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Patrón Highcroft And Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b Cars Make The Podium
LEXINGTON, Ohio - Jul 19 Saturday's Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was setting up to be another David Brabham highlight reel, just like last week's wild Lime Rock Park overall victory, when he grabbed the lead with 90 seconds left in the race. The popular Aussie racer diced his way through heavy late-race traffic with his bright green, blue and black No. 9 Patrón Highcroft Acura ARX-01b prototype sports car and pressured Romain Dumas for the last 15 minutes of the two-hour, 45-minute feature event at the picturesque 2.25-mile road course near Mansfield, Ohio. With late-race passes on Dumas at Long Beach and Timo Bernhard, Dumas' teammate, at Lime Rock, Brabham was poised to score his third LMP2 class win in hot and humid conditions Saturday. Brabham, the only ALMS driver to ever win in all four racing divisions, dodged his Acura machine inside and outside, for a way past Dumas' Penske Porsche. But Brabham, who co-drove with veteran Scott Sharp, had to settle for second this time around, losing at the checkered flag by just .609 seconds. The win for the Penske was its third consecutive class title at Mid-Ohio. The Patrón Highcroft team wasn't the only Acura squad on the podium Saturday in the 111 lap endurance event as the duo of Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz finally shook off some tough racing luck to bring the No. 15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b to third in the LMP2 division. The Lowe's car experienced early handling troubles before Fernandez, a two-time Mid-Ohio winner in open-wheel and sports car competition, clocked some sizzling lap times to close in on Bernhard and Brabham at the finish. The Lowe's team repeated their third-place finish of a year ago at Mid-Ohio. Early contact with a lapped car hurt the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b machine's chance for the Andretti Green team to score a podium finish Saturday. Newcomer Rafael Matos ran well early before his car hit one of Aston Martin GT-2 cars. Matos was forced to pit and the team had to replace front suspension pieces. Le Mans veteran Franck Montagny drove hard to the finish, despite an eight-lap deficit to bring the XM Acura to seventh in the LMP2 category. The No. 66 Panasonic ELS Sound de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b car, which started from the pole position with team owner and former Indy 500 champion Gil de Ferran at the wheel, led the LMP2 class from the start to Lap 40. De Ferran then jumped from the cockpit and handed the driving chores to young Frenchman Simon Pagenaud. The 24-year old star drove brilliantly in the stint before pitting on Lap 68. While the de Ferran team changed four Michelin tires and refueled the car, a fire broke out in the team's pit area. Pagenaud stopped immediately and jumped from the cockpit. The ALMS safety team was on site quickly to extinguish the flames. However, some crew members sustained injuries in the incident. The team's race was concluded immediately due to the fire. One crew member was transported to Ohio State University Hospital in Columbus for treatment. Acura Sports Car Challenge (LMP2 Class) 1. Penske Porsche No. 7 2. PATRÓN HIGHCROFT ACURA ARX-01b No. 9 3. LOWE'S FERNANDEZ ACURA ARX-01b No. 15 7. ANDRETTI GREEN XM ACURA ARX-01b No. 26 9. DE FERRAN PANASONIC ACURA ARX-01b No. 66 UPCOMING ALMS RACE: Event: Generac 500 Track: Road America Elkhart Lake, Wis (4 miles) Date: Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008, 4 p.m. (CDT) Distance: 4 Hours TV: SPEED-TV, Aug. 10, 2 p.m. EDT ACURA QUOTES: DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX- SCOTT SHARP (#9 Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX- LUIS DIAZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX-01b): "At the ADRIAN FERNANDEZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura ARX- FRANCK MONTAGNY (#26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b): "I am 100 percent certain we had the car to RAFAEL MATOS (#26 XM Satellite Radio Acura ARX-01b): "I came up to lap one of the Aston Martins, which GIL De FERRAN (#66 Panasonic ELS Surround Acura ARX-01b, after the pit fire involving his de Ferran |
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