Varied pit strategies - all aimed at finishing first - yielded five different GT leaders
during the ALMS Grand Prix of Portland, but polesitter Romain Dumas and co-driver
Marc Lieb, driving #24 Alex Job Racing McKenna mail2web.com Porsche 911 GT3 RSR,
ended up with the speed, the tires and the fuel necessary to score their first win of
the season, and tighten up the GT championship point standings-
Portland, Ore. - July 25 - Romain Dumas, from Ales, France, who told the media
yesterday that three straight pole positions meant nothing if he didn't win a race, was
not disappointed today as he and German co-driver Marc Lieb captured their first
American Le Mans Series GT win of the season in the #24 Alex Job Racing McKenna
mail2web.com Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.
The race started in a slam-bang fashion as David Murry in the Petersen/White
Lightning Porsche and the Jorg Bergmeister in the Alex Job Porsche came together,
causing rear-end damage to the Bergmeister/Bernhard car, including an horsepower-
robbing bent exhaust. The team contemplated a pit stop, but decided there was
nothing they could do and waited until the first yellow flag.
That came for oil on the track at the 36-minute mark, and led to a flurry of pit stops,
including the Alex Job Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister/Timo Bernhard, the Dumas/Lieb
Porsche, and the class leading Lucas Luhr BAM! YES Network Porsche, which has
passed Dumas earlier to take first position. It looked like a good move to come in for
tires and
fuel - or at least for fuel - but the Murry/Stanton Porsche and the Flying Lizards
Motorsports Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek/Darren Law stayed out, hoping for a
better opportunity to pit at a later time. For van Overbeek/Law, who had started last
because of a late-morning engine change that made them late for the grid, this last-
to-second place dash was a good story all by itself.
The Racer's Group Porsche piloted by Patrick Long and Cort Wagner also came in, but
did not shut their car off before they started to refuel, causing a stop-and-go penalty
that might have cost them a podium finish.
Murry then led the race until the one hour, 20 minute mark, when the car pitted
under the green flag, and Craig Stanton climbed in the car. Van Overbeek took over
the lead at that point, and let the race until his pit stop a one hour, 30 minutes, when
Darren Law took the wheel - also under green. These stops opened the door for the
Patrick Long/Cort Wagner Porsche, which took the lead, but another scheduled pit
stop, plus the time they lost from the previous pit stop and penalty, meant they could
not hold the lead for long.
Meanwhile, Dumas, who got back in the car at the 1:45 mark after the team's last pit
stop, was moving back up through the field, first passing Law, who was in second
place, and then Stanton who was in first. Stanton, with his tires losing grip, tried to
hold on to second place late in the race, but Law, with the fresher tires because of a
later pit stop, passed him with 20 minutes remaining for second place. Dumas, whose
only other ALMS win came in an Alex Job Porsche last year at Road Atlanta, went on
to a 21-second win, with Stanton finishing third. For co-driver Lieb, it was his first
ALMS victory.
Bernhard/Bergmeister finished fourth despite their body damage, and Long/Wagner
were fifth. The second Flying Lizard Porsche of Lonnie Pechnik/Seth Neiman was
sixth, while the Justin Jackson/Tim Sugden J3 Racing Porsche was seventh.
Van Overbeek/Law now have 84 points towards the GT championship, with Tim
Bernhard earning 73 points, Dumas/Lieb 72, Stanton/Murry 55, and Jorg Bermeister
47.
GT Results, American Le Mans Series, Grand Prix of Portland, for two-hour, 45-minute
race on Sunday, July 25, 2004
Car number, driver, hometown, co-driver, hometown, entrant, car type, class, laps
completed
1. #24, Marc Lieb, Leipzig, Germany; Romain Dumas, Ales, France; Alex Job Racing McKenna mail2web.com Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 128 laps
2. #45, Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 128 laps
3. #31. Craig Stanton, Long Beach, CA; David Murry, Cumming, GA; Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 127 laps
4. #23, Timo Bernhard, Dittweiler, Germany; Jorg Bergmeister, Langenfeld, Germany; Alex Job Racing McKenna mail2web.com Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 127 laps
5. #66, Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Cort Wagner, Pacific Palisades, CA; The Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 127 laps
6. #44. Lonnie Pechnik, Pacific Grove, CA; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 124 laps
7. #79. Justin Jackson, Buford, GA; Tim Sudgen, Leeds, England; J3 Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 124 laps
8. #60, Peter Boss, Naragansett, RI; Hugh Plumb, Chadds Ford, PA; P.K. Sport Porsche 911 GT3 RS (GT), 123 laps
9. #67, Pierre Ehret, Santa Rosa, CA; Jim Matthews, Boca Raton, FL; The Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 119 laps (DNF - spin/could not re-start)
10. #43, Leo Hindery, New York, NY; Lucas Luhr, Monte Carlo, Monaco; BAM! YES Network Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT), 83 laps (DNF - clutch)
11. #35, Ralf Kelleners, Germany; Anthony Lazzaro, Acworth, GA; Ferrari 360 Modena (GT), 1:15.103 (36 laps - electrical)
12. #50, Gunnar Jeannette, West Palm Beach, FL; Kelly Collins, Newport Beach, CA; Panoz Esperante eGTLM, 1:15.751 (27 laps - oil leak
*SpeedArena
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