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2005
AMERICAN LE MANS (ALM)
- May
22, 2005, Mid Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, OH
- 2.25 mile track
- LAST YEAR -
2004 SEBRING RESULT:
- 1 Marco Werner
and JJ Lehto, Audi R8
- 2 C.Dyson/
A.Wallace Lola EX257/ AER
- 3 R.Fellows/
J.O'Connell Corvette C5-R
2005
RACE RESULT:
- 1 P1,
LOLA, J.Weaver, B.Leitzinger, Dyson Racing +103 laps
LEITZINGER:
"Let's go back one year. James put the car on the
pole and I almost got the green flag before I blew the car up. I
can't tell you how nervous I was for today's start. I have taken
a lot of grief over this the past year! At the start, it was a really
tough battle with Shimoda. We battled for a long time. He drove
really aggressive, but he always gave me that inch and kept it clean.
It is great to have the Zytek in the mix. They were a wild-card
and they came in and challenged us. We had to play our best and
bring our 'A' game, not knowing what they could do. From where I
sat it was it a very intense and competitive race."
WEAVER: "The racing was absolutely stunning.
The passing and the moves he was making have to be some of the all
time greatest. The best feeling of the race for me, was going into
the back stretch and seeing Andy (Wallace) coming around and that
we were running one-two."
- 2 P1,
LOLA, C.Dyson, A.Wallace, Dyson Racing +20s
WALLACE:
"This day belongs to Dyson Racing. We are all part of the team
and you can't do better than one-two and everybody is pleased. It
is satisfying when their hard work pays off like this. You can't
do better than this and I am really proud and happy to be part of
this."
- 3 P1,
AUDI R8, F.Biela, E.Pirro, +1 lap
BIELA:
"I'm happy that we finished third. It was quite difficult,
especially at the end when it started to rain and the track got
much cooler. Unfortunately I had a spin and I had some contact but
third place is still good."
- 4 P1, ZYTEK,
H. Shimoda, T. Chilton
- 5 P2, COURAGE,
J.Bucknum, C.McMurry, J.Macaluso
- 6
GT1, CORVETTE C6-R, R.Fellows, J.O'Connell, M.Papis
- 7
GT1, CORVETTE C6-R, O.Gavin, O.Beretta
- 8 GT1, SALEEN,
T.Borcheller, J.Mowlem
- 9 GT1,
CORVETTE C6-R, A.Figge, R.Dalziel
- 10
GT2,
PORSCHE 911 GT3 RSR, T.Bernhard, R.Dumas
GT1 CLASS
RESULT
- 1. Fellows/O'Connell
Corvette
2. Gavin//Beretta Corvette
3. Borcheller/Mowlem ACEMCO Saleen
4. Figge/Dalziel Corvette
5. Bertollini/De Simone Maserati
GT2 CLASS
RESULT
- 1. Bernhard/Dumas
AJR Porsche
2. Long/Bergmeister Porsche
3. Jackson/Sugden Porsche
4. Burgess/Rockenfeller Porsche
5. Auberlen/Liddell Panoz
6. Pechnik/Neiman Porsche
7. van Overbeek/Fogarty Porsche
8. Maxwell/Sellers Panoz
9. Pobst/Baas AJR Porsche
DYSON
RACING REPORT
First
to the Power of Two
- May 22, 2005
- A classic race - it had it all: very aggressive, but fair racing
measured in inches; a new young gun, fearless in his maneuvers;
a team normally train-like in its running, experiencing fortitude-building
fortunes; and even more drama at the end, with the last laps run
in the rain. Through this all, Dyson Racing owned Mid-Ohio today.
They finished one-two, led 85 laps, and moved Andy Wallace into
second place in the championship. The #16 Thetford/Norcold AER powered
Lola with Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver finished first, followed
by Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace in the #20 sister car. This was
the first one-two placement for Dyson Racing in the American Le
Mans Series.
- The first lap
set the tone for the race. Twenty year old pole sitter Hayanari
Shimoda in the Zytek had side to side contact with JJ Lehto in the
Audi and Butch Leitzinger quickly capitalized, and moved into first,
holding the lead until the first yellow. They ran nose-to-tail,
separated by less than a second for the first 18 laps. Shimoda took
the lead on lap 15 only for Butch Leitzinger to take it back two
corners latter. Leitzinger and Chris Dyson came in under the yellow
for fuel and tires on lap 18 with Chris beating Butch out. Not everyone
pitted during the yellow, and the Dyson pair rejoined in fourth
and fifth place, respectively.
- By lap 34,
Leitzinger was back to second, and when the second yellow of the
race occurred one lap latter, Butch pitted and handed the car over
to James Weaver. Dyson stayed out, splitting pit strategies. It
went green on lap 39 and the #20 car was second and James Weaver
was fifth.
- Dyson was in
the lead eleven laps later and Weaver did some head down driving
to ascend toward the front. Chris Dyson pitted under yellow on the
55th lap and Andy Wallace got in the car (Wallace is fresh from
a first place finish at Saturday's Six Hours Circuit Mont Tremblant).
It went green three laps latter and Weaver stayed in front the remaining
59 laps, conserving his tires while still stretching out his advantage.
Andy Wallace continued running smoothly in second the last half
of the race, navigated the wet track at the end and took a secure
second.
- Rob Dyson:
"The competition is so tough in the American Le Mans Series
and the guys we run against are so good but it is good to have such
a great result. Mid Ohio is a great track - the fans are great and
it is an honor to win here and I am proud as hell of all the guys.
They did such a super job. I think it came down to Butch and Chris
doing so well at the start of the race. The team works so routinely
hard to get the job done and now we have the stamp that says we
can beat the best. From here we go to the Lime Rock circuit which
is our home circuit and I hope we can take it to them just like
we did here today."
- Chris Dyson:
"This one two is so terrific. We had two cars up their all
day in a competitive race and we underlined how strong this team
is and how good our strategy was with being one-two the last half
of the race. It is a pleasure to be with these guys. We have put
a lot of testing into this car and into wining races. This just
makes us work harder to keep on improving the car. I am happy that
Andy got a lot of points so he can get right back into the driver's
championship."
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