It was not a classic race, but it was great to see the finest sports and prototype cars in the world on this classic circuit. As expected, Peugeot dominated, with their cars finishing first and second, but the Lola-Aston stayed closer than most expected, and the Drayson Racing Lola-Judd ran well for several hours before faltering a bit at the end. The Highcroft Acura team dominated the P2 class for most of the race, but late mechanical issues left them second, and gave the class win to the Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder. The GT class battle was as close as expected, with the win going to the Risi Ferrari 430. This win coming despite Tracy Krohn, in the second Risi car, running the winning car off the road in the middle of the afternoon. I’ve seen Tracy Krohn do stuff like this too many times. He really needs to go to racing school. Team Corvette had uncharacteristic problems, both mechanical and mental. Emmanuel Collard somehow managed not to notice that the #3 car was in the pit already, and he just drove right into the side of the 3 car, severely damaging both cars. I feel certain he will be replaced at Le Mans. In the new LMP Challenge class, the Level 5 team of Bouchut, Tucker, and Wilkins dominated, winning the class by over 40 laps. These new cars held up fairly well at this, the toughest track and longest race on the schedule, and they should be more competitive with the other prototypes at the street circuits coming up. The coverage on Speed was terrific as well. Congrats to Peugeot, Cytosport, and Level 5. Now it’s on to Long Beach, where I saw my first professional race in 1977, when it was a Formula One event.
