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ALMS: Muscle Milk Pickett drops win at Road Atlanta, still leaves with P1 title

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Antoine Cremer
Muscle Milk Pickett Racing lost out on the overall win at Petit Le Mans – Rebellion Racing came through to pick up the spoils –, but still went home with the drivers' and team P1 championships.

Lucas Luhr, aboard Muscle Milk' HPD ARX-03a was leading when he collided with a slower GT car. The team lost 65 minutes in the pits repairing the damages, meaning Luhr, Graf and Dumas, never had a chance thereafter to win.

Still, by coming in third – behind championship rivals Chris Dyson and Guy Smith's No. 16 Lola-Mazda – they picked up enough points to secure the big prize. Andrea Belicchi, Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani never looked back after being granted the lead from Luhr.

Their Lola-Toyota coupe crossed the line with a three-lap priority.

In GT, Extreme Speed Motorsports picked up the win after earning pole the day before, thanks to Toni Vilander, Johannes van Overbeek and Scott Sharp, who were driving the No. 01 Ferrari F458. The trio managed to fend off offensives from both Corvette and BMW.

Toni Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Jordan Taylor, in the No. 3 Corvette C6 ZR1, came in second, followed by Jörg Müller, Bill Auberlen and Jonathan Summerton in BMW Team RLL's No. 55 BMW M3.

Level 5 Motorsports' Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz topped off Bouchut and Tucker's drivers' crown with the win in P2.

CORE autosport took its eighth PC win of the season thanks to Alex Popow, Ryan Dalziel and Mark Wilkins, while, in GTC, the honours went to Henrique Cisneros, Mario Farnbacher and Jakub Giermaziak (No. 30 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup). Giermaziak made the most of late mistake by rival Leh Keen in the closing stages of the contest.

Many will also remember the DeltaWing's great performance. Racing as unclassified, Gunnar Jeannette and Lucas Ordonnez completed 388 laps, on their way to sixth position overall, after having started dead last.

It was the prototype's first North American competion.
Antoine Cremer
Antoine Cremer
Automotive expert