BRASELTON, GA. September 26, 2009 – Dyson Racing won the American Le Mans Series LMP2 class today at the 12th Annual Petit Le Mans Powered by MAZDA6 at Road Atlanta. It was the first Petit Le Mans victory for the team. In addition, it was the first class win for Mazda at the Petit Le Mans, making them the first Japanese manufacturer to have won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Petit Le Mans. The #20 BP Mazda Lola of Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti and Ben Devlin was twenty-nine laps ahead of the second place Lowe’s Fernandez entry when the race was stopped four hours and forty-nine minutes into the ten hour race for heavy rain. The win from pole was the second win of the season for the team.
“There were so many different conditions in the first two hours of the race and the car was fantastic in all of them. There was a point in the race where we passed Audis and Peugeots,” commented Franchitti. “This is a great win for the team,” said Leitzinger. “I have been to all twelve Petit Le Mans, and the year on year increase in the significance of this race has been great to see. Sebring, the Indy 500, and Le Mans – you walk in the gate and you can feel the buzz – and this race has attained that status in a short period of time.” “These were some of the hardest conditions I have run in my sportscar career,” stated Devlin. “Marino and Butch did a great job and hats off to Chris and Guy for the great drive they put in.”
The #16 car of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith was not running for points since they were using the new BP fuel blend of gasoline, ethanol and biobutanol. They finished seventh overall, nine laps ahead of their sister car. Chris Dyson commented on the new advanced biofuel. “We are really encouraged by the cars performance on the biobutonal this weekend. The engine has run flawlessly all weekend. Not only does it have the same, if not better pace than the standard fuel, we are also breaking new ground and it is extremely exciting for us and our partners.”
“It is an honor for the team to have won this race,” said Rob Dyson. “I have raced a lot of cars that were good and a lot of cars that were bad, but never raced any cars that were unclassified! So this is a one – one finish for Dyson Racing: we were first in the biobutanol class and first in P2!”
Pos | Car# | Class | Drivers | Behind In Class | Car Make |
1. | 08 | P1 | Sarrazin/Montagny | 0 | Peugeot 908 |
2. | 07 | P1 | Minassian/Lamy | 2.011 | Peugeot 908 |
3. | 2 | P1 | Capello/McNish | 3.465 | Audi R15 |
4. | 1 | P1 | Luhr/Werner | 1 lap | Audi R15 |
5. | 7 | P1 | Panis/Lapierre/Dumas | 3 laps | Oreca 01 |
6. | 9 | P1 | Brabham/Sharp/D.Franchitti | 4 laps | Acura ARX 02 |
7. | 16 | P2 | Dyson/Smith | UNC | Mazda MZR-R |
8. | 62 | GT2 | Melo/Kaffer/Salo | 0 | Ferrari 430 |
9. | 92 | GT2 | Mueller/Milner/Mueller | 1 lap | BMW E92 |
13. | 20 | P2 | Leitzinger/Franchitti/Devlin | 0 | Mazda MZR-R |