LIME ROCK PARK

PAGENAUD, DE FERRAN STREAK ON AT LIME ROCK

Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud won the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday at Lime Rock Park as the de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a benefitted from a puncture on the Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura with 13 minutes left while leading.

De Ferran and Pagenaud haven't lost since the St. Petersburg street race in early April. Pagenaud crossed the finish line 43.776 seconds ahead of David Brabham, who shared with Scott Sharp.

Dyson Racing won for the first time in the Series since 2005 as Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti broke a four-race victory streak for Lowe's Fernandez Racing and Acura in the class. Franchitti moved ahead of Luis Diaz five minutes into the race, and the Lola-Mazda coupe gained valuable laps when the Acura pitted to replace its rear shock and also experienced downshift problems.

By the time Adrian Fernandez rejoined the race, Franchitti led by six laps, but Leitzinger gave the team a late scare with a brief stall when he had to avoid a spinning GT2 car.

Franchitti scored his first victory in the Series and Leitzinger was part of the Dyson victory at Mosport four years ago, also in a Lola chassis.

Jorg Bergmeister won in GT2 for the fourth straight year, and he and Patrick Long extended their class victory streak to four races. The Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, a new tub since its last race at Utah, won by a lap.

Reigning Le Mans class winners Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer finished second for Risi Competizione in their Ferrari F430 GT. Kaffer started first in class before Long bumped and passed his way past the Ferrari early on. BMW Rahal Letterman Racing's Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand placed third in class with their BMW M3, the pairing's first podium of the year.

Bob Faieta and Wesley Hoaglund won the Challenge class in their Gruppe Orange Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry. They appeared headed for a runner-up finish before the leading Snow Racing Porsche suffered a failed starter on its last stop.

ORBIT Racing's Ed Brown and Bill Sweedler were second in class, with a second Gruppe Orange entry of Nick Parker and Donald Pickering in third.

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THE 2009- AMERICAN LE MANS NORTHEAST GRAND PRIX RACE RESULTS, JULY 18, 2009

POS CAR    CLS   LAPS DRIVERS                     CAR MAKE
 1   66     P1    184 G.de Ferran, S.Pagenaud     Acura ARX-02a
 2    9     P1    184 D.Brabham, S.Sharp          Acura ARX-02a
 3   48     P1    177 J.Mowlem, S.Johansson       Ginetta-Zytek 09SH Zyt
 4   20     P2    172 B.Leitzinger, M.Franchitti  Mazda Lola B09 86
 5   45    GT2    167 J.Bergmeister, P.Long       Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
 6   12     P1    166 T.Burgess, C.McMurry        Lola B06/10 AER
 7   15     P2    166 A.Fernandez, L.Diaz         Acura ARX-01b
 8   62    GT2    166 J.Melo, P.Kaffer            Ferrari 430 GT
 9   90    GT2    166 B.Auberlen, J.Hand          BMW M3 E92
10   87    GT2    165 D.Werner, W.Henzler         Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
11   18    GT2    163 R.Westbrook, J.Stuck        Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
12   21    GT2    163 D.Farnbacher, I.James       Panoz Esperante
13   44    GT2    159 S.Neiman, J.van Overbeek    Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
14   11    GT2    158 J.Feingerg, C.Hall          Dodge Viper Comp Coupe
15   19     P2    157 G.van der Steur,A.Pecorari  Radical SR9 AER
16   40    GT2    153 D.Robertson,D.Murry,        Doran Ford GT Mk 7
                      A.Robertson
17   36 GT3-CS    149 W.Hoaglund, B.Faieta        Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
18   08 GT3-CS    146 E.Brown, B.Sweedler         Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
19   02 GT3-CS    144 N.Parker, D.Pickering       Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
20   57 GT3-CS    142 Ma.Snow, Me.Snow            Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
21   92    GT2    142 D.Mueller, T.Milner         BMW M3 E92
22   37     P1    138 J.Field, C.Field, C.Ducote  Lola B06/10 AER
23   16     P2     63 C.Dyson, G.Smith            Mazda Lola B09 86
24   47 GT3-CS     52 J.Baker, G.Cosmo            Porsche 911 GT3 Cup