Hat trick for Muscle Milk after Lola-Aston Martin wins at Road America in closest ever ALMS race – but gremlins strike at Baltimore

05 Sep 2011

For the third successive race in a row the Muscle Milk Lola-Aston Martin B08/62 has triumphed, winning at Road America over August 18th/20th and notching up its four victory of the season in the American Le Mans Series. At the previous round at Mid-Ohio, over August 5th/6th, the regular driver paring of Lucas Luhr/Klaus Graf had taken a second consecutive win, in a rain-sodden race stopped 15 minutes short of the scheduled three hours after a huge downpour flooded the Lexington circuit; the car finished over a minute ahead of main title rival and points leader, the Dyson Lola B09/86-Mazda of Chris Dyson/Guy Smith.

The Lola-Aston Martin’s Road America victory, however, was harder fought. Luhr had lost the lead on the opening lap to the Oryx Lola-B09/86-Mazda of Steven Kane, until the latter’s team mate, Humaid Al Masaood, took over in the second hour, the latter ultimately crashing out following a long pit stop. Despite establishing a 20 second lead over the remaining Lola-Mazda of Dyson/Smith, only to lose the advantage under a safety car period, the Lola-Aston Martin managed to narrowly keep ahead. Following another safety car period it was then running comfortably at the front with well over three-quarters of the four hour race run, with Graf again at the wheel, but Smith in the Lola-Mazda suddenly found new pace and piled on the pressure; so close was this battle in the closing laps as the pair lapped other cars, literally nose to tail, that the Lola-Aston Martin’s winning margin over the Lola-Mazda was a mere 0.112 seconds – the closest ever finish in the 13 year history of the American Le Mans Series.

All this had meant Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr were within striking distance of taking the Team Championship lead from Chris Dyson and Guy Smith, with 101 points to 119. However, in the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix on September 3rd, where Romain Dumas was standing in for Luhr, it all went wrong on the opening lap of qualifying when the Lola-Aston Martin was halted by a serious electrical problem that necessitated removal, repairs and replacement of the wiring loom overnight, a task which took over 25 hours. Having started from the back of the grid in the race, the car finished in a lowly 25th position, albeit after setting the fastest race lap, while the Dyson/Smith Lola-Mazda took second place behind the similar Oryx car of Humaid/Kane.

With two rounds remaining, the six hour Modspace Monterey event at Laguna Seca – where the grid will include an official Aston Martin Racing entry of a Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 for works drivers Adrian Fernandez and Harold Primat – over September 15th/17th, and the 10 hour/1,000 mile Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta over September 28th/October 1st, Muscle Milk now lies 21 points behind Dyson Racing Team.