ALMS: Penske Racing Mosport Review
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Aug 26, 2008
Penske Racing
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada - While the DHL Penske Porsche RS Spyder team in the American Le Mans Series’ (ALMS) LMP2 class retained their points leads going into next week’s Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, no one was really satisfied with the results of today’s two hour, 45 minute Grand Prix of Mosport presented by Mobil 1. The No. 6 Penske Porsche of Sascha Maassen (Germany)/Patrick Long (USA) car finished third in class – their fourth podium finish – and the points-leading No. 7 Bernhard(Germany)/Dumas(France) car ended up sixth in class after running out of fuel on the last lap.
John Erickson, general manager of Penske Racing, was pleased that the No. 6 Long/Maassen RS Spyder finished on the podium, helping both team and manufacturers points, but was disappointed that the right strategy for the Bernhard/Dumas car did not work out. “We knew it would be close on fuel at the end, so we came in with two minutes to go for a quick splash, and thought we could make it to the end,” he said.
“We didn’t put in more fuel because we did want to lose additional track position, but the overall leading Audi passed the start- finish line just after the two-hour, 45-minute time limit, so the whole field had to do another lap. Romain made to within 100 yards of the finish with the extra lap, but he ran out of gas.”
Bernhard started on class pole and ran a strong first stint, bringing the car in for his pit stop and driving change during a caution flag at the 44-minute mark, and quick work by the Penske crew got Dumas out of the pits ahead of all the Audis and Acuras and into the overall lead. Dumas led the race overall during two separate stages of the event, and led the class several times until the last shuffle of pits stops, when the car was pushed back to fifth in class. He worked his way back to challenge for second place before the splash-and-go and the fuel shortage at the end.
In the LMP2 driving championship point standings, Bernhard/Dumas now lead the Brabham/Sharp Acura drivers, who won the class at Mosport, by ten points, while Porsche leads Acura in the manufacturer points by six points.
Points Reports Post-Mosport
LMP2 Drivers
1. Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Porsche 149
2. David Brabham, Scott Sharp, Acura 139
3. Sascha Maassen, Patrick Long, Porsche 90
4. Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti, Porsche 79
5. Chris Dyson, Guy Smith, Porsche 66
