Bernard gifts Soper victory at Laguna
BMW ace Steve Soper has won the Laguna Seca round of the American Le Mans Series after a late-race retirement by the Panoz of Eric Bernard
Bernard, who shares with David Brabham, retired with just a handful of laps of the race to run with suspected brake failure.
Soper and his team-mate JJ Lehto won the race by 13.889s from the number two Panoz driven by Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen and Klaus Graf.
'We gave the race to Panoz at Road Atlanta, but we got it back here,' said Soper. 'I kept pushing when I took the car from JJ but I had no grip.
'Eric overtook me before he retired, then all I had to do was cruise to the flag.'
Third place went to the second factory BMW of Bill Auberlen and Jo Winkelhock, who finished 19.345s down.
The pair came home a lap ahead of fourth-placed Stefan Johansson and Jim Matthews in the Doran Ferrari 333SP.
Fifth overall went to the Dyson Riley & Scott of James Weaver and Elliott Forbes-Robinson.
Dodge Viper pairing Olivier Beretta and Karl Wendlinger took the GTS class honours after their team-mates David Donohue and Tommy Archer suffered an uncharacteristic suspension failure and retired.
Johnny Mowlem and David Murry romped to the GT class win, coming home a lap ahead of Cort Wagner and Dirk Muller's Porsche GT3-R.
The American Le Mans Series now decamps to Las Vegas for its season finale on November 5.
|
Position |
Drivers |
Car |
Laps |
|
1 |
Lehto/Soper |
BMW V12 |
121 |
|
2 |
O'Connell/Magnussen/Graf |
Panoz LMP-1 |
121 |
|
3 |
Auberlen/ Winkelhock |
BMW V12 LMR |
121 |
|
4 |
Matthews/Johansson |
Ferrari 333 SP |
118 |
|
5 |
Forbes-Robinson/Weaver |
Riley & Scott Mk/Ford |
118 |
|
6 |
Brabham/Bernard |
Panoz LMP-1 |
115 |
|
7 |
Schubot/Leitzinger |
Riley & Scott Mk/Ford |
115 |
|
8 |
Taylor/Caffi |
Ferrari 333 SP |
113 |
|
9 |
Dean/Luby |
Sintura S99/Judd |
112 |
|
10 |
Bingham/Sutherland |
Riley & Scott Mk/Ford |
111 |
|
11 |
Beretta/Wendlinger |
Dodge Viper GTS-R |
110 |
|
12 |
Baldi/ Theys |
Ferrari 333 SP |
109 |
|
13 |
Fellows/Kneifel |
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R |
109 |
|
14 |
Snow/Collins |
Porsche 911 Turbo |
108 |
|
15 |
Murry/Mowlem |
Porsche 911 RSR |
108 |
|
16 |
Wagner/Muller |
Porsche 911 GT3 R |
107 |
|
17 |
Hurtgen/Ahrle |
Porsche 911 Turbo |
107 |
|
18 |
Field/Debban |
Lola B98/10/Ford |
106 |
|
19 |
Konrad/Sobrero |
Porsche 911 Turbo |
105 |
|
20 |
Havens/Fitzgerald |
Porsche 911 RSR |
103 |
|
21 |
Baumann/Dullum/Wattles |
Riley & Scott Mk/Ford |
103 |
|
22 |
Angelelli/De Radigues |
Ferrari 333 SP |
102 |
|
23 |
Reiser/Willingham/Stanton |
Porsche 911 RSR |
101 |
|
24 |
Peeler/Doolin |
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup |
99 |
|
25 |
Petersen/White |
Porsche 911 RSR |
98 |
|
26 |
Said/Stuck |
BMW M3 |
96 |
|
27 |
Friedman/Miller |
Porsche 911 RSR |
93 |
|
28 |
Brown/Earle/Buttiero |
Porsche 911 Turbo |
90 |
|
29 |
Conte/Lambert |
Porsche 911 RSR |
88 |
|
30 |
Cunningham/Overbeek |
BMW M3 |
87 |
|
31 |
Johnson/Borcheller |
Saleen SR |
84 |
|
32 |
Jorg Hofer/Riccitelli |
Porsche 911 GT3 R |
79 |
|
33 |
Volk/Schroeder |
Riley & Scott Mk/Chev |
70 |
|
34 |
Van dePoele/Schiattarella |
Riley & Scott Mk/Judd |
69 |
|
35 |
Kaufmann/Wolleck |
Porsche 911 Turbo |
67 |
|
36 |
McNish/Kelleners |
Porsche 911 GT1 EVO |
55 |
|
37 |
Cunningham/Simo |
BMW M3 |
51 |
|
38 |
Fay/Brosius/Pobst |
Porsche 911 RSR |
51 |
|
39 |
Rice/Spencer |
Riley & Scott Mk/Ford |
45 |
|
40 |
Buckler/Gaughran |
Porsche 911 RSR |
44 |
|
41 |
Donohue/Archer |
Dodge Viper GTS-R |
33 |
|
42 |
Hiskey/Hill |
Porsche 911 RSR |
28 |
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