LEXINGTON, OH, May 21, 2006 – The cold front that moved through the mid-west this weekend also brought a cold shoulder to Dyson Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. A repeat of their one-two finish at last year’s American Le Mans race was not to be. James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger in the # 16 Thetford/Norcold car finished fifth today and second in LMP1, while the #20 AER-powered Lola of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith retired three laps into the race after being sidelined by transmission problems.
James Weaver was running second forty-five minutes from the end when a tire puncture put him in the pea gravel. “The left rear tire went down going into the hairpin,” said Weaver. “The car shot straight into the hedge and by the time we dug ourselves out, they would not open the pits and we lost two laps with that. After we got the tire replaced and back in the race, the car was fine, it was just that tire going down that did us in.”
Butch Leitzinger supplied the major portion of the excitement for the first hour of the race. Starting third, he was passed by Timo Bernhard in the Porsche on the sixth lap. Three laps later Leitzinger took back third place and than passed the Audi for second thirty laps later. Leitzinger stretched a gap at a second a lap on the Audi until pitting on lap 45 and handing the car over to James Weaver. “It actually was fun out there,” said Leitzinger. “There is something about this track. There are not many good times in a race car while driving. Usually it is a lot of work and after it is done, you think ‘that was fun’ but Mid-Ohio and this car, and battling like we were today, it really was a good time. Both with Bernard in the Porsche and McNish in the Audi, we had a nice dice going. Everyone was driving aggressively and right up to the line of professional courtesy – it was very tough but very fair.”
The next race for Dyson racing will at be their “home track,” Lime Rock, CT on July 1st. It will be the twenty-first anniversary of Dyson Racing’s entry into the top echelon of sports car racing. They debuted their Porsche 962 at Lime Rock in the International Motorsports Association GTP class and won the race. In the twenty years since, they have not relinquished their title as America’s premier sport car team.
Pos | Car# | Class | Drivers | Differential | Car Make |
1. | 7 | P2 | Bernhard/Dumas | 0 | Porsche RS Spyder |
2. | 6 | P2 | Maassen/Luhr | 0.434 | Porsche RS Spyder |
3. | 2 | P1 | McNish/Capello | 7.303 | Audi R8 |
4. | 37 | LMP2 | Field/Halliday | 3 laps | Lola B05/40/AER |
5. | 16 | P1 | Leitzinger/Weaver | 3.095 | Lola B06/10/AER |
6. | 4 | GT1 | Gavin/Beretta | 11.955 | Corevette C6-R |
7. | 3 | GT1 | Fellows/OConnell | 13.788 | Corvette C6-R |
8. | 007 | GT1 | Enge/Turner | 4 laps | Aston Martin DBR9 |
9. | 009 | GT1 | Lamy/Sarrazin | 0.338 | Aston Martin DBR9 |
10. | 8 | P2 | Bach/Cosmo | 7 laps | Courage C65/Mazda |