Phenomenal strategy and a bit of luck sent Penske Motorsports to its second 1-2 overall finish in the American Le Mans Series as Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard drove to victory Saturday in the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Dumas crossed the finish line 0.76 seconds ahead of Sascha Maassen in the team s other Penske entry.
It marked the second time in two years that Dumas and Bernhard drove their LMP2 entry to an overall win. They did it for the first time last May at Mid-Ohio. Porsches took the top three spots as Dyson Racing s Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace finished 13 seconds behind the winners.
“It was a tough race, ” Dumas said. “Timo did a great job at the start and kept us in a good position. After the safety car came we made a perfect driver change. After I drove we didn t have a lot of traffic obviously. For Porsche to finish 1-2-3 is fantastic. “
Dumas and Bernhard ran the entire race on one set of tires, a strategy the team developed prior to the race. Their pit stop and the race s only caution also fell at the right spot as Dumas re-entered the track with 70 minutes remaining, the maximum time allowed for one driver in the race.
“We decided to take the risk and it wasn t easy on the car, ” Dumas said. “We took the risk and it helped us win the race. The driver change was really good and the tires were good and I knew I could push. Ten minutes from the end I had a 10-second lead and had to focus on not making mistakes. “
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