THE LINE - AUGUST 14, 2013

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.011)
The American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series put on quite a show at Road America last weekend. Brendon Hartley and Scott Mayer (No. 8 Starworks Motorsport BMW/Riley) won the VISITFLORIDA.com Sports Car 250 on Saturday, the first victory for both drivers. The duo completed 70 laps in the two-hour, 45-minute race on the 4.048-mile circuit, averaging 102.974 mph. Bill Auberlen prevailed over Patrick Long to join Paul Dalla Lana in winning GT in the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3, their third victory of the season.  Joel Miller led the final four laps to take his fourth GX victory in the No. 00 Visit Florida Racing/SpeedSource Mazda 6, joined by three-time winner Tristan Nunez. In the ALMS portion of the weekend - the Orion Energy Systems 245 which ran on Sunday - Dominick Farnbacher and Marc Goossens won a tight GT battle in the No. 91 Viper GTS-R. It was the 17th victory in the ALMS for Viper, and the first victory for a Viper in thirteen-and-one-half years. Scott Tucker scored his fourth consecutive P2 victory for Level 5 Motorsports, joining guest driver Simon Pagenaud in the No. 551 Siemens//Alpina Watches/Ohiya Casino Resort HPD ARX-03b. Bruno Junqueira and Duncan Ende captured their second Prototype Challenge presented by Continental Tire victory of the season, finishing third overall in the No. 9 RSR Racing ORECA FLM09. Spencer Pumpelly recorded his sixth career victory in GTC, joining second-time winner Nelson Canache Jr. in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Venezuela/eSilicon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and of course Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf (No. 6 Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03c) rolled to their fifth consecutive American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón overall win. Read more about last weekend's racing in this week's "Fumes" and see John Thawley's scintillating images for Grand-Am and ALMS here and here.
(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.011)

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.011)
Action Express Racing finished second and third in the Daytona Prototype class on Saturday. Joao Barbosa finished 4.290 seconds behind Hartley in the No. 5 Corvette DP started by Christian Fittipaldi. Brothers Brian and Burt Frisselle took the final podium position in the No. 9 Corvette DP.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.011)
The DeltaWing ran up front for the first time ever in ALMS competition – leading twice for 16 laps – as Katherine Legge put the No. 0 DeltaWing LM12 into the overall lead on lap 20, and then paced eight laps before giving way to Luhr’s No. 6 Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03c. Co-driver Andy Meyrick regained the lead during pit stops, and also led eight laps before being passed by Graf in the Canada Corner with 51 minutes remaining. Legge and Meyrick took third in class and placed fifth overall – the first finish for the team this season.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.011)
The SRT Viper Team celebrated the marques' first win since 2000 with its win in GT at Road America.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.011)
It was the third career ALMS victory in Prototype Challenge for Bruno Junqueira - all for RSR Racing - and the sixth career triumph for Ende.

(Grand-Am)
Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi (No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche Carrera ) scored a dramatic victory in Saturday’s Road America 200 – along with a huge step toward their first Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport driver championship. Plumb passed Spencer Pumpelly for the lead when the latter pitted for fuel with four minutes remaining, and then nursed his Porsche for two more laps to the checkered flag. Nick Mancuso – looking to give Aston Martin its first CTSCC victory in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Vantage started by Frank Montecalvo – made up 10 seconds in the closing two laps but came up 1.932 seconds shy at the checkered flag.

(Grand-Am)
Tom Dyer (No. 196 RSR Motorsports Honda Civic Si, started by Andrew Novich) ran out of fuel in the Street Tuner race on the final lap and Gregory Liefooghe went on to win in the No. 81 BimmerWorld BMW 328i started from the pole by Tyler Cooke. Both the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge return to action next weekend with GRAND-AM’s first visit to Kansas Speedway for Saturday’s SFP Grand Prix.

(© 2013, Brian Czobat LAT Photo USA)
Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing M&M's Toyota Camry) won the Cheez-It 355 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International road course by .486 seconds over runner-up Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Penske Racing Miller Lite Ford Fusion). Martin Truex Jr. (No. 56 Michael Waltrip Racing NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry) finished third. The flow of the race was totally screwed-up by multiple caution periods. Watch the videos here.

(© 2013, Brian Czobat autostock USA)
Brad Keselowski (No. 22 Penske Racing Hertz Ford Mustang) leads teammate Sam Hornish Jr (No. 12 Penske Racing Penske Truck Rental Ford Mustang) in the Zippo 200 Nationwide race at Watkins Glen International on Saturday. Keselowski won by 1.418-seconds over Hornish Jr. Brian Vickers (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) was third. It was Keselowski's fourth Nationwide win this season and the 24th of his career. Watch a video here.

(Ford)
Toomas Heikkinen followed up his X Games Los Angeles gold medal by making Global Rallycross history on Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Heikkinen, driver of the Bluebeam OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST, won his fifth straight series event in dominating fashion as he earned the top seed before winning both of his heat races and then beating fellow Ford driver Tanner Foust to the checkered flag in the GRC Round 7 main event. Heikkinen extended his advantage in the point standings to 43 over teammate Foust, who denied Heikkinen from clinching the overall championship by finishing second.

(Ford)
The runner-up finish was the second straight for Tanner Foust in the Rockstar Energy OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST and third podium appearance in Global Rallycross this season.