Canada's biggest sports car race of the year is returning to Mosport. The prestigious American Le Mans Series is set to return to Mosport for its only Canadian stop of the season, and this year the exotic prototypes and Grand Touring cars will be joined on track by the Cooper Tires presents the Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda, Star Mazda, Formula BMW, the VW Jetta TDI Cup and more!

TEAM CANADA - A STRONG CANADIAN CONTIGIENT AT GRAND PRIX OF MOSPORT IN 2009

Canada will be represented by a strong contingent of drivers searching for wins on home soil. In the American Le Mans Series, Toronto's Tony Burgess will suit up for Autocon Motorsports and do battle against the formidable Acura powered teams in the top level LMP1 class.

Eric Jensen of Toronto will take on a strong field of rising open wheel stars in the Cooper Tires presents the Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda, while Toronto area racers David Ostella and Michael Furfari will look to climb the podium in the Star Mazda Championship. In Formula BMW, Gianmarco Raimondo and Alex Ellis (both from St. Catharines, Ontario) should be podium contenders at Mosport.

The spec clean diesel powered Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup features three Canadians looking to make their mark at Mosport; Andrew Cordeiro of Woordbridge, Ontario, David Richert of Niverville, Manitoba and Jake Thompson of Calgary, Alberta.

The IMSA Lites sports car developmental series could also produce some memorable Canadian moments as Kyle Marcelli of Barrie, Ontario and Michal Chlumecky look to put on a strong showing in front of the home fans.

BRABHAM, SHARP LEAD BANNER DAY FOR ACURA AT MOSPORT

P1 MANUFACTURER TITLE AND P2 DRIVERS CROWN FOR FERNENDEZ AND DIAZ

The fastest venue in the American Le Mans Series produced another historic result Sunday. David Brabham and Scott Sharp drove their Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-02a to an overall victory at Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport and clinched the LMP1 manufacturer championship for Acura, the marque's first in the American Le Mans Series. Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez won in LMP2 for the seventh time in eight races to wrap up the class' drivers title in their Acura ARX-01b.

And Corvette Racing's Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen won the team's first race in GT2 with their three race old Corvette C6.R in O'Connell's 100th Series start. Yes, it was quite a day north of the border.

Brabham and Sharp drove a trouble free race to beat the de Ferran Motorsports Acura of team boss Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud by two laps. The de Ferran XM Acura led the first half hour before losing gearbox oil, an issue that plagued the Pagenaud de Ferran duo throughout.

Brabham and Sharp won for the second straight year at Mosport; they were LMP2 victors last season.

"It's a little ebb and flow," said Sharp, a winner three times at Mosport in Trans-Am. "We think we gave a few races away this year. We definitely would have won at Long Beach and should have won Lime Rock. We helped contribute to (de Ferran's) four race win streak. To get a little bit of that back is a case of 'what goes around can come around'. The team really rallied well at Lime Rock. We kept our heads up and wanted to keep doing what we're doing. We rolled in here after Road America (an overall victory two weeks ago) with the same feeling."

The sixth 1-2 finish for Acura in P1 was more than enough to wrap up the chassis and engine crowns. But there is more at stake for the two Acura teams. Brabham and Sharp extended their driver's championship lead to 17 points with 55 points remaining over the next two events.

"We knew they were potentially going to have a problem in the race," Brabham said of the de Ferran crew. "They had some issues in the practices, and we all talk. We were trying not to focus on them but focus on us and getting the job done."

The Patron Highcroft Acura also was the prototype winner of the MICHELIN® GREEN X Challenge, an award for overall race performance and energy efficiency.

Intersport Racing's Jon Field, who battled for the overall lead early with Gil de Ferran, and Clint Field placed third in P1 and fourth overall in their Lola B06/10-AER.

Fernandez and Diaz grabbed the class driver championship after a fantastic battle with Dyson Racing's Marino Franchitti and Butch Leitzinger. The Dyson Lola B09/86-Mazda coupe led by less than a second with 12 minutes left before the engine let go and forced Leitzinger to pull the car off track and to a stop at Turn 2.

Franchitti had led the race overall early in his stint. The Lola Mazda and the Acura went back and forth in the last hour, battling through slower and faster traffic. The victory (and championship) appeared in doubt after Fernandez was penalized for speeding in pit lane at the 2:10 running mark.

"We knew that the Dyson car was very fast. We couldn't stay with them," said team owner Fernandez. "The traffic was the difference. With no traffic I could stay kind of close. When the penalty happened - the first thing I did was trying to regain my focus. We were 15 seconds back and at that point I didn't know what was going on with the Mazda but we were catching them quite quickly. I think they turned the motor down a little bit until the point I was right behind him. I could start to smell burning and thought maybe something was wrong."

Both the Dyson cars led in class during the opening stint. Chris Dyson pitted from the lead at the 48 minute mark but crashed hard at Turn 1 a couple laps later. That put the focus on the remaining Dyson coupe and the Acura.

"For me, I think it was a matter of being patient," Diaz said. "We know we can't fight against these guys in the first part. It's a matter of patience and having good pace. I have to thank Adrian because he is a great boss, a great teammate and great friend. It has been a great three years with him and I think this is great that we have this together. When I was growing up racing, he was my idol. Winning this championship with him means a lot to me and it means a lot to people in Mexico. We can compete against anybody. We have a great team all around."

Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen scored a historic victory for Corvette Racing with the team's first in GT2. Magnussen crossed the finish line in his Corvette C6.R 0.331 seconds ahead of Risi Competizione's Pierre Kaffer, who teamed with Jaime Melo but began the race from the rear of the grid after the car missed qualifying Saturday.

The win at Mosport was the third straight for the O'Connell/ Magnussen pairing and fourth in their careers. O'Connell won for the seventh time at the circuit, the most of any driver at any venue in the American Le Mans Series. He made his 100th start Sunday. "This was all about Jan and the crew guys," said O'Connell, who also set a Series record with his seventh Mosport victory in the Series. "They had a great stop to just get him out ahead of the Ferrari and he did what he needed to do to keep us in front. It was just an awesome drive. Jan and I teamed together at Panoz to win here in 1999- and we were teamed again a couple of years ago with Corvette - and that was the finest drives I've seen. Knowing what he needed to do and not make a mistake - it was great."

The GT2 battle was the most hotly contested on the day. BMW, Corvette and Ferrari each led with the top four cars circling the track in a line for the better part of 20 minutes. Corvette's quick final pit stop with slightly less than 30 minutes to go allowed Magnussen to re-enter the track just in front of Kaffer, who had pitted four minutes earlier. The two cars were side-by-side for one-third of the lap and even touched going through the Turn 5 hairpin before Magnussen pulled ahead for good.

The new Corvette GT2 car won in just its third race start, having debuted earlier this month at Mid-Ohio.

"On cold tires, and as cool as it was, having a good out-lap was key," said Magnussen, who won at Mosport for the fourth time - all with O'Connell. "I made it through Turn 2 and kept him on the outside, and we did bump a little. The car has been fantastic from the word 'go'. To see that we have been able to turn this into a victory is phenomenal. This was so much fun and was real racing. I asked on the radio how many laps were left - I thought there were two or three and there were 24. On the last stop, the windshield was completely covered. The guys told me we weren't going to do anything about it, which was a good thing."

The second Corvette C6.R of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin placed third in class. The entry did win the GT trophy for the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge.
courtesy americanlemans.com

POS CAR   CLS  LAPS DRIVERS                     CAR MAKE           STATUS
 1    9   P1    131 Brabham / Sharp             Acura ARX 02a      Running
 2   66   P1    130 de Ferran /Pagenaud         Acura ARX 02a      Running
 3   15   P2    127 Fernandez/ Diaz             Acura ARX-01B      Running
 4   37   P1    125 J.Field  /C.Field           Lola B06/10        Running
 5   20   P2    118 Leitzinger/ Franchitti      Lola B09 86 Mazda  Mechanical
 6    3   GT2   117 Magnussen/ O'Connell        Chevrolet Corvette Running
 7   62   GT2   117 Melo /Kaffer                Ferrari 430 Berl.  Running
 8    4   GT2   116 Beretta/ Gavin              Chevrolet Corvette Running
 9   87   GT2   116 Henzler / Werner            Porsche 911 RSR    Running
10   45   GT2   115 Bergmeister/ Long           Porsche 911 RSR    Running
11   21   GT2   115 Farnbacher / James          Panoz Esperante    Running
12   44   GT2   115 Law /van Overbeek           Porsche 911 RSR    Running
13   11   GT2   113 Feinberg/ Hall              Dodge Viper        Running
14   90   GT2   110 Hand / Auberlen             BMW E92 M3         Running
15   40   GT2   105 Murry/D Robertson/A.Roberts Doran Ford GT-R    Running
16   92   GT2    71 Mueller / Milner            BMW E92 M3         Mechanical
17   12   P1     63 Burgess  /McMurry           Lola B06/10        Mechanical
18   16   P2     43 Dyson  /Smith               Lola B09 86 Mazda  Contact
19   19   P2    116 van der Steur/ Pecorari     Radical SR9        Excluded

Car 19 excluded - 5.4.3.e of the 2009 ALMS SSR  failed stall test
Origial finish 10th overall (class finish 3rd P2)
 
Cautions:
Car 16 off course,
car 40 slow on course
45 - 53
Margin of victory: 1 Laps / Time of race: 2:45:03.171