Things didn’t look promising early as the Lola-Mazda dropped as far back as 27th overall before attrition started to take a toll on the class. There were the problems with the Lowe’s Fernandez car, and the Team Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder of Klaus Graf, Sascha Maassen and Greg Pickett led 30 laps before a spin and loss of power sent it tumbling down the order.
“This event, it is truly amazing - year on year increased in significance and attendance,” Leitzinger said. “I was here for the first event in 1998. The buzz just gets bigger and bigger. There are certain places that you go to, Sebring, the Indy 500, Le Mans, and this really has attained that in just a short amount of time and how everyone has embraced that. We’ve had some really horrible disappointments here, and it was really important for Dyson Racing to get this win here.”
Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo, Pierre Kaffer and Mika Salo won in GT2 in their Ferrari F430 GT, the fifth straight endurance victory for the team. A brilliant call by Salo to take wet tires before the rest of the GT2 field proved to be the difference, and it took him six laps to move the Ferrari past the five cars in front of him to take the lead for good.
BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team’s Dirk Müller, Jörg Müller and Tommy Milner placed second in their BMW M3. Dirk Werner and Wolf Henzler were third in their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, clinching the manufacturer championship for Porsche.
“This is only my third race this year with the team,” Salo said. “It is such a good atmosphere; everyone works so hard. You can trust them and they don’t go off the track. It’s so much a pleasure to drive with the Risi team. We might not have been the fastest in the dry but in the wet we were very quick.”
The Ferrari began 10th on the GT2 grid after a tire puncture limited Melo to one flying lap in qualifying. The Ferrari never cracked the top three until the rain fell. The opening portion saw the top six cars in class on the lead lap, another testament to the level of competition in the class.
The victory enabled the Risi team to stay alive in the class championship. Melo and Kaffer are 19 points behind the Flying Lizard Motorsports’ duo of Patrick Long and Jörg Bergmeister with a maximum of 25 points remaining.
“It’s a kind of strange race, but we had a competitive car,” Melo said. “I was a bit conservative at the beginning, the track was wet. I didn’t take any risk. I was feeling comfortable, and in the dry condition we had a good car and could keep up with the guys right up to the last minute. Thanks to Pierre for keeping the car good for his two stints. Our whole crew and the strategy were phenomenal the whole time. Even the tires on wet and dry, we could manage the car really good.”
“Jamie was quick in the race. We made a change in the bar in my first stint but we changed it back,” Kaffer added. “I have to thank my team for working so hard and this victory. I always can learn something from Mika, even from today with not such a long stint, he made the important call today. In the end, we are the lucky winner.”
The Audi R15 TDI of McNish and Capello was the prototype winner in the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge, a revolutionary award that goes to the cars that go the farthest the fastest and with the least environmental impact. The second Flying Lizard Porsche of Seth Neiman, Johannes van Overbeek and Darren Law was the GT winner. Porsche captured the manufacturer season championship in the environmentally based efficiency competition.
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