MILLER MOTORSPORTS PARK

The American Le Mans Series returns to Miller Motorsports Park with the most exotic, high-tech sports cars on the planet, with some of the world's best drivers at the controls.

The series is comprised of four classes: LMP1, for the bigger prototypes, like the new Acura ARX-02a and the hybrid-powered Zytec Q10 fielded by Salt Lake City-based Corsa Motorsports; LMP2, for the smaller prototypes such as the Mazda-Lola B09/86 coupe and Acura ARX-01; GT1, for the bigger production cars such as the Corvette C6.R and the Aston Martin DBR9; and GT2, for the smaller production cars such as the BMW M3, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, Ferrari F430 GT, Aston Martin Vantage, Ford GT-R, Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette C6 and Panoz Esperante.

The ALMS will be joined by the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda, Formula BMW Americas, the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, the STAR Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, the Patron GT3 Challenge by Yokohama, and the IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire.

DE FERRAN, PAGENAUD WIN LARRY H. MILLER DEALERSHIPS UTAH GRAND PRIX

TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH (May 17, 2009) - Simon Pagenaud and Gil de Ferran scored their second American Le Mans Series victory a year after making their debut with a win in the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park. The duo dominated in their No. 66 LMP1 de Ferran Motorsports XM Acura ARX-02a with a comfortable 1:13.693 margin over the No. 9 LMP1 Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura of David Brabham and Scott Sharp.

It was the second straight overall win for the de Ferran XM Acura, which won the previous series round at Long Beach.

"The most important thing is the fact it's the one-year anniversary for the team," Pagenaud said. "A year ago in March we didn't have a car in the show. It's remarkable the difference between the team last season and this season. My partner did a great job with his stint and he got me a big gap to just go out and finish the race. It's an accomplishment to now end up on the top of the podium."

The new ethanol/electric hybrid Corsa Motorsports No. 48 LMP1 Ginetta-Zytek 09HS of Johnny Mowlem and Stefan Johansson ran in third place early in the race but problems with the battery (the regular battery, not the lithium-ion battery for the hybrid system) and suspension issues cost them significant time in the pits and relegated them to 13th overall and fourth in the LMP1 class.

"Obviously this was a bittersweet race for us," said Mowlem. "What we learned from this race will put us in a better position to come back stronger in the next race."

Adrian Fernandez gave Lowe's Fernandez Racing a tight 0.585-second victory in LMP2 in tandem with Luis Diaz. The No. 15 Acura ARX-01b withstood a late fight with Dyson Racing's Butch Leitzinger, who just missed the team's first win with Marino Franchitti in one of Dyson's Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupes. Fernandez and Diaz won their fourth straight race in class.

"It's a very gratifying win," Fernandez said. "You know you cannot make mistakes; everything is seconds. You are racing against the clock. So I knew I had to drive hard, but I could not make mistakes. It's great to see how the team works with the pit stops, and [they are] doing such a good job. It's nice to see the four wins in a row, and a lot is because we haven't had any mechanical issues too, so it says something about the Acura and the team."

Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long took their third straight GT2 class victory in their No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. They led the entire way and finished 1:14.559 ahead of the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche of Marc Lieb and Wolf Henzler.

"The biggest thing is the test we had here after Long Beach for two days," said Bergmeister. "We only had to make minor changes to the car for qualifying, and we only did one lap to save the tires. At the beginning Marc was very good, but I was able to keep him behind me."

Local favorites Martin and Melanie Snow were winners in the inaugural Challenge class race. The husband-wife duo from Pleasant Grove took a 38.782-second victory in their No. 57 Snow Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry over the No. 02 Gruppe Orange Porsche of Nick Parker and Carl Skerlong.

The Snows were winners in the first American Le Mans Series race in 1999 at Sebring with a GTS class victory behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 Turbo.

"The local knowledge here is a big help," Martin Snow said. "Melanie volunteers here a lot. It felt good stepping back in among the prototypes. They were very courteous, and we still had some pretty good dices."

2009 Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix Salt Lake City, Utah May 14 - 17, 2009 Entry List as of 05/14/2009

P1
P1
  9 David Brabham / Henley-on-Thames, UK           Patron Highcroft Racing
    Scott Sharp / Jupiter, FL                      Acura ARX-02a
 12 Michael Lewis / San Diego, CA                  Autocon Motorsports
    Bryan Willman / Seattle, WA                    Lola B06/10 AER
 37 Jon Field / Dublin, OH                         Intersport Racing
    Clint Field / Dublin, OH                       Lola B06/10 AER
    Chapman Ducote / Miami, FL
 48 Johnny Mowlem / Charvil, UK                    Corsa Motorsports
    Stefan Johansson / Marina Del Rey, CA          Ginetta-Zytek 09HS
 66 Gil de Ferran / Ft. Lauderdale, FL             de Ferran Motorsports
    Simon Pagenaud / Montmorrillon, France         Acura ARX-02a
 
P2
 15 Adrian Fernandez / Mexico City, Mexico         Lowe's Fernandez Racing
    Luis Diaz / Mexico City, Mexico                Acura ARX-01B
 16 Chris Dyson / Pleasant Valley, NY              Dyson Racing Team
    Guy Smith / East Yorkshire, UK                 Mazda Lola B09 86
 20 Butch Leitzinger / Rebersburg, PA              Dyson Racing Team
    Marino Franchitti / Edinburgh, Scotland        Mazda Lola B08 86
, Inc BP/ Mazda

GT2
 11 Joel Feinberg / Ft. Lauderdale, FL             Primetime Race Group
    Chris Hall / Daytona, FL                       Dodge Viper
 18 Nickt Pastorelli / The Hague, Netherlands      T-Mobile VICI Racing
    Johannes Stuck / Autria                        Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
 21 Dominik Farnbacher / Lichtenau, Germany        Panoz Team PTG
    Ian James / Phoenix, AZ                        Panoz Esperante GTLM
  7 David Robertson / Ray, MI                      Robertson Racing
    Andrea Robertson / Ray, MI                     Ford GT MK 
    David Murry / Atlanta, GA
 44 Johannes van Overbeek / Oakland, CA            Flying Lizard Motorsports
    Seth Neiman / San Francisco, CA                Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
 45 Joerg Bergmeister / Langenfeld, Germany        Flying Lizard Motorsports
    Patrick Long / Belleair, FL                    Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
 62 Jaime Melo / Casaval, Brazil                   Risi Competizione
    Pierre Kaffer / Salenstein, Switzerland        Ferrari 430 GT
 87 Wolf Henzler / Nürtingen, Germany              Farnbacher Loles Racing
    Marc Lieb / Ludwigsburg, Germany               Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
 90 Joey Hand / Sacramento, CA                     Rahal Letterman Racing
    Bill Auberlen / Redondo Beach, CA              BMW E92 M3
 92 Dirk Mueller / Monte Carlo, Monaco             Rahal Letterman Racing
    Tommy Milner / Leesburg, VA                    BMW E92 M3

ALMS Challenge
 36 Wesley Hoaglund / Tustin, CA                   Gruppe Orange
    Bob Faieta / Tujunga, CA                       Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
 47 John Baker / New York, NY                      ORBIT Racing
    Guy Cosmo / West Palm Beach, FL                Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
 57 Martin Snow / Pleasant Grove, UT               Snow Racing
    Melanie Snow / Pleasant Grove, UT              Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
 02 Nick Parker / Seattle, WA                      Gruppe Orange
    Carl Skerlong / Mukilteo, WA                   Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
 08 Ed Brown / Las Vegas, NV                       ORBIT Racing
    Bill Sweedler / Westport, CT                   Porsche 911 GT3 Cup

P1- 5    P2- 3   GT2- 10   ALMS C- 5    Total = 23 

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THE 2009- LARRY H. MILLER DEALERSHIPS UTAH GRAND PRIX RACE RESULTS, MAY 17, 2009

POS CAR   CLS   LAPS DRIVERS                     CAR MAKE
 1   66    P1   103  de Ferran/ Pagenaud         Acura ARX 02a
 2    9    P1   103  Brabham/ Sharp              Acura ARX 02a
 3   15    P2   100  Fernandez/ Diaz             Acura ARX-01B
 4   20    P2   100  Leitzinger/ Franchitti      Lola B09 86 Mazda
 5   37    P1    93  J.Field/ C.Field/ Ducote    Lola B06/ 10
 6   16    P2    92  Dyson/ Smith                Lola B09 86 Mazda
 7   45   GT2    90  Bergmeister/ Long           Porsche 911 RSR
 8   87   GT2    90  Henzler/ Lieb               Porsche 911 RSR
 9   62   GT2    89  Melo/ Kaffer                Ferrari 430 Berlinetta
10   21   GT2    89  Farnbacher/ James           Panoz Esperante
11   18   GT2    88  N.Pastorelli / Stuck        Porsche 911 RSR
12   44   GT2    87  van Overbeek/ Neiman        Porsche 911 RSR
13   48    P1    87  Mowlem/ Johansson           Ginetta-Zytek 09HS
14   92   GT2    85  Mueller/ Milner             BMW E92 M3
15   90   GT2    83  Hand/ Auberlen              BMW E92 M3
16   11   GT2    82  Feinberg / Hall             Dodge Viper - Not Running
17   57  Chal    82  Me.Snow/ Ma.Snow            Porsche 911 GT3 Cu
18   40   GT2    81  Murry/D.Robertson/A.Roberts Doran Ford GT-R
19   02  Chal    57  Parker/ Skerlong            Porsche 911 GT3 Cu - Mech
20   12    P1    40  Lewis/ Willman              Lola B06/ 10       - Mech
21   36  Chal    37  Hoaglund/ Faieta            Porsche 911 GT3 Cu - Mech
22   47  Chal    82  Baker/ Cosmo                Porsche 911 GT3 Cu - Excl
23   08  Chal    80  Brown/ Sweedler             Porsche 911 GT3 Cu - Excl

Cars 47 & 08 excluded - 11.8.2d of the 2009 GT3 SSR ride height
Margin of victory: 1:13.693 /  Time of race: 2:46:14.913

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