Porsche reigns in Le Mans race
Confusion reigned at the end of the inaugural American Le Mans Series sports car race Saturday at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, but one thing was clear: The Audi R10 TDI, unbeaten in 10 races since its introduction, including Le Mans, was taken to school by Porsche.
The Audi excelled while it was streaking down Shoreline Drive on the 1.97-mile circuit though the city streets, but the famous Turn 11 hairpin proved troublesome for the series’ dominant car in its marquee class, LMP1.
The Audi was credited with a class win, but six cars from the secondary LMP2 class -- four Porsches and two Acuras -- finished ahead of the previously undefeated Audi co-driven by Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello.
Porsche swept the podium, a series first. Owner Roger Penske’s Porsche RS Spyders finished 1-2 as Romain Dumas took the checkered flag first, followed by Sascha Maassen a scant 0.76 of a second later. Dumas was teamed with Timo Bernhard, and Maassen with Ryan Briscoe.
Dyson Racing’s Butch Leitzinger took third, 13.4 seconds behind the winner. He was paired with Andy Wallace.
“Every run of victories has to come to an end at some point,” McNish said. “We have to keep it all in perspective.”
The results weren’t finalized until well after the race, scheduled for 1 hour 40 minutes. At issue was whether Dumas had spent too much time in the car. Rules stipulate a driver can’t be in the car for more than 70% of the race, disqualification being the penalty.
Dumas took over for co-driver Bernhard during a caution period between 30 and 31 minutes into the race, putting the percentage into question, but the result was approved after sorting out pit time and extra time, which do not count toward total driver time, according to ALMS spokesman Bob Dickinson.
The race might have gone to Andretti Green Racing drivers Bryan Herta and pole-sitter Dario Franchitti, but Franchitti did not pit during the race’s lone caution flag, which meant the driver change was made under green flag conditions. They finished sixth.
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Brazilian Raphael Matos, who won last week’s Atlantic race in Las Vegas, won the pole for today’s preliminary to the Grand Prix of Long Beach with a track-record qualifying lap at 93.561 mph.
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Dave Mirra, BMX rider and the most dominant athlete in X Games history, was the unsurprising winner of the 31st Toyota Pro-Celebrity race.
The race was stopped after eight of 10 scheduled laps because of a crash involving “Star Wars” director George Lucas and charity auction winner Annamarie Dean.
Mirra finished ahead of second-place Martina Navratilova, the tennis Hall of Famer.
The margin of victory was 7.4 seconds with an average speed of 65.541 mph in identically prepared Toyota Scion tCs. NASCAR truck series driver Mike Skinner led the professionals, finishing fourth overall, behind actor Joshua Morrow.
