Porsche Finally Ends The Audi ALMS Dominance at Long Beach

Phenomenal strategy and a bit of luck sent Penske Motorsports to its second 1-2 overall finish in the American Le Mans Series as Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard drove to victory Saturday in the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Dumas crossed the finish line 0.76 seconds ahead of Sascha Maassen in the team's other Penske entry.

It marked the second time in two years that Dumas and Bernhard drove their LMP2 entry to an overall win. They did it for the first time last May at Mid-Ohio. Porsches took the top three spots as Dyson Racing's Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace finished 13 seconds behind the winners.

"It was a tough race," Dumas said. "Timo did a great job at the start and kept us in a good position. After the safety car came we made a perfect driver change. After I drove we didn't have a lot of traffic obviously. For Porsche to finish 1-2-3 is fantastic."

Dumas and Bernhard ran the entire race on one set of tires, a strategy the team developed prior to the race. Their pit stop and the race's only caution also fell at the right spot as Dumas re-entered the track with 70 minutes remaining, the maximum time allowed for one driver in the race.


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budfrogS4 - 4/16/2007 10:06:56 AM

0 Boost

I'm surprised the GT cars didn't beat Audi with as short of a race it was. Although there was a whole slew of GT1 cars that beat the other P1 cars. I'm just trying to say that the race clearly puts all the P1's at a disadvantage (especially diesels, ie. weight, fuel capacity).

Agent009 - 4/16/2007 11:24:19 AM

+2 Boost

That was the whole point BTW.

The prototype races were quickly becoming the "Audi Show". No one wants it lopsided it is bad for everyone. So the formula was to slow down the P1 cars and speed up the P2 cars so they are as equal as possible. It actually makes it far more interesting.

matt635 - 4/16/2007 10:30:35 AM

+1 Boost

There's no doubt the LMP1 class's advantage is mainly on straight sections where they can flex their top speed muscles, LMP's will also be a lot better under braking than GT cars so they should always be able to overtake the lesser GT cars going into bends. LMP1 vs LMP2 though, a lighter car will accelerate, brake and corner better.

As a side note, Peugeot scored a 1st and 3rd in the debut LMS race at Monza, with their diesel 908 LMP1... I'm looking forward to the big one at La Sarthe a lot now :)

Agent009 - 4/16/2007 11:25:11 AM

+1 Boost

I saw that on the Peugeots too. Le Mans may be the battle of the diesels.

chewy - 4/16/2007 1:33:10 PM

+2 Boost

The ALMS has obviously tried to allow the P2s to be quicker than they are supposed to be. Plus, Longn Beach was a race course with very little room to pass. Audi will be fine.

S4cabriofoxone - 4/16/2007 7:20:48 PM

+1 Boost

Hey, they're the same company now... no biggie.

MookGmbH - 4/17/2007 3:13:50 PM

+1 Boost

Pirro took the lead from the Acura and was walking away from him in traffic and on the straights. From the overhead camera shot you could see how explosive that R10 torque is. Of course a lighter car will perform better on a tight circuit like that. If anyone watched the race though, Pirro got chopped by a GT2 Porsche in the hairpin that damaged the diffuser and the right rear tire that forced a pit. I'll give Penske/Porsche the credit for the win, but by default.