| |
 LAKEVILLE,
CT. (July 5, 2004) - Smart strategy coupled with strong driving from
JJ Lehto and Marco Werner proved to be the winning combination today
as Team
ADT/Champion Racing earned first place on the podium at the
inaugural New
England Grand Prix in Lakeville, Connecticut.
On a very hot day, rain fell just a short three minutes into the
race. While most teams entered the pits during a full course caution
to put on rain tires, the #38 Audi R8 driven by JJ Lehto "weathered
the storm", stayed on the course, thus taking the lead from pole
sitter James Weaver from Dyson Racing.
"Our strategy really paid off for us today," commented Brad Kettler,
Technical
Director/Team ADT Champion Racing. "We made the right call to stay
on our
slick tires hoping the rain would stop. This track dries very
quickly and once the rain cloud passed, the track dried up and JJ
was able to keep his lead."
JJ Lehto lead for most of the first hour of the race until lap 47
when Lehto came in for a pit stop and driver change handing over the
cockpit to teammate Marco Werner. Pole sitter Weaver was back in the
lead for 25 minutes until Weaver pitted and teammate Butch
Leitzinger jumped into the car thus allowing Werner to take back the
lead.
After 2 hours and 23 minutes of battling traffic and weather
elements, the second place car (#16, Dyson Racing) had closed the
gap to 6.946 seconds behind Werner. Werner found himself in an
unusual predicament being held up by the "sister" Dyson car.
Ultimately a full course caution came out just 16 minutes from the
end forcing the slower Dyson car to the back of the pack. The yellow
flag lasted nine minutes and the overall leader, Marco Werner,
prevailed and raced to the checkered flag. The margin of victory was
a slim 1.429 seconds.
Next stop for Team ADT Champion Racing and the American Le Mans
Series is
Infineon Raceway, July 16-18.
Driver quotes:
 JJ
Lehto (Finland): "It's nice to win in a new place and especially at
the home track of our competitors, the Dyson team. We knew they were
going to be really strong here. It was a big battle all the way to
the end and Marco had a lot of pressure but he handled it well. He
held the others cars back and we won the race. That's the most
important thing."
Marco Werner (Germany): "First let me say thank you to the team and
to my
teammate JJ. He did a great job in the beginning. It was key that he
stayed out on the slick tires during the rain. Also, the strategy
for the pit stops was excellent. That's why we won the race. It was
an excellent result for us today."
Brad Kettler (Technical Director): "Today was very exciting for us.
I'm really, really proud of JJ and Marco. Marco did an outstanding
job on old tires and that gave us the cushion we needed. Towards the
end of the race, Butch Leitzinger (Dyson Racing) was really, really
fast. I knew it would be a close finish-but not that close!"
Today's result marks the second win of the season for Team ADT
Champion Racing.
1) J. Lehto/M. Werner ADT Champion
Racing 165 laps
2) J. Weaver/B. Leitzinger Dyson Racing 1.429 sec
3) C. Dyson/A. Wallace Dyson Racing +2 laps
4) O. Gavin/O. Beretta Corvette Racing + 5 laps
5) R. Fellows/J. O'Connell Corvette Racing 5 laps +3.627 sec |
|
