ALMS press release
Patrón Highcroft Racing scored its third consecutive victory in the American Le Mans Series on Sunday with a hard-fought victory in the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix.
Simon Pagenaud drove the final 1:45 in the team’s HPD ARX-01c, and the Patrón Highcroft crew took advantage of a quick final pit stop to beat Drayson Racing’s Emanuele Pirro to the line by 19.116 seconds at Miller Motorsports Park.
Pagenaud, who qualified on pole position, and Brabham haven’t lost since the Long Beach round in April. Sunday’s victory was a hard-fought one considering a couple of disadvantages for the Patrón Highcroft car. The high altitude and long front-straight favored the bigger cars like the Drayson Lola-Judd and the turbocharged prototypes in the field.
No problem for PHR’s dynamic duo, especially with quick pit work. The team’s final stop was 18 seconds quicker than the final stop for Drayson. Pagenaud pitted 19 minutes later, and the Patrón Highcroft crew short-filled the fuel tank. As a result, the team gained 18 seconds worth of advantage.
Brabham started in the car from the point but got shuffled back to fifth place by the first turn due to the massive frontstretch that allowed the bigger engines to outpace the ARX-01c. But the pit work and the HPD’s advantage in the corners helped erase what had been a nearly 15-second lead for Pirro in the closed-top coupe.
He and Jonny Cocker led twice for 32 laps. Brabham and Pagenaud combined to lead three times for 36 laps. The pairing also increased their championship lead in LMP to 11 points over Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Klaus Graf. He and Greg Pickett placed third, 90 seconds behind the winning car.
The Level 5 Motorsports duo of Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker won for the third time in LMP Challenge. Bouchut crossed the finish line in the first of Level 5’s two ORECA FLM09s a lap ahead of Gunnar Jeannette in Green Earth Team Gunnar’s entry. Bouchut and Tucker lead Jeannette, who drove with Christian Zugel, by 11 points in the class championship.
Race classification:
1- Brabham/Pagenaud (HPD ARX-01c) - Highcroft - 91 laps in 2.45'43"162 (1st LMP)
2 - Pirro/Cocker (Lola B09/60 Judd) - Drayson - 19"116
3 - Pickett/Graf (Porsche RS Spyder) - Cytosport - 1'30"374
4 - Field/Field (Lola B06/10 AER) - Intersport - 3 laps
5 - Tucker/Bouchut (Oreca FLM09) - Level5 - 5 laps
6 - Jeannette/Zugel (Oreca FLM09) - Jeannette - 6 laps
7 - Figge/Hyatt (Oreca FLM09) - PR1 - 6 laps
8 - Tucker/Wallace (Oreca FLM09) - Level5 - 6 laps
9 - Melo/Bruni (Ferrari F430) - Risi - 6 laps (1st GT)
etc.
Patrón Highcroft Racing scored its third consecutive victory in the American Le Mans Series on Sunday with a hard-fought victory in the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix.
Simon Pagenaud drove the final 1:45 in the team’s HPD ARX-01c, and the Patrón Highcroft crew took advantage of a quick final pit stop to beat Drayson Racing’s Emanuele Pirro to the line by 19.116 seconds at Miller Motorsports Park.
Pagenaud, who qualified on pole position, and Brabham haven’t lost since the Long Beach round in April. Sunday’s victory was a hard-fought one considering a couple of disadvantages for the Patrón Highcroft car. The high altitude and long front-straight favored the bigger cars like the Drayson Lola-Judd and the turbocharged prototypes in the field.
No problem for PHR’s dynamic duo, especially with quick pit work. The team’s final stop was 18 seconds quicker than the final stop for Drayson. Pagenaud pitted 19 minutes later, and the Patrón Highcroft crew short-filled the fuel tank. As a result, the team gained 18 seconds worth of advantage.
Brabham started in the car from the point but got shuffled back to fifth place by the first turn due to the massive frontstretch that allowed the bigger engines to outpace the ARX-01c. But the pit work and the HPD’s advantage in the corners helped erase what had been a nearly 15-second lead for Pirro in the closed-top coupe.
He and Jonny Cocker led twice for 32 laps. Brabham and Pagenaud combined to lead three times for 36 laps. The pairing also increased their championship lead in LMP to 11 points over Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Klaus Graf. He and Greg Pickett placed third, 90 seconds behind the winning car.
The Level 5 Motorsports duo of Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker won for the third time in LMP Challenge. Bouchut crossed the finish line in the first of Level 5’s two ORECA FLM09s a lap ahead of Gunnar Jeannette in Green Earth Team Gunnar’s entry. Bouchut and Tucker lead Jeannette, who drove with Christian Zugel, by 11 points in the class championship.
Race classification:
1- Brabham/Pagenaud (HPD ARX-01c) - Highcroft - 91 laps in 2.45'43"162 (1st LMP)
2 - Pirro/Cocker (Lola B09/60 Judd) - Drayson - 19"116
3 - Pickett/Graf (Porsche RS Spyder) - Cytosport - 1'30"374
4 - Field/Field (Lola B06/10 AER) - Intersport - 3 laps
5 - Tucker/Bouchut (Oreca FLM09) - Level5 - 5 laps
6 - Jeannette/Zugel (Oreca FLM09) - Jeannette - 6 laps
7 - Figge/Hyatt (Oreca FLM09) - PR1 - 6 laps
8 - Tucker/Wallace (Oreca FLM09) - Level5 - 6 laps
9 - Melo/Bruni (Ferrari F430) - Risi - 6 laps (1st GT)
etc.