Petit Le Mans

BRASELTON, GA October 3, 2010 – The thirty-sixth year for Dyson Racing unfortunately ended five hours early Saturday at Road Atlanta. While running a solid second in LMP2 with their #16 Castrol Mazda Lola, the gearbox suffered a failure on lap 200, four hours and twelve minutes into the nine hour and twelve minute race.
“I had changed up to sixth gear and a few moments later, something let go, so I pushed in the clutch and did what I could to coast back to the pits,” said Chris Dyson. The problem could not be fixed in the remaining time and the team retired the car.

The team picked up from their LMP2 win here last year with a pole-winning drive by Guy Smith on Friday. Dyson started the Dunlop-shod car race morning and pitted on lap fifty-eight for fuel, tire and driver change, with Andy Meyrick taking over. “We were running the leader’s pace, and running according to plan,” commented Dyson. “We were really just keeping pressure on them and hoping for a couple of breaks to fall our way.”

Meyrick first drove for Dyson Racing at this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring, co-driving with Dyson and Smith to the season’s first podium finish. “The pace was quite good in traffic,” said Meyrick. “It is a very rewarding car to drive and I think we have the quickest car in the series.” Smith took over from lap 121 to 189, noting on the radio that the “car was very, very good with good balance.”

This was the last race of the year for the American Le Mans Series. The highlight of the year for the team was the overall win at Mid-Ohio in August. It was the first overall American Le Mans Series victory for Guy Smith, Mazda, BP Biofuel IsoButanol, Dunlop, and for Castrol. Smith took his first ALMS pole at Mazda Raceway in May and backed it up with the LMP2 pole yesterday. Dyson set fast lap at Mid-Ohio and Smith took the honors at Mazda Raceway. The team finished on the podium three more times with the team finishing third in the LMP team championship and Chris Dyson third and Guy Smith fifth in the LMP drivers championship

“We would have liked to end the year in victory circle, but this was a positive year for us,” said Team Principal Rob Dyson. “This is a season where we re-asserted ourselves as a team to beat for overall wins. I think that is a credit to Mazda, BP/Castrol and the hard work that everyone did last winter at Advanced Engine Research on the wonderful 2.0-liter MZR-R Turbo engine and the IsoButanol. Also, our thanks go to Lola whom we have developed this LMP and work with our engineers and team so well. Our switch to Dunlop tires could not have worked better. The team executed brilliantly and our drivers did a phenomenal job. We were a force to be reckoned with all year.”