BRASELTON, GA October 6, 2007 –Continuing their momentum of the second half of the American Le Mans Series season, Dyson Racing finished on the podium at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Chris Dyson and Guy Smith finished third overall and moved within six points of sixth-place finishers and teammates Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger who are currently third in the championship.
“This is a great result for the team,” noted Chris Dyson. “Although we did not have the fastest car out there today, it was consistent and Guy and I could push hard for the entire race. We stuck to our game plan, which was to keep out of trouble and pick the other guys off. The crew executed flawlessly in the pit stops, and our strategy and pace put us in a position where we were able to capitalize. The race result speaks volumes for our strong teamwork today.”
Even by the standards of endurance races which have become virtual sprint races, this tenth running of the Petit Le Mans was notably aggressive. There were nine yellows and it took a third of the race for things to settle down. “It was pretty chaotic out there,” commented Smith. “I don’t know what it was about this race – it was an endurance race, but everyone was pushing extremely hard the whole race.”
While the #20 Porsche RS Spyder of Dyson and Smith enjoyed a relatively trouble-free run and improved ten spots from their starting position, the sister #16 Thetford/Norcold of Andy Lally, Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace was less fortunate. The #16 car developed a misfire nine laps into the race and lost eleven laps replacing the plug wire loom. The misfire returned again at the eight hour mark, but the team decided to soldier on to the end. “I was real happy with the handling of the car in the race,” remarked Leitzinger. “In qualifying and even in warm-up we had understeer but during the race, the car ran very well with the track coming to us as we anticipated.”
,br> “We had Andy Lally join us at Sebring this year and he did another great job for us this weekend driving with Butch and Andy, setting some of the fastest laps of the car in the race,” said team principal Rob Dyson.
Lally relished the opportunity. “Butch and Andy and the crew did a great job of setting the car up and it was awesome to drive,” he said. “I loved the grip we had and this place is an amazing track to drive in a car this fast.” The dictionary defines endurance as “the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity.”
The penultimate round of the American Le Mans Series was a much harder fought endurance race than normal, which makes the results that much more of a moral victory.
Pos | Car# | Class | Drivers | Diff | Car Make |
1. | 1 | P1 | Capello/McNish | 0 | Audi R10 |
2. | 7 | P2 | Dumas/Bernhard/Long | 0.923 | Porsche RS Spyder |
3. | 20 | P2 | Dyson/Smith | 8 laps | Porsche RS Spyder |
4. | 5 | P2 | Mucke/Watts/Charouz | 11 laps | Zytek 07 |
5. | 88 | P1 | Campbell/Primat/Tinse | 17 laps | Creation 07 |
6. | 16 | P2 | Wallace/Leitzinger/Lally | 22 laps | Porsche RS Spyder |
7. | 6 | P2 | Maassen/Briscoe/Collard | 24 laps | Porsche RS Spyder |
8. | 4 | P2 | Brabham/johansson/Kerr | 29 laps | Acura ARX |
9. | 4 | GT1 | Baretta/Gavin/Papis | 30 laps | Corvette C6 |
10. | 45 | GT2 | van Overbeek/Bergmeister/Li | 41 laps | Porsche 911 GT3 |