| |
ADT/Champion Racing Dominant in first
ALMS win at Road Atlanta
 29
June (Road Atlanta, GA) -
Johnny Herbert and JJ
Lehto earned Team ADT Champion Racing its maiden American Le Mans Series
victory when the Anglo-Finnish driver combination, racing together for
the first time, swept to a 30-second victory at Road Atlanta today
(SUNDAY).
Having achieved 17
top-5 finishes since entering ALMS two years ago - including five
runner-up placings last year - victory at a circuit where the team had
scored its first major success (1999 Petit Le Mans GT1 class winner),
had recorded third and second in ALMS at Atlanta (2001 & 2002), combined
with third-place in the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, has completed a
truly memorable month for the Pompano Beach, Florida-based team.
Lehto started the
Champion Audi from third place on the 37-car grid in hot and very humid
weather conditions in Georgia. JJ was in a determined mood at the green
light and forced his way past Marco Werner (Infineon Joest Audi) going
into turn one.
On the sixth lap the “Flying Finn” repeated the
maneuver, Lehto sweeping past pole-sitter James Weaver (MG Lola) and in
to the lead. After 30-minutes, the Team ADT Champion Racing Audi R8 had
a lead of 15-secs over Weaver with Werner a further 7-secs adrift in
third.
Lehto pitted for fuel only on lap 44 with a
24-seconds advantage while Frank Biela resumed in second place - 43-secs
down - having taken over from Werner a lap later, their Audi being
re-fuelled and also fitted with new tires on its scheduled stop. The
James Weaver/Butch Leitzinger MG Lola dropped to third and out of
contention for race honors when it collected a stop-go penalty for an
infringement during its pit-stop.
JJ maintained his advantage over Biela’s similar
2002-specification Audi R8 and pitted with a 45-secs advantage with
50-minutes to run. Herbert took over from Lehto with the well-drilled
Champion Racing team servicing the Audi with fuel and tires.
Biela pitted the same lap, his Audi requiring just
fuel, which brought the Joest Audi to within 24-secs of Herbert’s
Champion Audi. With 15-minutes to the checker, Herbert’s lead was
24-secs and the British driver took the flag 30-secs ahead of the
Biela/Werner Audi - earning Johnny only his second ALMS victory and JJ’s
seventh outright race success which takes him into a three-way series
lead after two races.
Johnny Herbert
(39). Born: Brentwood, Essex, UK. Lives: Monte Carlo:
ALMS stats: 18 starts,
2 win, 12 top-3s, 16 top-5s, 18 top-10s.
“We had planned that JJ would do the first two stints and for me then to
bring home it home to the finish and everything worked out perfectly.
Dave Maraj’s team deserve this maiden ALMS victory and to beat a Joest
Audi must be especially sweet for him. After JJ’s stints I had a
relatively easy job. The car for me was perfect, never missing a beat
since Friday’s tests. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”
JJ Lehto (37). Born: Espoo, Finland.
Lives: Monte Carlo:
ALMS stats: 32 starts, 11 wins (7 overall), 26 top-3s, 30 top-5s, 32
top-10s.
“Qualifying was cancelled yesterday so I thought
I’d do it today in the first corner to get past Marco [Werner]. Then
traffic caused James [Weaver] to lose momentum exiting the last turn
onto the start finish straight which allowed me to take the lead. The
Audi was perfect for my entire stint. I had no problems whatsoever
apart from the traffic. It’s good to be winning again and I’m sure
there are more to come this season.”
Dave
Maraj, Team ADT Champion Racing Team Owner:
“We came
close on many occasions including this year’s ALMS race at Sebring when
we led most of the 12 hours but had to be content with second. With our
Le Mans result two weeks ago and now our maiden ALMS victory, I am so
proud of my team.”
RACE
RESULT:
1 Herbert/Lehto (Audi R8) 128 laps in 2h
45m 30.731s
2 Biela/Werner (Audi R8) + 30.407s
3 Field/Dayton (MG Lola) - 2 laps
4 Weaver/Leitzinger (MG Lola) - 2 laps
5 Theys/van de Poele (Dallara-MG) - 3
laps
6 Beretta/Papis (Panoz) - 3 laps
7 Gavin/Collins (Chevrolet) - 10 laps
8 Kox/Enge (Ferrari) - 10 laps
9 Fellows/O´Connell (Chevrolet) - 12 laps
10 Policand/Patrick (Ferrari) - 13 laps
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1 Frank
Biela/Marco Werner/JJ Lehto,
42
4 Johnny Herbert, 39
5
Philipp Peter, 26
|
|
