August has been a busy month for the American LeMans Series participants, holding three events, August 5, 19 and 25 at Portland, Mosport and Mid Ohio, respectively. With only two races left, the competition is heavy and fierce. Sears Point and Road Atlanta, Petit LeMans, are scheduled for September and October dates. Due to the cancellation in Australia, the series will end with the 1000 mile race at the Petit LeMans, October 6.
"GT3 Grand Prix at Mosport"- Bowmanville, Ontario, August 17-19:
Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro used pit stop strategy and survived a race of attrition to win the American Le Mans Series GT3 Grand Prix at Mosport International Raceway. The win was the first of the year on the series for the Audi R8 drivers, who finished two laps ahead of the runner-up Panoz LMP1-R of Jan Magnussen and David Brabham. The Panoz dominated the first half of the race, but lost the lead and a lap during a slow pit stop and driver change with one hour left in the two-hour, 45-minute race.
After the demise of the Panoz, the race lead fell to former Formula One winner Johnny Herbert, co-driving with Andy Wallace in an Audi R8. Herbert lost the lead a few minutes later when he pitted for fuel and tires and Pirro then took over, holding a lap on both Brabham and Herbert.
The Audi team then brought Pirro in for a fuel-only stop, keeping the car in the lead but giving up the one-lap cushion. Over the next 25 minutes, Herbert cut 10 seconds off of Pirro's 12-second lead, but his race ended when he slid off the track and crashed into a tire barrier in turn two of the 2.2459-mile circuit. He was unhurt.
"We needed this win," said Pirro, who teamed with Biela and Tom Kristensen to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June for the second straight year. "Our car was good and the team made the right call in the pits to get us the win."
From just down the road in Mississauga, Ontario, Ron Fellows is the hometown hero at the Mosport track. The entire GTS field got through the opening stages without any major difficulties. Fellows cruised to victory in the GTS class with co-driver Johnny O'Connell, despite having to start near the back of the field due to having clutch problems in Saturday's qualifying. Winning for the fourth time in five ALMS races this year, their Chevrolet Corvette C5-R finished a lap ahead of the second-place Saleen S7R of Franz Konrad andTerry Borcheller.
