2012 American Le Mans Series VIR 240

Track map of VIR

The 2012 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón VIR 240 was a multi-class sports car and GT motor race held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, United States on September 15, 2012. It was the ninth and penultimate round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series season. It was a new event for the American Le Mans Series but had been held the previous ten years for the Rolex Sports Car Series. The race was held over a four-hour time period, during which 135 laps of the 3.3 kilometre "Full Course" circuit were completed for a race distance of 710 kilometres.

The race was won by Muscle Milk Pickett Racing pair of Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf in their HPD ARX-03a. The leaders of the P1 championship won by three laps over their season long rivals from the Dyson Racing Team, Chris Dyson and Guy Smith in their Lola B12/60. One lap further behind in third place was the P2 class winners, Level 5 Motorsports team of Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut in their HPD ARX-03b. They won the P2 class by 27 seconds over their season-long rivals the Conquest Endurance team of Martin Plowman and David Heinemeier Hansson in their Morgan LMP2.[1]

Three of the five class championships of drivers were decided, the first of them was the Prototype Challenge. Jon Bennett and Colin Braun did all they could to keep the championship alive, winning PC in their CORE Autosport Oreca FLM09, but third place was enough for their Venezuelan teammate Alex Popow to wrap up his first ALMS class championship, despite being involved in a first lap collision.[1]

In eighth place was the GT class and championship winners the Corvette Racing pair of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in their Chevrolet Corvette C6.R. In wrapping up the champion Gavin won his class for Corvette Racing for the fourth time with Milner claiming his first ALMS title. It also returned Corvette Racing to the winners list for the first time since 2008 after dominating much of the decade.[1]

Similarly Cooper MacNeil won the GT Challenge class from the front, wrapping his championship up for Alex Job Racing with a 0.4 second win with his co-driver Leh Keen over the NGT Motorsport pair of Henrique Cisneros and Jeroen Bleekemolen.[1]

28 of the 31 entries were running at races conclusion, although the second of the Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b's was subsequently excluded for failing an air-restrictor stall test after the race.[1]

Race

Race result

Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of their class winner's distance are marked as Not Classified (NC).[2]

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps
Engine
1 P1 6 United States Muscle Milk Pickett Racing Germany Lucas Luhr
Germany Klaus Graf
HPD ARX-03a M 135
Honda 3.4 L V8
2 P1 16 United States Dyson Racing Team United States Chris Dyson
United Kingdom Guy Smith
United Kingdom Johnny Mowlem
Lola B12/60 D 132
Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
(Isobutanol)
3 P2 055 United States Level 5 Motorsports United States Scott Tucker
France Christophe Bouchut
HPD ARX-03b D 131
Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6
4 P2 37 United States Conquest Endurance United Kingdom Martin Plowman
Denmark David Heinemeier Hansson
Morgan LMP2 D 131
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
5 PC 05 United States CORE Autosport United States Jon Bennett
United States Colin Braun
Oreca FLM09 M 128
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
6 PC 52 United States PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Mexico Rudy Junco Jr.
United Kingdom Marino Franchitti
Oreca FLM09 M 127
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
7 PC 06 United States CORE Autosport Venezuela Alex Popow
United Kingdom Tom Kimber-Smith
Oreca FLM09 M 127
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
8 GT 4 United States Corvette Racing United Kingdom Oliver Gavin
United States Tommy Milner
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R M 126
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
9 GT 45 United States Flying Lizard Motorsports Germany Jörg Bergmeister
United States Patrick Long
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 126
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
10 GT 01 United States Extreme Speed Motorsports United States Scott Sharp
United States Johannes van Overbeek
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 126
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
11 GT 55 United States BMW Team RLL Germany Jörg Müller
United States Bill Auberlen
BMW M3 GT2 D 126
BMW 4.0 L V8
12 PC 9 United States RSR Racing Brazil Bruno Junqueira
United States Tomy Drissi
Oreca FLM09 M 125
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
13 GT 44 United States Flying Lizard Motorsports United States Seth Neiman
Germany Marco Holzer
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 125
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
14 PC 25 United States Dempsey Racing France Henri Richard
United States Duncan Ende
Oreca FLM09 M 124
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
15 GT 23 United States Lotus / Alex Job Racing United States Bill Sweedler
United States Townsend Bell
Lotus Evora GTE Y 124
Toyota-Cosworth 3.5 L V6
16 GT 17 United States Team Falken Tire Germany Wolf Henzler
United States Bryan Sellers
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR F 123
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
17 GT 3 United States Corvette Racing Denmark Jan Magnussen
Spain Antonio García
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R M 122
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
18 PC 7 United States Merchant Services Racing Canada Tony Burgess
Mexico Pablo Sanchez
United States Eric Lux
Oreca FLM09 M 121
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
19 GT 56 United States BMW Team RLL Germany Dirk Müller
United States Jonathan Summerton
BMW M3 GT2 D 120
BMW 4.0 L V8
20 GTC 22 United States Alex Job Racing United States Cooper MacNeil
United States Leh Keen
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Y 118
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
21 GTC 30 United States NGT Motorsport United States Henrique Cisneros
Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Y 118
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
22 GTC 11 United States JDX Racing Canada Chris Cumming
Canada Michael Valiante
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Y 118
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
23 GTC 34 United States Green Hornet Racing United States Peter LeSaffre
Republic of Ireland Damien Faulkner
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Y 118
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
24 GTC 66 United States TRG Venezuela Emilio Di Guida
United States Spencer Pumpelly
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Y 116
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
25 GTC 31 United States NGT Motorsport Venezuela Angel Benitez, Sr.
Venezuela Angel Benitez, Jr.
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Y 116
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
26 GTC 24 United States Competition Motorsports United States Bob Faieta
United States Michael Avenatti
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Y 114
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
27
DNF
GT 48 United States Paul Miller Racing United States Bryce Miller
Germany Sascha Maassen
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR D 98
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
28
DNF
P1 20 United States Dyson Racing Team United States Michael Marsal
United States Mark Patterson
United States Chris Dyson
Lola B11/66 D 94
Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
(Isobutanol)
29
DNF
GT 02 United States Extreme Speed Motorsports United States Ed Brown
United States Guy Cosmo
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 M 93
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
30
DNF
PC 8 United States Merchant Services Racing Canada Kyle Marcelli
United States Lucas Downs
Oreca FLM09 M 32
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
EX P2 95 United States Level 5 Motorsports United States Scott Tucker
Mexico Luis Díaz
Mexico Ricardo González
HPD ARX-03b D 131
Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "A Muscle Milk Victory and Championships Galore at VIR". American Le Mans Series. 2012-09-15. Archived from the original on 2012-09-25. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  2. ^ "Provisional Race Report" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. 2012-09-15. Retrieved 2012-09-27.


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