2008 Detroit Sports Car Challenge

The Detroit Sports Car Challenge presented by Bosch was the ninth round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at the Belle Isle temporary street circuit, Michigan on August 30, 2008.

The Raceway on Belle Isle in 2008

Report edit

Andretti Green Racing scored their first overall victory, as well as the second overall victory for the Acura program. Audi failed to win the LMP1 category for the first time all season after one car crashed and the other was disqualified for a rule infraction. Intersport Racing, the lone remaining LMP1 competitor, earned the class win.[1] Flying Lizard managed to finish the race with all three of their Porsches in the top four in GT2 to help extend their lead over the Tafel Racing Ferraris, while Corvette Racing easily led the GT1 category.

This race marked the first time since the debut of the Porsche RS Spyder at the 2005 Monterey Sports Car Championships that Porsche failed to finish in a podium position in the LMP2 class; the Acuras of Highcroft Racing and de Ferran Motorsport completed the LMP2 and overall podium behind the Andretti Green Acura, and ahead of the #7 Penske Racing Porsche in fourth.

Race results edit

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

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps
Engine
1 LMP2 26   Andretti Green Racing   Franck Montagny
  James Rossiter
Acura ARX-01B M 104
Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8
2 LMP2 9   Patrón Highcroft Racing   Scott Sharp
  David Brabham
Acura ARX-01B M 104
Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8
3 LMP2 66   de Ferran Motorsports   Gil de Ferran
  Simon Pagenaud
Acura ARX-01B M 104
Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8
4 LMP2 7   Penske Racing   Timo Bernhard
  Romain Dumas
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 104
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
5 LMP2 6   Penske Racing   Patrick Long
  Ryan Briscoe
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 104
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
6 LMP2 16   Dyson Racing   Chris Dyson
  Guy Smith
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 103
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
7 LMP2 8   B-K Motorsports   Gerardo Bonilla
  Ben Devlin
Lola B07/46 D 103
Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
(E85 ethanol)
8 LMP2 20   Dyson Racing   Butch Leitzinger
  Marino Franchitti
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 102
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
9 GT1 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin
  Olivier Beretta
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R M 100
Chevrolet LS7-R 7.0 L V8
(E85 ethanol)
10 GT1 3   Corvette Racing   Johnny O'Connell
  Jan Magnussen
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R M 100
Chevrolet LS7-R 7.0 L V8
(E85 ethanol)
11 GT2 45   Flying Lizard Motorsports   Jörg Bergmeister
  Wolf Henzler
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 98
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
12 GT2 46   Flying Lizard Motorsports   Johannes van Overbeek
  Patrick Pilet
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 98
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
13 GT2 62   Risi Competizione   Jaime Melo
  Mika Salo
Ferrari F430GT M 98
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
14 GT2 44   Flying Lizard Motorsports 44   Lonnie Pechnik
  Martin Ragginger
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 98
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
15 GT2 61   Risi Competizione   Harrison Brix
  Rob Bell
Ferrari F430GT M 98
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
16 GT2 73   Tafel Racing   Jim Tafel
  Alex Figge
Ferrari F430GT M 95
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
17 GT2 11   Primetime Race Group   Joel Feinberg
  Chris Hall
Dodge Viper Competition Coupe H 94
Dodge 8.3 L V10
18 GT1 008   Bell Motorsports   Terry Borcheller
  Chapman Ducote
Aston Martin DBR9 D 93
Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
19 GT2 40   Robertson Racing   David Robertson
  Andrea Robertson
  David Murry
Ford GT-R Mk.VII D 89
Ford 5.0 L V8
20 GT2 71   Tafel Racing   Dominik Farnbacher
  Dirk Müller
Ferrari F430GT M 88
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
21
DNF
GT2 21   Panoz Team PTG   Tom Milner, Jr.
  Tom Sutherland
Panoz Esperante GT-LM D 87
Ford (Élan) 5.0 L V8
22 LMP1 37   Intersport Racing   Jon Field
  Clint Field
  Richard Berry
Lola B06/10 D 83
AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8
(E85 ethanol)
23 LMP2 15   Lowe's Fernández Racing   Adrian Fernández
  Luis Díaz
Acura ARX-01B M 83
Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8
24
DNF
GT2 54   Black Swan Racing   Tim Pappas
  Anthony Lazzaro
Ford GT-R Mk.VII F 49
Ford 5.0 L V8
25
DNF
GT2 18   VICI Racing   Nicky Pastorelli
  Francesco Pastorelli
  Marc Basseng
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR K 38
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
26
DNF
LMP1 2   Audi Sport North America   Marco Werner
  Lucas Luhr
Audi R10 TDI M 21
Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12
(Diesel)
27
DNF
GT2 007   Drayson-Barwell   Paul Drayson
  Jonny Cocker
Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 D 1
Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
(E85 ethanol)
DSQ LMP1 1   Audi Sport North America   Emanuele Pirro
  Marcel Fässler
Audi R10 TDI M 104
Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12
(Diesel)

† - The #1 Audi Sport North America entry was disqualified after the car failed post-race technical inspection. The car was under the minimum weight requirement for its class.[1][2]

Statistics edit

  • Pole Position - #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing - 1:13.483[3]
  • Fastest Lap - #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing - 1:15.540[2]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Detroit Domination: Acura, AGR win on Belle Isle". American Le Mans Series. 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2008-09-02. [dead link]
  2. ^ a b c "ALMS Final Race Report" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. 2008-08-30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  3. ^ "ALMS Qualifying Report" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. 2008-08-29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2008-09-02.


American Le Mans Series
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2008 Grand Prix of Mosport
2008 season Next race:
2008 Petit Le Mans