Today’s Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series race at Long Beach was won by Simon Pagenaud and Gil de Ferran – the drivers of the No. 66 XM Radio/Panasonic Acura ARX-02a. Though the pair had lead for a good portion of the race, the margin of victory remained only 1.016 seconds ahead of fellow Acura drivers, Scott Sharp and David Brabham in the No. 9 Patrón Spirits Company machine.

P2 honors went to the third Acura entry – the No. 15 Lowe’s sponsored car piloted by Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez. This strong finish secured all three steps of the overall winner’s podium for Acura.

In GT1, the Compuware Corvettes returned for mixed results. The No. 4 of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin took the class victory and finished 6th overall. The No. 3 sister entry driven by Johnny O’Connell faced mechanical issues and was forced to drop out of the race after only 42 of the total 76 laps.

A wide range of manufacturers made the podium in GT2, with Porsche taking over the top step with the No. 45 entry of Patrick Long and Jörg Bergmeister. Second in class went to the No. 62 Ferrari’s Pierre Kaffer and Jaime Melo, with the No. 92 BMW’s Tommy Milner and Dirk Müller gracing the third step.

The top finishers included:

Pos   No  Class  Car                  Drivers
  1  #66     P1  Acura ARX-02a        Simon Pagenaud
                                      Gil de Ferran

  2   #9     P1  Acura ARX-02a        Scott Sharp
                                      David Brabham

  3  #15     P2  Acura ARX-01B        Luis Diaz
                                      Adrian Fernandez

  4  #16     P2  Mazda / Lola B09     Guy Smith
                                      Chris Dyson

  5  #20     P2  Mazda / Lola B09     Butch Leitzinger
                                      Marino Franchitti

  6   #4    GT1  Chev Corvette C6-R   Olivier Beretta
                                      Oliver Gavin

  7  #37     P1  Lola B06             Jon Field
                                      Chapman Ducote
                                      Clint Field

  8  #45    GT2  Porsche 911 GT3 RSR  Patrick Long
                                      Jörg Bergmeister

  9  #62    GT2  Ferrari 430 GT       Pierre Kaffer
                                      Jaime Melo

 10  #92    GT2  BMW E92 M3           Tommy Milner
                                      Dirk Müller

Related Links:
American Le Mans Series: Schedule, Standings, Latest News, Videos

It was all Audi at Laguna Seca this weekend with the two entries from Audi Sport North America taking the top two spots on the podium. The race marked the final event in the American Le Mans Series 2008 season.

Coming out with the win was the Number 2 Audi driven by Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner, while the Number 1 Audi of Emanuele Pirro and Christijan Albers finished close behind.

Leading the field in P2 was the Acura of Andretti Green Racing driven by Franck Montagny and Tony Kanaan. The GT1 victory went to Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta, while the GT2 class was won by Mika Salo and Jaime Melo in their Risi Competizione Ferrari.

Full results from the race are available at:

2008 ALMS Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca Results

The updated final standings can be found here:

2008 American Le Mans Series Final Standings

The overall victory honors for Detroit’s American Le Mans Series race went to Franck Montagny and James Rossiter of Andretti Green Racing. This marked yet another overall victory for the P2 class. Surprisingly, the leading P1 that was driven by Intersport’s Clint Field, Jon Field and Richard Berry finished well back in the field in the 22nd position. This came to be after the leading P1 (an Audi Sport North America entry – that had originally been flagged as the race winner) was disqualified for coming in underweight in the post-race inspections.

Leading the way in GT1 was the No. 4 and No. 3 Corvettes driven by Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin and Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen respectively. The two Flying Lizard Porsches came out on top in the GT2 class. They were the No. 45 driven by Jorg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler and the No. 46 driven by Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet.

Full results from the race are available here:

2008 ALMS Detroit Sports Car Challenge Results

Updated ALMS standings have been posted here:

2008 American Le Mans Series Standings – As of Aug. 30, 2008 Detroit