ALMS 2005

Sebring Road Atlanta Mid Ohio Lime Rock Sears Point Portland Road America Mosport Petit Le Mans Laguna Seca

Sebring 2005-03-19

Starting Lineup

Not to be outdone by Chicago dying its river green in honor of St. Patrick's Day, Mother Nature decided to create its own torrent of water here at Sebring, Florida. This afternoon's official qualifying session was cancelled due to heavy rain and standing water on the track. The grid has been set based on a car's best time in Wednesday's two practice sessions. While the #20 AER powered Thetford/Norcold Dyson Racing Lola was quickest yesterday afternoon, the Audis were quicker in the morning and the #20 car with Chris Dyson and Guy Smith will line up third on the grid followed by it sister car, #16, with James Weaver, Andy Wallace, and Butch Leitzinger.

Rob Dyson: "Compared to the alternative of putting the cars at real risk in the rain, it was the right decision to cancel qualifying. But it is no fun handing over the front row without a fight. We weren't planning on qualifying yesterday or other wise we would have stepped it up. But we are in the second row, so they only have a five yard head start on us.
"We may not have gotten a chance to win qualifying, but we did that an awful lot last year (six out of nine poles), but we only pulled it across first once. Sebring averages 350 laps each year, so our focus is on getting the car balanced, so it is comfortable to drive and than drive a winning pace over the twelve hours."

LOLA AIM FOR DOUBLE CLASS GLORY AT SEBRING
First blood to the new Lola B05/40 sports car was drawn yesterday, when it captured the LMP2 pole position on its debut outing at Sebring in readiness for Saturday's Sebring 12 Hours. Jon Field driving the Intersport entry produced three fast, consistent times in consecutive practice sessions in the all-new Lola to record the fifth fastest time overall for Saturday's 12-Hour classic at the Florida airfield track, lining up just behind two Audi R8s and the two Dyson Racing LolaB01/60's, which yet again impressed in the LMP1 category as they solely take the fight to the previously all-conquering Champion Audi R8's.

GUY SMITH STARTS 3RD ON THE GRID IN HIS FIRST RACE FOR DYSON
Sadly torrential rain forced the IMSA organisers to cancel Thursday afternoon's qualifying session for the opening round of the 2005 American Le Mans Series. Instead they made an aggregate of two dry practice sessions run on Wednesday. JJ Lehto set the fastest time in the first dry session in the Champion Racing Audi R8, then Dyson Racing's new recruit Guy Smith, the 2003 Le Mans winner, was quickest in the second session in the Lola shared with Chris Dyson.

The most successful US sportscar team in history -- Dyson Racing were disappointed that they could not show yet more pace in the cancelled second session but Andy Wallace believes that race pace for the blue and white LMP1 Lola's will not be a problem after some astonishing testing times at Sebring last month.
"All the times are two or three seconds slower than when we tested here last month" said Andy, who shares a Dyson Racing Lola B01/60 with James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger. "We think that some historic racing last weekend has put a lot of oil down, but today's torrential rain should clean it up nicely. We would expect to see faster times on Friday."
Weaver's Lola was qualified on Wednesday with a high-mileage AER engine which had done a lot of testing, and was not performing as well as it should on Friday with a fresh engine installed. The experienced Englishman however is confident for the race, which begins on Saturday morning.

INTERSPORT RACING
Jon Field, driving with Duncan Dayton and Gregor Fisken, was fourth quickest in the second session, splitting the two Dyson Racing entries despite handling a car built to the latest LMP2 regulations at 750 kg (that is, 75 kg heavier than the Dyson team's B01/60's), with a sloping floor and 'plank' along the centreline. All three race with the AER 4-cylinder, turbocharged 2-litre engine. The new Lola had a huge 2.917 seconds over it's nearest LMP2 challenger, the Courage C65 of Miracle Motorsports.
"This is a serious race car," said Field after the grid had been established. "Lola seems to have everything right. When you make a change to the car, it responds. It sits well on the circuit, it has been well designed and it is fun to drive. There is more time in the car but we don't know how much. Every time we make a change, the car gets better. The car came out of the Lola factory on Friday and arrived here on Sunday in a box. We are really pleased with the pace right out of that box!
"We have just scratched the surface," continued a delighted Field, "and Sebring is a rough track, but this car is really strong, not flimsy at all."
Duncan Dayton, a fellow competitor in the Historic series, introduced Scot, Gregor Fisken, to the Intersport team and it is his baptism in prototype racing. His previous experience in the American Le Mans Series has been at the wheel of Porsche GT3s.

Intersport Racing's second car of Clint Field/Gareth Ridpath and Liz Halliday lines up in 5th place in LMP2 after suffering some problems in the practice sessions. The car that won the Sebring 12 Hours LMP2 category last year is supported by new title partner, Telesis, this season.

BILL BINNIE IN THE NEW NICHOLSON McLAREN POWERED LOLA B05/40
Fourth quickest in the LMP2 class was William Binnie's new Lola B05/40, shared with highly rated British racer Adam Sharp and Canada's Bobby Julien, which was hampered by an installation problem on the Nicholson McLaren V8 engine's alternator, which drives off the rear of a camshaft, and suffered some low voltage difficulties. "We had a challenging week," said Binnie. "We had some software problems but the chassis is very good. The other Lola has an engine, which is familiar to Lola, but the Nicholson engine is new. The car, and my co-drivers, are exceptionally quick and there is a lot of time yet in the car. The car feels like several generations on from the B2K/40, better by a long way."

Race results

Race Report

Fuel, tires, and driver change: 35 seconds; replace radiator, 28 minutes; master cylinder, 66 minutes; turbo, 81 minutes. The first is normal for an endurance race, the others are not. Even with these mechanical travails, Dyson Racing prevailed at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, finishing on the podium with their #16 AER powered Thetford/Norcold Lola. Driven by Butch Leitzinger, Andy Wallace, and James Weaver, the Dyson Racing entry placed third even with loosing 18 laps installing a new radiator. "For the championship it is a good result," commented Rob Dyson. We hung in there like we always do. It is a long race to the championship and we have nine races to go."

Except for the externally inflicted radiator problem, the #16 ran without problems for 341 laps. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the #20 car driven by Chris Dyson and Guy Smith. Its race started with a tire puncture on the first lap, included two more flats, a blown turbo and clutch master cylinder failure. But Dyson Racing persistence brought it home fourth in P1. "Today was a difficult day. The team battled back time after time. It hurts you when you have a car this good and the team is executing so well. But we will go into Atlanta and build from there."

Sebring is the classic contest that defines endurance racing. It is the one major North American race yet to be won by Dyson Racing. James Weaver, tongue firmly in check, said recently, "In some ways, we hope we don't win one of these, because I am sure when we do win it, Rob will go "Thank god for that, now you are all fired!"

Road Atlanta 2005-04-17

Starting Lineup

James Weaver set the three fastest laps of today's qualifying session at Road Atlanta on his way to his second pole in a row at this track nestled among the hills near Atlanta, Georgia. The #16 Thetford Norcold Dsyon Racing team kept on dialing in the car all weekend to get the most out of the new Michelin tires and succeeded in setting the fastest time of the weekend to date and giving James his twelfth ALMS pole.
The #20 Dyson Racing AER powered Lola was qualified fourth by Chris Dyson, less than a second behind the Weaver/Leitzinger car, capping strong showings in the practice and test sessions preceding qualifying. Rob Dyson: "We won practice and qualifying and James of course did his usual job in qualifying: he has a special knack for pulling them out. He is also very good in making sure that whatever we did, we can translate into a race set up. We really don't change the cars for the race, we don't want to have to back up for the race, you can over adjust an automobile. But James did a terrific job and my hats off to him as always. We look forward to running the race tomorrow with two competitive cars."

James Weaver: "This is our first time here on Michelin tires and we have been working hard all weekend to get the best out of them. We have had to make quite a few changes to the car and we still are learning. Peter Weston, our race engineer made some major changes last night and we made some more this morning after practice. But at Dyson Racing, we always qualify with our race set- up and outside of maybe one small change, we are ready for tomorrow."

Race Result

Race Report

Braselton, Ga. - JJ Lehto and Marco Werner methodically went about their business Sunday and drove their No. 1 Champion Racing Audi R8 to victory in the Sportsbook.com Grand Prix of Atlanta in another history-making day in the American Le Mans Series. Lehto posted his 22nd career class victory, which tied Sascha Maassen for the ALMS' all-time record. Lehto and Werner turned a close race at the two-hour mark into a comfortable victory: 44.7 seconds over the No. 20 Dyson Racing Lola of Andy Wallace and Chris Dyson. The two Audi drivers won in the series' first race of 2005, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Audi now has won seven straight races at Road Atlanta, site of Round 2 of the ALMS.

The No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola of James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger appeared to have a strong grip on the race at the halfway point. But Leitzinger spun twice in the final 25 minutes, including one with less than 10 minutes left near Turn 3 caused by a broken halfshaft that left it stuck on the side of the track.
"It was really tough," said Lehto, who won his fourth straight race at Road Atlanta, also an ALMS record. "There were so many things going on in the race. I thought it was going to be really tough catching (the No. 16). But the yellows played mostly in our favor. Without the yellows, we never could have made up that 45-second or so gap. It was a race of tactics, and we really took advantage of the pit stop strategy."

In LMP2, the No. 37 Telesis Intersport Racing Lola of Clint Field and Jon Field posted a six-lap victory over the No. 8 Mazda-powered B-K Motorsports Courage, making its race debut.
"We had a loose alternator belt that cost us a few laps," Clint Field said. "Other than that, the Lola ran smoothly."

Dyson Racing finished second in the second race of the American Le Mans season here today at Road Atlanta. The Chris Dyson/Andy Wallace #20 Thetford/Norcold Lola finished behind the winning Audi R8 of J.J. Lehto. It was a Dyson Racing story the first three quarters of the race. James Weaver and the #16 car led from the pole for the first 73 laps and its sister car, the #20 with Andy Wallace, took over the lead for the next 17 laps, until relinquishing the lead on lap 90 while pitting under the yellow. The Audi R8 took over the lead and held it to the checkered flag. While running a secure second, The James Weaver/Butch Leitzinger car ended up tenth when the gear box broke seven laps from the end. Rob Dyson: "The whole race was very even and this is a sign of things to come for the year. We are going to be able to fight these guys every single race on the calendar and that is exciting for everybody. They capitalized a little bit better than we did on the yellow flag periods today, but the car was great and the team executed very well." Andy Wallace: "We raced the Audis today, more so than at Sebring and we are quite happy for that. We are getting to know the Michelin tires better and I think that is the biggest thing for us, finding a new set up for the Michelins. We are about maybe 40% of the way there. When we finally get that, we can be more of pain in the side of the Audis."

Butch Leitzinger: "Coming up over the hill, under the bridge, something in the gearbox went out, it lost all drive and managed to coast around through turn three. There was some gear box oil coming out of it and that caused a small oil fire, but the car and I are OK."

Mid Ohio 2005-05-22

Starting Lineup

James Weaver was not able to duplicate his pole position of last year's Mid- Ohio American Le Mans race, and will start tomorrow on the outside of the front row in second place. It was a red flag shortened session, which limited quality qualifying time. "We only got in two flying laps and ran out of time to respond to the Zytek's pole time," said James Weaver. "We were a little off on the tire pressures and there was more time in the car. A normally aspirated car around here is not easy to beat - it is all second and third gear corners and they can accelerate out of the corners more quickly. A turbocharged car takes a while to spool up."

Starting behind James will be the two Audis, followed by Chris Dyson in the #20 Thetford/Norcold Lola. "My car is working the best it has all weekend and we have put together a good car for the race," said Chris. "I was following the Audis and they are having to work harder than us to get their times. We are able to get on the power better" Asked where we have our speed, James Weaver commented, "Having a lighter car with all the changes of direction on this track helps. We are a little quicker on top speed and are able to make up a tenth here and a tenth there and it adds up."
Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger will rejoin the Dyson Racing squad for tomorrow's race fresh off of a win today at the Six Hours of Circuit Mont Tremblant. The twenty year old pilot of the Zytek entry, Hayanari Shimoda, did well in qualifying but tomorrow's two hour, forty five minute race will put a premium on experience.

Race Result

Race Report

There was a 1-2 finish at the American Le Mans at Mid-Ohio on Sunday. But it wasn't who you might think. For the first time in the history of the American Le Mans Series, the Dyson Racing team took the top two spots on the podium as the No. 16 Lola EX 257 of James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger won for the first time in 2005. On a day where both Champion Racing Audis uncharacteristically experienced trouble and the factory Zytek struggled in the pits, the two Dyson cars were nearly flawless. Weaver finished 26.32 seconds ahead of the No. 20 sister entry of Andy Wallace and Chris Dyson. "The competition is so tough in the American Le Mans Series, and the cars are so competitive," said team owner Rob Dyson. "I think it came down to Butch and Chris doing so well at the start of the race. The team works so routinely hard and now we have the stamp that says we can beat the best." That was just one of several developments in the third ALMS race of 2005.

The story of the day was the Dyson effort. Weaver and Leitzinger ended the two-race win streak of Marco Werner and JJ Lehto in the No. 1 Champion Racing Audi. The Dyson duo last won at Mosport in 2004. Its first ALMS overall victory came in 2003 at Infineon in a P2 car, the first smaller prototype to win an overall title. Leitzinger took the lead on the first lap when the No. 15 factory Zytek got a tap from Lehto. For most of the first half, the two Dysons and the Zytek swapped the first three positions before Weaver pulled away late. "It was quiet difficult watching Butch on the TV," Weaver said. "The racing was absolutely stunning. The passing and moves he was making have to be some of the all time greatest. As I was going into the back stretch it was great to see Andy (Wallace) coming around and that we were running 1-2." Fellows and O'Connell crossed the finish line second but were awarded the victory when the No. 4 sister car of Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta were assessed a 20-second penalty on its final pit stop for a pit crew violation. The two Corvettes ran first-and-second most of the day, but the No. 63 ACEMCO Saleen S7R of Terry Borcheller and Johnny Mowlem showed marked improvement. The car led in class on more than one occasion and finished third. "The No. 4 car had a fuel alarm go off and they called us in too," O'Connell said. "Our stop was faster, but because of the way they positioned their car we couldn't get out. We were close on fuel. We would have been out in another lap or two." Added Fellows, "(The weather) was nasty. It kept threatening to rain. We knew we were going to have to come in and top off. The No. 4 blocked me and I couldn't get it out, but they had a penalty, which was too bad. Now we'll move on to France."

Bach and Cosmo won for the first time in their second ALMS race. After debuting with a second-place finish at the Sportsbook.com Grand Prix of Atlanta, they posted a victory on a Mid-Ohio track where they have experienced a tremendous amount of success in Formula Mazda and Star Mazda cars. They also now share the driver's championship points lead with Jon Field and Clint Field of Telesis Intersport Racing. "I'm thrilled with the win. We had a minor problem with the brakes but they held up," Bach said. "We made a lot of handling characteristics better since Atlanta that we love. When I was running in the Pro-Mazda series, Guy coached me on this track that it really helped this team out when we were setting up the car. We probably have over 15 combined wins at this track with all our experience in different series here." Miracle Motorsports had led P2 class by a sizeable margin but was disqualified during the race when Jeff Bucknum went over the maximum time allotted by IMSA for a single driver. "I take the entire blame," said team owner Michael Macaluso. "It was my fist time as team manger (Michael Gue doing the Grand-Am race this weekend), and I just wasn't paying attention. It's a real shame for the guys. They ran a great race and had had a great weekend."

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.

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."

Butch 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."

Andy 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."

James Weaver: "It was quite difficult watching Butch on the monitor. 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 coming around and that we were running one-two."

Lime Rock 2005-07-02

Starting Lineup

Butch Leitzinger qualified the #16 Thetford/Norcold Dyson Racing Lola second today for Monday's American Le Mans race, two tenths of a second behind the pole-winning Audi. Starting third behind Leitzinger will be Andy Wallace in the #20 entry "The car is really good," remarked Leitzinger. "If we had turned our fast lap at the beginning of the session when the tires where at the peak, we would have been right there on pole. We are happy with the car. We will just do a couple of wafer thin adjustments to the set up, and we will be ready to race hard on Monday."
Commenting on his qualifying effort, Andy Wallace explained, "The second flying lap was my best time and unfortunately I got a little bit on the grass coming out of the chicane on my third flying lap and I lost a couple of tenths." Chris Dyson, co-driving with Wallace noted, "I am happy with the car: it very well-balanced. The cars are competitive and we are in much better position for the race than we were last year."

There are a lot of fond memories surrounding Lime Rock:
it is in a beautiful setting and it is home for me." Butch Leitzinger: "Of all of the circuits that I've driven, Lime Rock is my favorite I. probably have run twenty different kinds of cars here. I love everything about it. I love the track. I love the bumps. I love the park-like setting. I love that we have Sunday off, so that we can spend a civilized day exploring the local shops and restaurants. I love that it's only five hours from my house (four and a half if I'm really on it). I've been coming to Lime Rock since I was three. All of my Fourth of July holidays were spent on the hill outside Turn 1, watching the fireworks. I've raced all sorts of cars at Lime Rock, from Showroom Stock Nissans to a NASCAR Busch North Thunderbird to the Dyson Racing Lola."

James Weaver: "I love Lime Rock. It is great little track. It is kind of my home track as well by proxy since I have been racing here so long with the Dysons. The neat thing about Lime Rock is you have such a knowledgeable crowd here: probably the best of any track in North America. They come here with their kids, have a picnic, and make a proper event out of it. There is a nice family atmosphere, more like racing use to be, and that is why Lime Rock has such a special atmosphere."

Andy Wallace: "I guess I am the odd one out. I have not been here as many times as some of the other drivers. All my times here have been with Dyson Racing I cannot remember exactly the first year I raced here. I don't think I have won a race here, so come to think of it, it is about time that I have a win!"

Race Result

Race Report

Marco Werner and JJ Lehto survived the Independence Day American Le Mans Series race held at Lime Rock Park on Monday. The tight 1.54-mile Lime Rock Park road course had a lot of action from cars going off-course to contact to blocking to other strange happenings.

"The team gave me a very, very good race car," commented Werner who started the race from his pole slot. "Everything was working very well and with a good race car, I was a little bit pushing at the beginning."

When the green flag flew, marking the final restart after a long 27-minute caution to clean up the transmission fluid/oil from the #20 Dyson Racing, Emanuele Pirro challenged Lehto for the overall lead as the two Champion Racing Audi R8s headed into Big Bend -- the only remaining cars on the lead lap. Lehto held his position and brought the Audi home to score the victory. The outcome of the race within the race was much closer, with tight battles, mechanical failures and incidents ending the close competition, leaving only those who managed to take the checkered flag. In the beginning, it was obvious that the two Dyson AER Lolas and the Champion Racing Audi R8s would have dramatic run for positions, that was true until a paddle-shifter ended Andy Wallace's run for the gold. The #20 Dyson was able to continue but only after the team converted the transmission to use a sequential shifter. "Everything must be perfect here, the team, the drivers and the car," commented Werner. "It was not easy battling Butch (Leitzinger). I had a bit of a push, which made things difficult, but it was still lots of fun."

That left the #16 Dyson to continue the battle with the two Audi R8s. James Weaver made the pass to take the lead as the lead prototypes headed into Turn 1 when the field had their second restart.

"We knew early the 16 and 20 were so fast, and that this race would be a matter of getting the tires to work. My tire pressure was low, which caused me to have a bit of an understeer," explained Lehto of Weaver's overtaking him. "James took advantage of my struggles and he was a clever guy. It could have been any of the four prototypes (winning) here today." Pirro, along with Frank Biela finished second. Weaver and Butch Leitzinger scored the final podium step sitting off track near Turn 8 after a malfunction caused him to slow to stop going up the hill. Just past the two hour mark, Chris Dyson pitted with the rear on fire after the gearbox had "packed up", scoring fourth in LM P1. "Unfortunate. That's what today was," remarked Dyson. "We had the car to contend with the Audis. Both cars were quick, Andy showed we could hold the pace. Butch and James did a great job with the cars. We're going to have to pickup the pieces, literally; my parts are probably still on the floor of the tent."

While leading today's New England Grand Prix at Lime Rock, James Weaver in the #16 Thetford/Norcold Lola had a solenoid failure in the pits that put him a lap down with fifty five minutes left in the race. Now Murphy has a cousin that says the longer things go smoothly, the more trouble it has to stir up. Weaver pitted right before a yellow was thrown for Chris Dyson after his #20 car, already suffering drivetrain woes, was hit from behind and knocked off course.
Dyson came into the pits for new rear body work. He went back out and while still under yellow, the gearbox lost its oil and caught on fire, putting an end to the #20 car's day, fourth in class. Since the drama meter was not already pegged, the race went green while there was a tow truck circulating on course. The yellow came back out. Back under green, Weaver earned back his lost lap by passing both Audis under braking into turn one.
But seventeen laps from the end, his car coasted to a stop with an inoperative throttle. James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger ended up finishing third in class. Such was the conclusion of an up-and-down day that had promised so much for the nearby Poughkeepsie, NY-based Dyson squad.

With his sense of humor intact, Leitzinger summed up their day, "The car was great when I was in it, I gave it to James and he broke it. We failed today."

For his part, Andy Wallace started brilliantly in the sister #20 car and was running toe-to-toe with the winning Audi but unfortunately he had to come into the pits fifteen minutes into the race when the car's paddle-shift system began losing pressure and the crew had to switch him to the manual system. "That is very difficult on a bumpy track," related Wallace. "In the manual mode, you have to shift with two thumbs and the car is bouncing around and you are trying to keep both hands on the wheel." Wallace lost two laps in the pits but was able to make up one before handing the car over to Dyson. The early loss of the paddle-shift had caused problems in the 20 car's transmission, however, and Wallace lost the use of 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears toward the end of his stint.

Dyson completed 18 laps with only fourth, fifth and sixth gears and managed to keep on pace, but the loss of the crucial 4th gear ended the day prematurely for the American. "The car was great today," Dyson said afterwards. "It's just bitterly disappointing to have had such a good race setup and then have mechanical problems keep us from fighting for the win." "This is our home track and all of our friends and staff come to enjoy the July Fourth weekend," Rob Dyson added. "We put on a great show for them, but it is unfortunate we were not able to give them a win. We will be in California in two weeks time and we will take it to these guys again."

Sears Point 2005-07-17

Starting Lineup

Andy Wallace set a track record in winning the pole today for Sunday's American Le Mans race at Infineon Raceway. This is Wallace's third ALMS career pole and the second pole of the year for Dyson Racing.
It comes at the venue that was the sight of the first win for the AER-powered Lola two years ago. The Therford/Norcold team made history when they scored the first overall win in ALMS history for a car from the LMP 675 class. "These achievements come from everybody in the team working together," observed Andy Wallace. "I have never been on another team as helpful as this. Usually there is a lot of rivalry. On factory teams you cannot share anything because you are ready to get your head chopped off if you are not the quickest every time out. Here, we share all information and help each other out. I am really happy for everybody on the team. This is their achievement."

The #16 car of Wallace and Chris Dyson was quick off the truck and only small changes were made to it the past two days. The #20 car of Butch Letizinger and James Weaver will start third, three tenths off Wallace's qualifying pace and 1.3 seconds faster than last year's pole. In the post qualifying press conference, Rob Dyson commented, "This team effort underscores how good the guys are and how good they are at working together. Congratulations to Andy - he did a terrific job." Dyson went on to say that, "pay day is tomorrow." Whereupon Wallace cut in and said, "I've been meaning to talk to you about that governor."

Race Result

Race Report

Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro won for the first time this year in their No. 2 Champion Racing Audi R8, taking the Infineon Technologies Grand Prix of Sonoma presented by Ravenswood Winery on Sunday at Infineon Raceway. Johnny O'Connell and Ron Fellows did a little celebrating of their own as well, as they stood on top of the GT1 podium at Infineon for the fifth straight time.
"The races are getting more competitive and nice to drive in," Pirro said. "The cars are equal, and you can never be comfortable. Sometimes winning is a matter of time in the pit stops."

The No. 1 Champion Racing Audi of JJ Lehto and Marco Werner had led for more than two hours before Werner, coming out of pit lane, made contact with the No. 5 Pacific Coast Motorsports Corvette C5-R, causing both cars to go off course. The upper wishbone broke on the right side of the car. The team replaced it, and the car continued, although the car went down a lap.
"It's a very difficult corner (Turn 1), even if you are on your own," Biela said. "It is very bumpy, and that unsettles the car. If you are alone, there is no problem. In traffic, you never know how they will react. In the warm-up, I had a car get way outside and normally wasn't the line for a sports car. That makes it very difficult."

Dyson Racing's challenge to the Champion Racing group effectively ended early. Butch Leitzinger spun on the opening lap after making contact with Pirro. Then Wallace, the polesitter in the No. 20 Lola, lost fuel pressure just shy of the one-hour mark at the Carrousel. Wallace also said the car was having trouble in first gear, as well.

In LMP2, the No. 37 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 returned to victory lane as Clint Field and Liz Halliday teamed for their first win together. The pole-sitting Lola fell to second behind the No. 10 Miracle Motorsports Courage of Jeff Bucknum and Chris McMurry. But the Courage spun coming out of Turn 11 with 25 minutes left, and Field made the pass and held on for his second straight class win at Infineon.

Clint Field and Liz Halliday won for the first time in the ALMS together on Sunday in the No. 37 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40.
"This was a great race for us. Liz had a pretty uneventful first stint. She got passed by some of the GT1 cars but she did a great job getting them back and keeping it clean," Field said. "We caught some good breaks, especially with the yellows. We were about 30 seconds down to the No. 10 car when a yellow came out. If it hadn't, I might have been able to catch him because we were making about three seconds a lap faster, but getting past them is another question."

It also marked Halliday's first class win in four ALMS races. Her previous best was 12th in class at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last season.
"I think we had the best stops by all the P2 cars today," Halliday said. "Clint did a great job getting the car back for the win. Winning in Europe was great, but the British GT series is not the type of racing as the ALMS series, and winning in my home state of California with all my friends and family close by is terrific."

Twenty six year-old Californian Liz Halliday today scored her maiden win in a prototype machine with the Intersport Lola B05/40 AER and American team-mate Clint Field. This weekend marked Halliday's second race of the 2005 American Le Mans Series, following the Sebring 12 Hours in March, and a sterling job with Field rewarded the pair LMP2 class victory from pole position. The battle was fierce with the second placed Miracle Motorsport team during the 2 hour 45 minute race, but Halliday and Field drove faultlessly and secured a well deserved win. The American Intersport duo finished fourth overall, ahead of the Dyson team's second LMP1 car.

A delighted Halliday said: “This is a great result for me, Clint and Intersport. I knew we could do it, but it was a tough battle with the Courage C65 of Miracle Motorsport. Full credit to the team - as in Le Mans they did an awesome job. I knew we had the package to win the race and to do it in America, and in California in front of my home crowd, family and friends is a special moment I will never forget. I got soaked with champagne on the podium and enjoyed every second of it. I want to get back there as soon as possible!”

From fifth on the grid and leading the rest of the LMP2 field, the American sportswoman drove the car a bit too much sideways at the start but recovered brilliantly. Halliday said: “Today was the first time I started a race in a prototype car, so I was a bit nervous and was a bit too aggressive with the throttle. I was overtaken by a few GT1 cars and made sure I stayed out of trouble for the first few laps. Then I started to push and within six or seven laps I was ahead of the leading GT1 cars again. I was catching the Miracle car, posting competitive lap times, when I got hit by an Audi half way through my stint. I kept the car on the track but after a few laps my right front tire started to degrade badly, which I am sure was as a result of the contact with the Audi. We decided to play it safe by bringing the car in slightly early at 47 minutes, making sure the car came back in one piece, and without taking any more risks with the tyre. Despite this set back, we were still in contention for the lead with the front running LMP2 car. Clint took over, pushed hard, overtook the Courage and the rest is history!”

Although Field recorded the pole position in qualifying, Halliday was content after being just a second and a half off her co-driver in practice, with a time that would have placed her second on the grid had she qualified. “I am very pleased with my performance in the warm-up. It shows that I am improving all the time,” Halliday continued.

“I would also like to dedicate this win to the Intersport crew after the drama of Saturday night. After the pit stop competition, the guys were checking the pressure on the air canisters when the manifold exploded and hit one of our mechanics and he had to be rushed to the hospital. We stayed with him until around midnight but we were short of three guys for the race! Luckily some of the crew from the Racers' Group team are based around the corner, and they kindly gave us a hand during the race. So all credit is due to the team, they deserve this win more than Clint and I. Despite all this, the pit stops during the race were very fast and faultless and helped us clinch the win.”

Thinking about the Infineon circuit, Halliday commented: “The circuit was much more difficult than Le Mans. There are a lot of off-camber corners, blind corners and hills. It is quite physical because you never get the chance to have a rest. Even the main straight is not a straight - in fact it has two corners!”

“Thanks to the team, Lola, AER and Goodyear,” concluded Halliday. “The car ran reliably all weekend, we did not have a single problem and I am delighted to win in California which means a lot to me. I think I might even be the first woman to win a race at Infineon. I will be back in ALMS with Intersport and Clint for the Road America 500 from 19-21 August. We are also seriously looking at Laguna Seca and maybe Petit Le Mans at the end of the season.”

Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace finished second this afternoon in the fifth race of the American Le Mans Series at Sonoma, CA. Starting from the pole, Andy Wallace slotted into second and remained there until lap twelve when he was passed for third. Twenty-four laps later, he radioed in that the car has stopped on track. Switching to the other fuel pump, the car restarted and he rejoined in fourth, one lap down. On lap forty-two, Wallace pitted under green for fuel, tires and driver change with Chris Dyson getting in the car. Perseverance defines racing. Dyson set the third fastest lap of the race on lap eighty three and finished on the lead lap in second place, getting his lap back when he passed the leader on the race restart twenty minutes from the end.

It was a little bit different race story for the # 16 Thetford/Norcold car of Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver. This area's name, 'Sonoma,' is an Indian word for "many moons." It was a long race for Leitzinger and Weaver. After side-by-side contact with the # 2 Audi on the first lap, Leitzinger spun and rejoined at the end of the field. The car was OK and he was up to sixth by lap six, and fourth by lap eight, less than nine seconds off the lead. A little bit before halfway, the #16 car lost power steering. The IMSA boost monitoring box had come loose in the cockpit and knocked the power steering trip switch from its mounting, necessitating two stops to fix it. With James Weaver in the car, the gear box started to act up and more time was lost in the pits switching the car to manual shift. The Englishman was in tenth place on lap eighty and by race end--thirty-one laps later-- Weaver's labors paid off and he brought the car home fifth, fourth in class.

"It goes to show you that the guys did a great job with the set up," remarked Chris Dyson. "My teammate Andy gave me a great car. We worked well together all weekend. The fuel pump problem was the only hitch today. I think we had something for them today, and we're looking forward to Portland."

Portland 2005-07-31

Starting Lineup

Andy Wallace in the #20 Thetford/Norcold car continued that history of achievement today as he set a track record in qualifying with a pole speed that was over two seconds faster than his pole here last year. In addition to two poles in a row at Portland for Wallace and the Dyson Racing team, this is the first time he has earned back to back poles in his career.

"I am absolutely ecstatic," effused Wallace. "It is such a lovely feeling to drive a car as good as this one for a team as good as this team."
It is a Dyson Racing front row. Butch Leitzinger in the #16 car starts second, only a tenth of a second back. Dyson Racing has been on top of the time charts all weekend.

"We were quick this weekend from the start and that is due to the race engineer, Peter Weston, getting his sums right," noted Leitzinger. "The drivers will get together after each race and have a talk about what the car did well and did not do well. We will give Peter some suggestions and then Peter is the brain that sorts out the wheat from the chafe and distills a good recipe from that we throw at him."

Commented Wallace, "The car was quick as it rolled off the truck and we did not mess it up all weekend! All the hard work is worth it when you are on the front of the grid like this: this is what we are here for. It is lovely when it works out like this."

When a radio reporter asked what were the keys to emerging on the top of the stats, Wallace replied, "Get in the car, strap yourself in, and pedal like a madman for 1 minute 2.7 seconds and it works every time!"

Race Result

Race Report

Champion Racing's Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela lucked into their second victory of the season at the 1.964-mile Portland International Raceway on Saturday night. The drivers of the #2 Audi R8 were in the right place in the closing minutes as Pirro had made the move into second overall several laps prior to race leader James Weaver slowing on course.

"I was quite happy with my first stint," said Biela. "In traffic I was able to overtake when I wanted to. I was very happy with the car. It was a perfect weekend for us."

Chris Dyson had held second in the #20 Dyson Racing Lola EX257 AER when Pirro closed the gap and took second position in some wild side-by-side racing action.

"The competition is very high, every chance to overtake is very important," commented Pirro. "People have to take chances, some will be good, some will be bad. "Quite honestly, our main competition is car one so when they retired, we were quite happy for the weekend. And when I passed Dyson, we were very very happy to be in second." Weaver held the lead earlier until he pitted for fuel and an alternator change. After a late caution, Weaver was back on the lead lap and made no bones about having the car to beat as he swept by Pirro and then Dyson.

As the minutes wound down, the race looked to be a no contest with Weaver and Butch Leitzinger taking the eventual win and then Pirro inherited the lead when the #16 Dyson Lola came to a stop just bfore Turn 6. "Can you believe it ...I ran out of petrol! It's crazy," expressed a disappointed Weaver.

"I was unhappy that I took the lead under those circumstances, I would have rather passed him under racing," explained Pirro. "But when I found out it was because he ran out of petrol I was happier because that means they took a risk and it didn't play out for them, and that's racing, that's another story."
The two Dyson cars ended their races -- after starting on the front row for the first-ever prime-time broadcast in the American Le Mans Series -- in second (Dyson and Andy Wallace) and third (Weaver, Leitzinger) place when all was said and done.

The #1 Champion Audi, driven by JJ Lehto and Marco Werner, retired in the early stages after contact between starting driver Werner and the #4 Corvette Racing, with Olivier Beretta at the wheel. Werner pitted and Lehto jumped into the cockpit only to have the rear bodywork fly off, causing the Finn to spin off the track and into a wall.
Lehto was uninjured as was Terry Borcheller in the ACEMCO Saleen. Borcheller was leading the GT1 class when he tried to take evasive action, mainly to avoid hitting Lehto as the Audi's debris flew into his path ending the day for both teams.
"The car in front of me just exploded into pieces and unfortunately I drove right into the debris and couldn't do anything but follow him off the road," explained Borcheller.

Clint Field and Gregor Fisken won the LMP2 class race easily after Miracle Motorsports developed mechanical problems of their own. Jeff Bucknum had the early lead for himself and Chris McMurry. Intersport Racing's Field and Fisken had paced themselves to be in the hunt after Field held the pole position at the end and were in good stead before they took over the top spot from Miracle.
"Its always a struggle to get a good match but with great drivers at your disposal like Liz Halliday (who co-drove at Infineon) and Fisken that can adapt to my driving style, our car, and our team, it makes winning easier. Gregor did a great job on his stint," remarked Field.

Fisken drove with the team at Le Mans and was very pleased to have taken the win this evening. "This was my first international win, its been a privilege to drive this car with such a great team again," said Fisken who placed his family's coat of arms on the team's car for this race "my coat of arms always makes the car go quicker."
Field took over the driver standings in the LMP2 class with today's victory.

McMurry left the pits before the Miracle Lola stalled, triggering the final caution of the day.
"I was plugging away two seconds a lap faster so if the #10 car had held up I was thinking it was going to be a great finish," Field explained. "We had a bit of the same troubles last year, we had a couple of wins but a couple of DNFs, so we know how it can be."

The longest period of time for team members is the time it takes to tear down and load up after loosing a hard fought victory with the end of the race in sight. James Weaver coasted to a stop two laps from the end with fuel pressure problems while leading the American Le Mans race at Portland International Raceway today. Weaver ended up third in the #16 Thetford/Norcold Lola while Chris Dyson finished second in the #20 car.

Dyson Racing led 134 of the 138 lap race and was one, two for over three quarters of the race with Andy Wallace taking the honors of the fastest lap. Wallace also moves up to second in the points, only eleven points out of first. Both Dyson Racing cars started from the front row. Pole winner Andy Wallace took the lead and held it until Butch Leitzinger dived under Wallace at the first turn Festival Curves and took the point on lap ten. They circled nose to tail for the first 54 laps.

During the first full course yellow, both cars pitted for fuel, tires, and driver change. James Weaver took over from Leitzigner and retained the lead with Chris Dyson right behind. Weaver relinquished the lead on lap 83 when he had to come in for a new battery. The stop under green put him a lap down, but he was good to go on fuel to the end. He got his lap back under a full course yellow on lap 92 and ran down the third place Audi on lap 104 and it was again a Dyson one, two with Weaver going around Dyson three laps later. The Audi pulled a Tony Stewart move on Dyson 13 laps from the end, diving to the inside going into the Festival Curves. "There was no way Pirro was going to get by me unless there was a problem," recalled Dyson. "The paddle shifter acted up and he muscled by. Unfortunately, it ended up being a pass for the lead when James retired. The racing gods gave them a gift today."

Lola sportscars reaped yet more success in the latest round of the American Le Mans Series at Portland over the weekend. Another LMP2 victory went to the all-new Lola B05/40 chassis in the hands of Intersport Racing's Clint Field and Gregor Fisken.

Dyson Racing also showed that their LMP1 Lola chassis was the quickest around the Oregon road course with both their B01/60's locking out the front row of the grid in qualifying. The Dyson duo then went on to lead 134 of the 138 laps of the race with Wallace leading from the start before Leitzinger took the led after 10 laps. Sadly, after totally dominating proceedings, bad luck intervened almost within sight of the chequered flag when a fuel pressure problem stranded the car on the circuit. It was little consolation that Weaver and Leitzinger were still classified 3rd overall.

Still, Chris Dyson who was running in second place looked set to make sure that the disappointment was only short lived but he too slowed momentarily, letting Emanuele Prirro through on the penultimate lap. The sister Audi of JJ Lehto and Marco Werner crashed out of the race on the hour mark.

Andy Wallace, who started the race from pole after a scintillating lap of 1m02.702s, also claimed the fastest race lap at 1m04.271s.

Intersport Racing scored their second consecutive LMP2 victory when a superb drive by Clint Field and Gregor Fisken brought not only the class win but also a brilliant 4th place overall. The 20 points garnered from Portland ensures that Field now leads the driver's title race by 11 points from his nearest pursuer.

Field, who netted his third LMP2 success of the year was delighted with the way the race went for the Dublin, Ohio based team. "We decided to keep the same race strategy that we had during the last round at Infineon when we won and it paid off again! Gregor did a great job", said the 20 year old" It was his first time in Portland and he didn't make a single mistake during the entire weekend, setting competitive lap times in the race, lap after lap, which is impressive for his first sprint race in an LMP2 car."

Fisken, who drove the car at Le Mans last month, was highly delighted with his performance and readily sang the praises of the Lola chassis, saying, "The Lola chassis with the AER engine is a great combination, the package is absolutely first class and I would like to thank the team for an excellent job all weekend. This was my first sprint race in a prototype; each lap is a qualifying lap and you need to push hard. It is a fantastic feeling and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it !"

Road America 2005-08-21

Starting Lineup

It was almost 50/50, but it ended up plus one. On the fiftieth anniversary year for Road America, James Weaver won the 51st pole for Dyson Racing in qualifying for tomorrow's Generac 500 here at the fastest road course in America. It was Weaver's 13th ALMS pole, his sixth in LMP1 and the second pole of the year since his front row start at Road Atlanta in April. It was the second pole in a row here for the #16 Thetford/Norcold Dyson Racing entry with Butch Leitzinger taking Pole winner the honors last year with a record time.
Chris Dyson in the #20 car will start third, a half second behind his teammate. Dyson immediately set the pace and was fastest for the first half of the qualifying session, setting a time that was a half second better than his best practice time. "I think we could have been on the front row, but we lost time with traffic," observed Dyson. "This is the longest track we run on and it is an interesting challenge to find a set up that is optimal over four miles and the fourteen turns that all have their own personalities."
And to revisit our number 50 one more time, during a lull in the questions at the post qualifying press conference, Weaver opined, "I was hoping someone would say that they represented "The Over 50 Club," and they wanted me to be their president." Such an organization could not find anyone faster.

Race Result

DYSON RACING
Qualifying on pole position for the sportscar sprint in Wisconsin, James Weaver led brilliantly from the start, holding off the Audi's of Emanuele Pirro and JJ Lehto. Unfortunately, after the first round of pit stops Weaver spun off the track and nosed in to the tyre barriers at the Carousel while trying to over lap a GT class Porsche, and also chasing JJ Lehto, who had taken the lead after the first stops. “There was no blocking, nothing unusual that caused me to go off,” admitted the British driver. “I just got out on to the marbles and went a little ‘sideways'. This incident lost the Lola-AER approximately 15 minutes and the teams misfortune was compounded with a stop/go penalty after it was deemed that too many team personnel had been present in the pit lane during Weaver's stop for repairs and subsequent hand over to Butch Leitzinger.

With the Weaver/Leitzinger Lola effectively out of contention and going on to finish 12 overall and 5th in the LMP1 class, the Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace car took up the fight to the Audi's.
After a solid start by Chris Dyson, Andy Wallace took over the driving at the one hour eight minute mark. Wallace soon chased down Marco Werner's leading Audi and after one hour and forty-five minutes took the lead with a clean pass, diving down the inside at Turn 5.
The race now came down to a strategy battle and with the Wallace piloted Dyson Lola in an Audi sandwich approaching the final stages, the scene was set for another dramatic finish. A late yellow added to the tension but in the end Wallace just lost out by three seconds to Frank Biela's Audi.

INTERSPORT RACING
Intersport Racing came away from Elkhart ultimately frustrated as a fire in the early stages of the race put paid to what had, by that point, been a positive weekend.
Clint Field had claimed a conclusive LMP2 pole position on Saturday with a time over two seconds faster than their rivals in the Miracle Motorsport Courage and just three seconds away from the outright pole time.
Clint was sharing the car this weekend with father Jon and Californian Liz Halliday who started the race and immediately built a comfortable lead. Sadly this only lasted until lap 13, as Halliday explained.
“I was coming through Canada Corner smelling smoke, and the next thing I know the guys are radioing me that I'm on fire. All I was worried about was getting off the track. I just wanted to stay out of everyone's way.”

Equalling their best ever LMP2 result, the Van Der Steur Racing Lola B2K/40 came home a creditable 14th overall and second in class to delight the small but capable team. Ben Devlin completed two impressive stints and once again showed his increasing talent behind the wheel.

The strategy was solid. Andy Wallace was leading the Generac 500 at Road America in the # 20 Thetford/Norcold car when he came in with just an hour remaining under green for a fuel only stop. The stratagem was that both of the Champion Audis could not make it to the end without refueling and the later they stopped, the more fuel they would have to take on, elongating their stops, and putting Wallace back in the lead. A yellow 16 laps later played to the Audi's favor, and Andy Wallace and Chris Dyson finished second with the closest margin of victory in ALMS at Road America
"The guys gave me some fantastic stops," Wallace said afterwards. "We had enough fuel to go to the end under green and the #2 Audi, in order to get out ahead of us, short fueled. If (Frank Beila) did not come out ahead of me, he was going to lose, so they rolled the dice. If there was not another yellow, he would have to stop again and our strategy would have worked."
Chris Dyson started the #20 car third and kept the #2 Audi at bay, never running more than ten seconds behind the leader, James Weaver, who started on the pole and ran in first for the first third of the race. "The car was good and got better as we burned off fuel, but we had a bit too much understeer through the stint," noted Dyson. He turned the car over to Wallace during a fuel, tires and driver change stop an hour into the race.
On lap 27, James Weaver ran wide into the gravel at turn eight, attempting to overtake a backmarker. "I got on the marbles and went a little 'slideways'," said the Englishman. He made his way slowly back to the pits for a new nose and thorough check- over that put the car four laps down. Butch Leitzinger got in the car and brought the #16 Lola home fifth in class.
"I drove as fast as I could and picked up as many positions as I could," recounted Leitzinger. "The car was very good and we were in good stead with the leaders but circumstances put us back. The team worked very well as always. We had some problems in practice that we overcame and we will do what we always do and just pick up and attack the next race."

Mosport 2005-09-04

Starting Lineup

Chris Dyson won his first American Le Mans LMP1 pole today at Mosport International Raceway. Dyson was first out in the #20 Thetford/Norcold car, set the fastest time on his second lap and was never headed. James Weaver in the #16 AER-powered Lola qualified second for an all-Dyson Racing front row. It was the fifth pole in eight races for the boys from Poughkeepsie NY, and the third pole in a row here at Mosport, the fastest track in North America. "I am really pleased for the guys," said Dyson. "We have been here since last Sunday testing.
The guys are like family and it has been a long season and frustrating for everyone in some respects, so this is a nice way to end the week for us." Added Rob Dyson, "My congratulations to Chris. The guys have been working exceedingly hard and as far as work effort goes, this is probably the hardest season we have ever had. It is always gratifying to win qualifying." Chris went on to say, "This is kind of a second home track for us after Lime Rock.

We have spent many a cold spring day here testing. It is one of those tracks that shows our cars' strengths. Mosport is a very fast, flowing circuit where you have a lot of downforce on the car at all times which means our cars work right in the meat of that aero window." Added James Weaver, "You have to be on top of your game here to get a good lap time. Mosport sets the standard and we always try to take this attitude with us to all the other tracks we race on."
Weaver and Butch Leitzinger won the race here last year from pole, leading 100 of 137 laps. Here's to a season of hard work paying off on this Labor Day weekend.

Race Result

Dyson Racing scored their second American Le Mans series win of the year at Mosport Park in Canada last night, repeating their victory of a year ago on the challenging parkland track in Ontario. The win was especially memorable for James Weaver as it was his 100th career victory.

Weaver and Leitzinger doubled up on their 2005 win tally after mirroring their win at Mid Ohio back in May. Weaver had led early in the race after taking pole sitter Chris Dyson at the first corner, but came under massive pressure from Marco Werner in one of the Champion Audi's.
The battle came to a head after 50 minutes when they came upon a slower GT2 car. The pair split either side of the backmarker with Werner electing for the pitlane side while Weaver got on to the marbles on the outside and went off gently in to a tyre barrier.

Despite only very minor damage and only losing one position, Weaver admitted at that stage that their chances of victory appeared to be, “Zero, until I saw Butch do about five or six laps. It was pretty obvious that as soon as he got in the car, he was going to dig us out of the hole. I was going to make that pass on the outside, but the Panoz went wide. As I went in to the corner, I was hot, and thought he was going to go in to pitlane but he came back. I thought that was the end of that but Butch dug us out.”
Leitzinger was indeed in tremendous form at Mosport and set by far the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m08.596s. By the last scheduled pit stop Leitzinger's AER powered Lola had a 40 second advantage over JJ Lehto's Audi but still had a stop to make.
In a thrilling finale Leitzinger exited the pits just as Lehto bore down on him but the American held his nerve to take the chequered flag after two and half hours, the race being shortened by fifteen minutes due to a fuel shortage caused by the devastating Hurricane Katrina.
“As I was leaving the pits, they told me JJ is coming,” said Leitzinger. “It was all about getting in front of JJ. Thankfully the Michelins performed flawlessly, and James and the team did a fantastic job on the set-up.”

The sister Dyson Lola B01/60 AER, driven by Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace, finished fourth in the race after setting the pace in the qualifying session with Dyson himself setting a time of 1m07.682s over the 2.459 mile track, just over three tenths faster than the nearest Audi.
After relinquishing the lead to team mate Weaver at the start of the race, Dyson suffered with a slow puncture, which lost the Lola valuable time, meaning a 4th placed finish at the chequered flag.

In LMP2, Clint Field and Liz Halliday made sure that Lola came away with a double victory in Canada, as they beat the Miracle Courage, which led for much of the race, in their Intersport Lola B05/40 AER.
“It's good to come to Mosport and win after a bad week at Road America,” explained Clint Field. “I think we have the car to beat, but the Miracle car is always pushing. Liz really held close to Jeff (Bucknam) and kept us close.”
Halliday has shared a victory with Clint Field this season (at Sears Point) and she once again impressed with some solid sportscar driving at Mosport.
“I was pleased with the stint, it was very consistent,” said the Californian. “The first time I saw the track was yesterday. Basically, I've been dealing with the learning curve and dealing with traffic.”

Van Der Steur Racing were looking to follow up their heroic podium visit at Road America two weeks ago with another good showing in Canada. Ben Devlin started the weekend well with a brilliant qualifying performance that saw the B2K/40 line up in 7th overall.
Sadly that promise was unable to be translated to the race as the turquoise car stopped in the pits after just a few laps of the race with a turbo problem. After fixing it, the rapid Devlin went back on to track and completed a further 20 laps but was too far behind to be classified.

A sprint race broke out during the last thirty minutes of the Grand Prix of Mosport. It was won by James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger in the #16 Thetford/Norcold Dyson Racing entry. The race was won in the pits with a twenty second timed fuel stop on lap 95 that put Leitzinger out just in front of the Audi of J.J. Lehto. It was a drag race down to the first turn, advantage Leiztinger. Through traffic and under pressure, he pushed each lap, set the fastest lap, and won by 3.625 seconds. Co- driver Weaver commented, "I have been driving with Butch for ten years, and today he was absolutely sublime," said his joyous co-driver, James Weaver. "It was a stunning bit of driving." This is James Weaver's 100th career race win. "I want to congratulate my friend and compatriot of the past twenty years on his 100th race win," said Rob Dyson. "He won his first sports car race with us in'87 at Atlanta and he is just one of the best."
Weaver took the lead on the first turn of the first lap. The #16 AER powered Lola led for the first forty two laps until coming together with the Audi of Marco Werner. "We were fighting hard and he pushed me wide. It was just one of those things that happen in racing and unfortunately he came off the best." Weaver nosed into the tire wall, grabbed reverse and was back out on the track, loosing about 25 seconds. He handed over to Leitzinger five laps later and the chase was on. This was the second consecutive Mosport win for the pair and their second win of the year.
An unscheduled pit stop to replace a punctured tire put the polesitting #20 entry of Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace down a lap early in the race. "The car was not right from the start, but I was staying in touch the leaders," Chris Dyson said. "Then the car became extremely difficult to drive and it was getting worse. I knew we had a problem and unfortunately we lost too much time with unscheduled stops today." Wallace experienced similar woes and had to take on tires at his last stop with just under an hour remaining. "Andy drove a great race," Dyson added. "But with no yellows today, we did not get a chance to make up that time." The #20 pairing would have to settle for fourth.
"I do want to congratulate James," Rob Dyson said later. "He is a true English gentleman, funny and articulate, who is an amazing driver and has been a cornerstone of our team for twenty years. We and racing owe him a lot."

Petit Le Mans 2005-10-01

Sept. 28 - Horag-Lista Racing's high hopes for a good finish in Saturday's Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta were dashed Wednesday afternoon when its Lola B05/40 Judd No. 27 was the victim of a freak accident in an early practice session. The car will have to be returned to its constructor for repairs, so the team was forced to withdraw from Saturday's race.
Lead driver Didier Theys of Scottsdale, Ariz. had just turned the car over to Eric van de Poele of Sart Risbart, Belgium after about 30 minutes of practice. As van de Poele was attempting to leave the pits to begin his stint, the Aston Martin DB9 No. 57 driven by Jonny Kane of Comber, Ireland crashed hard into the left side of the Horag-Lista Lola. Kane, who was on the track at speed, reportedly did not see van de Poele until it was too late.
Luckily neither driver was hurt.
The Horag-Lista team's third driver, Thed Bjork of Orebro, Sweden, did not get to turn a lap.
The very disappointed Horag-Lista team will take the car back to Switzerland and then send it to England for repairs. Its next race is a Le Mans Endurance Series event in Istanbul, Turkey Nov. 12-13.

Starting Lineup

Dyson Racing qualified fourth and fifth today for the penultimate round of the American Le Mans series, the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. For the second-longest race of the ALMS season, James Weaver in the #16 Thetford/Norcold Lola will start fourth and Chris Dyson in the #20 entry fifth. Dyson, pole winner at Mosport, said, "We missed on the tire pressures today. We need to adjust the balance a little bit more for tomorrow. It is a ten hour race and that has been our focus all weekend. The track was hotter than this morning and there was less overall grip, but this helps us dial in the car for the conditions we are going to be facing tomorrow." James Weaver, winner at Mosport with Butch Leitzinger, commented, "It was a reasonable qualifying, just not quick enough. We had better balance this morning, but for qualifying we had too much understeer and whenever you tried to go quicker, you ended up with a four wheel understeer drift."

The green flag for the eighth Petit le Mans will be thrown tomorrow morning at 11:20 and will be checkered after ten hours or 1,000 miles later, whichever comes first. It has become a classic endurance race here in the red clay hills of Georgia. As at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, Dyson Racing welcomes back Guy Smith, who will pair with Dyson in the #20 Lola. "I particularly like this circuit," noted Smith. "It is a fast course with a variety of turns that keeps you on your toes. For a ten hour race, you want a car that is easy to drive. If you are off the ultimate pace, but you can do that pace consistently, lap after lap, that is what is important."

The Sebring pairing will also be repeated for the #16 car with Butch Leitzinger, Andy Wallace and James Weaver sharing driving duties. Both cars do feature more permanent pairings: Guy Smith was married on August 20 ("it was a big wedding - the best day of our lives"), and Andy Wallace is planning to tie the knot this fall. We wish them all the best.

Race Result

The Lola B05/40 LMP2 sportscar scored another memorable success at Road Atlanta over the weekend with Intersport Racing taking class honours in the eighth running of the Petit Le Mans endurance race.

Intersport Racing. The Ohio based team of Jon Field, his son Clint and Liz Halliday drove an impeccable race to win the LMP2 class by a massive 21lap margin. It was the teams 5th victory in the 2005 ALMS series, with just one race to go at Laguna Seca in two weeks time. As a result of the win, Clint Field now enjoys a healthy 18-point cushion in the ALMS LMP2 drivers points standings.

“That was a lot of fun, the car was fast,” said a delighted Jon Field as he soaked up the champagne from the podium at the end of the race. “I'm really delighted with the way we performed today and the whole team did a fantastic job.”
Jon Field had started the race from 5th place overall on the starting grid with a time just a second slower than the Audi R8's. Field ran a spirited 3rd in the early running after a first corner collision delayed the Dyson run Lola B01/60 of James Weaver, the Champion Audi of JJ Lehto and the pole sitting Zytek of Hyanari Shimoda. After pulling out a handy advantage in the first hour Field handed over to his son Clint who drove a trouble free two and a half hour stint before allowing Californian Liz Halliday to take over. After swapping the LMP2 lead throughout the first three hours, Intersport made the top spot their own when the Miracle Courage of Jeff Bucknum/James Gue/James McMurray lost time replacing a turbo.

Halliday's first stint was not without its dramas, as she came in to contact with the spinning Maserati GT1 car of Andrea Bertolini. However, the Lola is strong as well as super quick and Liz was able to continue without too much of a problem. Jon Field again took over and got up to a magnificent second overall at one stage before some minor misfire concerns saw a plug and coil change late on in the race. But with a massive 19 lap lead the team could afford to be cautious. The Intersport Lola's fastest race lap was an impressive 1m14.078s, just eight tenths of a second slower than the overall fastest lap set by JJ Lehto.

Finishing a solid 2nd overall in the 2005 Petit Le Mans was the Dyson Racing Lola LMP1 car of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith. The pair tailed the Audi R8 of Emmanuele Pirro and Frank Biela in the early running and did lead between the pit stops. However, a wastegate pod failed and dropped the car to 16th place, ensuring a tenacious drive back through the field from Dyson and Smith. The teams sister car, driven by Andy Wallace/James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger suffered some damage from the first corner altercation and then a turbo issue sadly retired the car.
“JJ and Shimoda were racing each other and I got a strong run right up the inside,” said Weaver, of the incident on lap one. “Shimoda was on the brakes very early which I think caught us both by surprise. Well, JJ didn't have anywhere to go but they touched and at that point and at that speed, that's a bad idea.”

Despite the disappointment of not completing the race, Dyson cast a lamp over the future at the weekend when they announced that they will be the first customer of Lola's much anticipate LMP1 car – the B06/10. The Dyson-Lola story will continue with this chassis in the ALMS in 2006. The car is expected to test for the first time in early New Year before making its race debut at Sebring in March.

Binnie Motorsports arrived at Petit Le Mans after two notable performances behind them at Silverstone and Nurburgring recently. Sam Hancock and Allen Timpany again partnered team owner Bill Binnie in the Nicholson McLaren powered B05/40. Qualifying saw the team make consistent progress and qualifying a fine 2nd in LMP2 and 7th overall, Sam Hancock showed his pace once again in the Pirelli shod Lola. The race however was frustrating for the Anglo/American team with several pit stops needed to tend to a mechanical problem. Sadly, their race ended after 195 laps when they lost power and retired in the pits.

The Swiss, Horag Lista team were the unfortunate victims of an accident at Road Atlanta last Wednesday during practice when a GT1 Aston Martin collided with Eric Van De Poele and rendered the car unusable for the remainder of the weekend. The car is scheduled to return for the final LMES round of the year at Istanbul in November.

Once again there was a heroic performance from Ben Devlin in the Van Der Steur Lola B2K/40. The highly rated Norfolk driver qualified a remarkable 5th in the LMP2 class and was running strongly in the race until the cars engine cover became detached on lap 7, forcing the team to retire the car. The small but doughty team had also overcome a practice accident when the Zytek had reversed in to its path and caused a collision during Friday practice.

Another B2K/40 at Road Atlanta last weekend was entered by the new BAT Competition team. Mike Johnson, who has plenty of experience of running the car from his time with Archangel, shared driving duties with George Forgeois and Bob Woodman. A faultless race saw the trio come home a creditable 3rd in class, joing the jovial Intersport crew in celebrations on the LMP2 podium.

After maintaining a close second for the first hour of the ten hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta today, the #20 Thetford/Norcold with Chris Dyson and Guy Smith fell to sixteenth place when a wastegate pod failed. Eight hours later, Dyson and Smith were enjoying second place champagne on the night-time podium. "I am proud of my guys," said Rob Dyson. "They kept their heads up all day, no matter what was thrown at them. They kept on digging. They went from second to sixteenth and back to second. A great job."
Added Dyson, "I would also like to congratulate Champion Audi and Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela on winning the race today and the championship. They are a class act and great competitors. Well deserved"

The #16 AER powered Lola fell victim to more serious maladies which put a premature end to a persistent effort. James Weaver, after taking the lead at the start, came in two laps later with a "long brake pedal." Multiple stops to bleed the brakes put Weaver down to twenty eighth. Finally, on lap twenty-two, the car went back to the garage to replace the two master cylinders, loosing sixty- one laps. The coupe de grace occurred five hours into the race when the turbo went shortly after Butch Leitzinger started his first driving stint in the car. The decision was made to retire the car. Explained Rob Dyson, "We were more than sixty laps down and replacing the turbo would have put us down another forty or forty-five. That would have been too much of a deficit to make up and be able to finish the necessary seventy percent of the race to be classified as finishers."

But the end of the race was not without drama as Chris Dyson reported the engine running rough a half hour from the end. Careful nursing brought it home to the celebrating team. "It was a nerve-racking run to the end, but this is a good result for the team," Dyson said afterwards. "We had the car today and we certainly had the pace. I want to thank Guy Smith for another great drive for Dyson Racing. He drove an excellent race and I couldn't have done it without him. His efforts helped secure our come-from-behind finish. As at Sebring this year, he was a valuable addition to our team. "

Laguna Seca 2005-10-16

Starting Lineup

This afternoon, before qualifying for the final race of the season for the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca, Andy Wallace said, "We have a good shot at qualifying. There are probably six cars that could all do a 'fifteen'."

The co-driver of the #20 Thetford/Norcold Lola was half-right. The first three were all under 1:15, including the two Dyson Racing entries who qualified second and third, both under the track record set five years ago, with Butch Leitzinger in the #16 entry besting Andy Wallace by .015 seconds.
"Qualifying was very interesting," Wallace said afterwards. "We got our cars extremely close together. Butch did a brilliant job; I take my hat off to him. We figured the Zytek was going to make a good run for the pole but this is a four-hour race, so we are in good shape."
"I think it should be a really good punch up"
Talking about tomorrow's "Racing into the Darkness" four-hour race, Leitzinger said, "The top six cars are all within a close gap: I think it should be a really good punch up. We could have another train like we had at Mid-Ohio where we had an exciting race with six, seven cars battling for one position. You know, the team has worked so hard this year and if we could cap it off with another win and take this car out in a blaze of glory and get some momentum for next year, that would be great for us."

Race Result

Race Report

Intersport Racing. Despite losing time in the early running, Clint along with his father Jon Field and Liz Halliday, finished 5th in the LMP2 class to register the necessary points and finish 16 ahead of their nearest rivals. With five victories from the ten rounds, Clint Field was happy with his year, a year which saw the Lola B05/40 make its race debut and score class win after class win.
“This is the end of a good racing year for us to say the least,” said Clint Field after taking the LMP2 crown. “For the race we really just did what we planned which was to run the laps. I think this is the best fifth place we've ever had!”. It was Jon Field who took the start for Intersport, albeit from the back of the grid after an off-track excursion in qualifying at turn 5. Making amends, Field drove a remarkable opening stint, scything his way through the pack to reach 7th overall by lap 4. He pitted after just 31 minutes, taking advantage of a full course yellow.
Halliday had another superb stint, consolidating the teams hard won progress in the LMP2 class before handing over to Clint Field just after the hour mark. Unfortunately for the team, some technical problems ensured that they lost time in the third hour but through the resilience and determination of the team and Lola's on-site engineers, they were back on track to clinch the title.
Completing the necessary 70% of the class winner, Field took the vital points to scoop the title and spark some well deserved celebrations for the Ohio based team.

Dyson Racing completed their season with a typically aggressive race that saw Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver lead for a large portion of the four hour ‘light in to dark' event. However, a puncture compromised their clever three stop strategy and saw them eventually finish in 6th place.
Butch Leitzinger had taken the lead at the start and opened up a useful advantage on the pole sitting Zytek of Tom Chilton. With Chris Dyson driving an excellent race to hold third position the Dyson team were in good shape, holding off the might of both Audi and Porsche.
Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace eventually finished in 3rd position, splitting the Audi's in what has been a season long battle with the Champion Racing team. Chris Dyson cemented a deserved runners up position in the final drivers points standings and his father and team owner Rob Dyson was delighted with the way their season had gone, saying:
“It was a very hard fought race for us just like the season as a whole. The champion team is very tough and to split the two cars and take 2nd place in the championship for Chris is very rewarding indeed for the team.”

Laguna Seca was the final race for the Dyson team in the present Lola B01/60-AER chassis as next March will see the race debut of the all-new and eagerly anticipated Lola B06/10 LMP1 model. The car is currently being readied for intensive winter testing at Lola's Huntingdon base with the first of two Dyson chassis scheduled to hit the track in the early New Year.

Van Der Steur Racing finished in 4th place in LMP2 at Laguna Seca with Gunnar Van Der Steur and Ben Devlin again impressing in their AER powered LMP2 car.

Eight months, ten races and over 5,000 miles of racing came to a close today with Chris Dyson finishing second in the American Le Mans Series Championship. Dyson and Andy Wallace finished third in the season-ending four hour "Racing into the Darkness" finale at Laguna Seca.

"I am very happy with the result," reflected Dyson. "The boys just never gave up this year. They kept their heads down and I am a reflection of their efforts."

"It was very hard fought race," added team principal Rob Dyson. "The Champion team is very tough and to split the two cars and to secure second place in the championship for Chris is very rewarding for the team."

The second Dyson Racing entry finished sixth. Butch Leitzinger took the lead going into turn two at the start and held it for the first thirty minutes until coming if for fuel during the second full course yellow. This plan was for the car to make it to the end with only two more pit stops. The far-sighted strategy was negated when an unscheduled green flag stop during the race for punctured tires put them down the field. Both Leitzinger and James Weaver would lead later parts of the race, and Weaver did his patented hounding and passing, but the puncture ended up derailing their charge.

Andy Wallace was equally masterful keeping the Audis at bay for the last forty-five minutes of the race on Michelin tires that were past their "sell-by date." "We had a good old battle going and kept the Audi's behind me for a long time," Wallace said later. "The only way to get ahead of the Audis was to not change tires so once I got fifteen, twenty minutes into my second hour with the same tires, it became quite the challenge. It was very cold out, plus when you wear the rubber off, the tire temperature goes down and you start to slide around even more. It was as much as I could do to keep it on the road and that really was my sole concern so that we could finish ahead of the #1 Audi and get Chris second in the championship."

"It was a great year," summed up Rob Dyson. "Randall Kelsey and all the boys did a phenomenal job and to finish ahead of one of the Audis in the points chase and to have won a couple of races: I think we have a lot to be proud of this year."