Honda Car Forum

The first 30 minutes of Saturday's Utah Grand
Prix had the three Acura teams, Andretti Green Racing, Lowe's Fernandez
Racing and Highcroft Racing, leading the LMP2 class
and showing excellent speed on the long 4.5-mile, 24-turn road circuit at Miller
Motorsports Park.

Marino Franchitti, driving the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01a, made
a sensational
start from his sixth position and moved to second overall on the opening lap
of the American Le Mans
Series race. Franchitti took his machine to first in the LMP2 division and
chased the overall-leading,
more-powerful Audi.

Then Luis Diaz, in the No. 15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura Lola, made a tremendous
pass on Fran-
chitti in traffic and jumped to the front position. Diaz, teaming with Adrian
Fernandez, set a blistering
pace before handling the driving chores to his teammate at Lap 26.

Meanwhile, Stefan Johansson took over the overall lead on Lap 27 in his No.
9 Highcroft Racing
Acura ARX-01a, as the Connecticut-based team worked on a fuel-conserving strategy.
David Brabham
jumped in the car and drove hard before trouble struck by Lap 45.

At one point in the race, the Acura cars ran 1-2-3 in the LMP2 category.

But by the time the race entered its final 30 minutes, the fortunes of the
three Acura teams had
gone south.

Franchitti had to pit the AGR Acura with a gearbox problem and his teammate
Bryan Herta, the
Sebring champion, never got into the car Saturday. The team retired after the
one-hour mark. Fernan-
dez was forced to pit in the middle of the race after being hit by a slower
car and the Lowe's car ex-
ploded a left rear tire.

Brabham suffered a similar fate to Franchitti, as the Highcroft Acura was
forced to pit with trans-
mission trouble.

At the end, the Penske Porsches finished 1-2 in LMP2 with Ryan Briscoe and
Sasha Maassen
taking the No. 6 Porsche to the overall win. Audi finished second overall and
first in the LMP1 class.

The Lowe's Acura Lola finished fifth in LMP2 and seventh overall in the
two-hour, 45-minute
contest, the fifth round of the 12-event American Le Mans Series.

Penske's win was the third consecutive overall victory for Porsche and
extended the team's ad-
vantage in the ALMS seasonal point standings.

Utah Grand Prix ALMS (LMP2 Class)


(TV, CBS-TV, May 20, 1-3 p.m. EDT)

1. Penske Porsche No. 6


2. Penske Porsche No. 7



3. Dyson Porsche No. 16



5. LOWE'S FERNANDEZ ACURA Lola No. 15



8. HIGHCROFT RACING ACURA ARX-01a No. 9



9. ANDRETTI GREEN ACURA ARX-01a No. 26

American Le Mans Series Point Standings
(LMP2 Class)

1. Roman Dumas............................................9 1


Timo Bernhard.......................................... .91

3. Sasha Maassen..........................................7 8


Ryan Briscoe........................................... ...78

5. DAVID BRABHAM.......................................55


STEFAN JOHNASSON.................................55

7. Andy Wallace........................................... ..54


Butch Leitzinger........................................ 54

9. BRYAN HERTA............................................5 2

10. ADRIAN FERNANDEZ.................................48


LUIS DIAZ.............................................. ...48

ACURA QUOTES:

BRYAN HERTA (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-
01a): "It was very disappointing for the XM Satellite Radio
Acura team. Marino [Franchitti] made a tremendous start
and I got the feeling that the car was handling great. Marino
said we had a car that could run with the leaders. But we
lost a gearbox part and it was just too tough to fix it in time.
We are trying very hard to stay with the Porsches but they
are very fast. We now have a six-week break before Lime
Rock and I expect us to prepare hard in that time. We want
to come out strong in the next couple of races."

MARINO FRANCHITTI (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR
Acura ARX-01a): "I felt a vibration like a flat tire and then
there was an explosion. I got a very good start but I don't
know what was going on at the start. The Penske cars just
didn't go. So I just went for a hole and it was there. It was similar
to the St. Petersburg start, but this time there was
no contact. I think I could have held off [Luis] Diaz in the Lowe's Acura
but I got held up by a Porsche going into
Turn One. By that time Diaz was able to get inside and take the position. It's
a shame today but the XM Satellite
Radio crew gave me a terrific car. We just had a gearbox that let go and we
had to park the car. I feel badly for
Bryan [Herta] too, because he never got in the car. And he is fast at the circuit."

DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01a): "Of course, we're
disappointed with the outcome but
we've taken away a lot from this race. We gained a lot of ground considering
the amount of track time we lost dur-
ing practice. The guys did a great job with the set up. Once the car started
to hook up during my stint, I felt I could
run very quickly. Unfortunately, it was at that point that the gearbox acted
up. But we got our points and learned a
lot from this race. The next challenge is on home turf at Lime Rock so we've
got a good one to look forward to in a
few weeks."

STEFAN JOHANSSON (#9 Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01a): "Wow, that start
was crazy. I don't know what
happened to the Porsche. It felt like they were still behind the pace car.
It was a wild scene into Turn One. I got
botched up with a bunch of cars and one of the Porsches hit me in the side.
The right rear wheel is all bent up. I
don't know how the air stayed in the tire. After that, the car felt pretty
good. We were saving fuel so I couldn't really
make a hard charge early. But overall, the car is good."

LUIS DIAZ: (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura Lola B06/40): "The Lowe's
car was really good. I was quicker than the
Porsches and I was staying up with the Audi. That start was very strange. I
couldn't figure out what the Penske
cars were doing. I got stuck behind the Mazda for quite some time. But after
I got by him, I was able to move up to
the leaders. Unfortunately, Adrian [Fernandez] had a tough problem with contact
with a slower car. Our car was
better than our finish."

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez
Acura Lola B06/40): "It was just one of those days.
The two GT cars I was passing never saw me. The
Ferrari hit me in my left rear when I was passing him.
I'm sure he didn't see me. With the Porsche GT, I
was completely beside him and he just never saw
me. I wouldn't have done anything differently. It was
one of those things. We just had no luck. We had a
strong car, a car that I think was strong enough to win
the race. Unfortunately, everything went wrong in
that respect."

Upcoming: NORTHWEST GRAND PRIX

Date: July 6-7, 2007

Location: Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT

Track Type: 1.54-mile, Eight-turn road circuit

Race: Round 6 of 12 Races, 3 p.m.

American Le Mans Series

Distance: 2 hours, 45 minutes