THE LINE

July 25, 2012

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
This week's stop for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón was at Mosport, or, ahem - "Canadian Tire Motorsport Park" - and once again photographer extraordinaire and practicing Renaissance Man John Thawley has sent us some wonderfully spectacular images from the event. Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr (No. 6 Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03a Honda) won for the third straight year at Mosport with their victory last Sunday in the fifth round of the ALMS season. Dyson Racing’s Chris Dyson and Guy Smith (No. 16 Lola B12/60 Mazda coupe) finished ten seconds behind. Conquest Endurance’s Martin Plowman held off Level 5 Motorsports’ Christophe Bouchut for the P2 win. And in GT, Extreme Speed Motorsports took its first ALMS victory when the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was excluded in post-race technical inspections. It moved Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 01 Ferrari F458 Italia into first in class. This was after a late caution with 20 minutes remaining fueled the GT battle with the top three contenders Bergmeister, Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen and van Overbeek hammering nose-to-tail with 11 minutes remaining. Magnussen, who teamed with Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette C6 ZR1, hounded Bergmeister for 10 of those minutes. But when he attempted to take the lead on the final lap, Magnussen opened the door for van Overbeek to slide the Ferrari inside the Corvette at the exit of Turn 5 and take second place. RSR Racing’s Bruno Junqueira and Tomy Drissi (No. 9 ORECA FLM09) won in Prototype Challenge for the first time as co-drivers. Junqueira finished a lap ahead of CORE autosport’s Colin Braun and Jon Bennett in the No. 05 ORECA FLM09. TRG won the GT Challenge class for the second year in a row at Mosport, with Spencer Pumpelly (co-driver Emilio Di Guida) taking advantage of late engine troubles for JDX Racing to drive the No. 66 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to a 1.440-second victory over Alex Job Racing’s Leh Keen. Next up for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón is Mid-Ohio at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 4. ABC’s broadcast featuring live coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET. 

(Perry Nelson - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske/Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet-powered Dallara) finally broke through for a IZOD IndyCar Series win on the featureless 13-turn, 2.224-mile temporary airport circuit at Edmonton's City Centre Airport on Sunday. The race was caution-free, the first time that has happened on a Indy car street/road course since Portland in 2007, which was run under Champ Car sanction. Castroneves had been the runner-up in three of the past four Edmonton races, and was leading late in the 2010 contest when he incurred a penalty for blocking, but Sunday was Helio's day. Check out a recap of the IndyCar action from Edmonton here.

(Perry Nelson - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Takuma Sato (No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda-powered Dallara) finished .8367 of a second behind Castroneves, his career-best day in IndyCar. "Yeah, in the end, I really enjoyed it," Sato said. "I wish that I would have enjoyed it a little more if I could overtake [Castroneves], but you know we were not quite there. He did obviously, a great job, made no mistakes at all... the tires were starting to degrade a little bit, but that was a part of racing and I knew he had a little bit longer sequence of the push to pass. I used it bit by bit, but also he's reacting all the time the last few laps and he used every single straight. It was very difficult to catch it, once we were very close, but it was not enough close to make a maneuver."

(Perry Nelson - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet-powered Dallara) started 17th because of a 10-grid spot penalty for an unapproved engine change and charged to third. "It was definitely an enjoyable drive," according to Power. "I couldn't catch those guys at the end. They were cruising. It's shaping up to be a pretty tight championship. I think if we started 17th and there was going to be no yellows, and we thought we'd end up third, we'd take that for sure. Man, good day. We're definitely tightening up the championship. It's great to have a good day with the Verizon car. We haven't had that for a long time, so very enjoyable and tough race."

(Perry Nelson - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Castroneves, who celebrated with his usual exuberant fence climb bit, gained one position in the championship standings with his 27th Indy car victory (second of the season). Helio is now 23 points behind leader Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28 Andretti Autosport Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet-powered Dallara), who finished seventh. Power is third in the standings (26 points back) heading to the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 5.

(Perry Nelson - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Polesitter Carlos Munoz (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Team Dialy-Ser) went back to the front on Lap 17 of 40 following a Lap 14 pit stop to have rain tires replaced with slicks, and went on to victory in the Edmonton 100. It was the first Firestone Indy Lights win for the 20-year-old Colombian. "It was a crazy race with rain," said Munoz, wrapped in the Colombian flag in Victory Circle. "Once it was dry, the car was unbelievable." Sebastian Saavedra, driving the No. 27 Team AFS car, was 8.3453 seconds back and Esteban Guerrieri finished third in the No. 11 Pistas Argentinas/Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Curb Agajanian car. Guerrieri, the 2011 race winner who notched his seventh podium of the season, holds a 27-point lead over Saavedra in the championship heading to the next event in Quebec in two weeks.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Michelin's racing website - "Michelin Alley" - and get in on all of the behind-the-scenes buzz. Go here. - PMD

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