.; Jarrett Boon, Phoenix, Ariz.); Oreca FLM09 (LMPC), 1:19.032, 102.855
12. Dirk Mueller, Monte Carlo, Monaco; Joey Hand, Sacramento, Calif.; BMW M3 GT (GT), 1:20.539, 100.930
13. Bill Auberlen, Redondo Beach, Calif.; Dirk Werner, Kissenbruck, Germany; BMW M3 GT (GT), 1:20.655, 100.785
14. Jaime Melo, Cascavel, Brazil; Toni Vilander, Kankaanpaa, Finland; Ferrari F458 Italia (GT), 1:20.745, 100.672
15. Joerg Bergmeister, Langenfield, Germany; Patrick Long, Bellaire, Fla.; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 1:20.917, 100.458
16. Oliver Gavin, Yardley Hastings, UK; Jan Magnussen, Roskilde, Denmark; Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 (GT), 1:20.944, 100.425
17. Ed Brown, Las Vegas, Nev.; Guy Cosmo, West Palm Beach, Fla.; Ferrari F458 Italia (GT), 1:21.068, 100.271
18. Scott Sharp, Jupiter, Fla.; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, Calif.; Ferrari F458 Italia (GT), 1:21.256, 100.039
19. Olivier Beretta, Monte Carlo, Monaco; Tommy Milner, Leesburg, Va.; Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 (GT), 1:21.280, 100.010
20. Bryan Sellers, Braselton, Ga.; Wolf Henzler, Nuertingen, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 1:21.921, 99.227
21. David Murry, Atlanta, Ga.; Anthony Lazzaro, Atlanta, Ga.; Doran Ford GT (GT), 1:22.128, 98.977
22. Bruno Junqueira, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Kenny Wilden, Oakville, Ontario, Canada; Jaguar XKR (GT), 1:22.569, 98.449
23. P.J. Jones, Torrance, Calif.; Rocky Moran, Ladera Ranch, Calif.; Jaguar XKR (GT), 1:22.971, 97.972
24. Bryce Miller, Summit, New Jersey; Sascha Maassen, Lontzen, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 1:23.084, 97.838
25. Andrea Robertson, Ray, Mich.; Melanie Snow, Pleasant Grove, Utah; Doran Ford GT/Elan (GT), 1:23.854, 96.940
26. Seth Neiman, San Francisco, Calif.; Darren Law, Phoenix, Ariz.; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 1:24.712, 95.958
27. Spencer Pumpelly, Mason Neck, Va.; Duncan Ende, Los Angeles, Calif.; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 1:26.602, 93.864
28. Bill Sweedler, Westport, Conn.; Leh Keen, Dublin, Ga.; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 1:26.614, 93.851
29. Tim Pappas, Boston, Mass.; Jeroen Bleekemolen, Monte Carlo, Monaco Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 1:26.741, 93.713
30. John Potter, Salt Lake City, Utah; Craig Stanton, Long Beach, Calif.; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 1:27.336, 93.075
31. Dion von Moltke, Coral Gables, Fla.; Marc Bunting, Monkton, Md.; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 1:27.429, 92.976
32. Nick Ham, Evergreen, Colo; Chris Cumming, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 1:27.784, 92.600
33. Peter Lesaffre, Rye, New Hampshire; Andrew Davis, Bogart, Ga.; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (GTC), 1:27.791, 92.593
No comments:
Post a Comment