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|  | | August 20 2012 01:33:33 PM EST | |
| Road America is one of the driver's favorite tracks on the ALMS schedule, and it always makes for good racing. This year's race was like a 4hr long game of Chess. It all came down to strategy.
To start things off, the #44 and #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche locked out the front row in GT for the first time ever in qualifying. With the #45 being disqualified for failing the stall test at a previous round, the Lizards were leaving nothing on the table with only a few races left in the season. The Corvettes qualified P3 and P5 only a few tenths back.
On race day, everyone knew the Corvettes were the ones to beat and teams like RLL BMW, winless so far this season, were on a mission to dethrone the boys in yellow.
After an uneventful first hour a caution came out and the #3 Corvette and #56 BMW did not pit, creating a split strategy for both teams. 1hr 45min in and the #93 Viper crashed causing the second yellow flag to come out. This time around all of the GT cars come in to the pits for full service, putting everyone back on the same strategy. The #45 came out 1st followed closely by the #3 and #4 Corvettes, and the hunt was on.
At the 3hr mark the Corvettes were still on the heals of the #45 Porsche, clicking off laps, and waiting for their moment to strike.
In the final hour strategy and traffic played a huge roll. Both BMWs found themselves going from well down the order up to P1 and P2 due to their fuel strategy paying off and they did not need to pit. Everyone else who did pit got caught up in traffic with the other classes, making it very difficult to gain any ground
In the closing 15 minutes it seemed like all hell broke loose and a little too much rubbing was going on.
The #55 BMW won and Corvette Racing finished 4th and 6th unofficially. We will update you when results become official.
Next up, the streets of Baltimore. |
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