Of course, as I mention the rising parody in the series, Audi goes and wins. A hard fought effort for the team though, and all the credit in the world must go to Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner for earning their 3rd victory of the season, their first since Long Beach. The team had such a sizable lead by the end of the race that the television coverage was focused mainly on David Brabham battling a Penske Porsche yet again for the P2 victory. This time, however, Brabham came up short, pressing the issue with a few laps to go and nearly spinning out while trying to lap the Panoz. A great save kept him in it, but he could never quite get by Romain Dumas and the No. 7 Porsche. By the way, Brabham is the only driver in American Le Mans Series history to win a race in all 4 classes over the span of his career.
Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen have really been returning the favor this year by beating their sister car in all but one race this season. Both Corvettes finished well back in the field due to penalties, but it was the No. 3 that took the GT1 victory.
The excitement that is the GT2 class did not disappoint. After flying below the radar for literally the entire race, the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari of Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk Muller took the victory, edging out the No. 46 and No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsport entries that had been battling for the lead all day with Risi Competizione. It's a tight battle between Flying Lizard and Tafel at the top of the GT2 standings, and Road America's 4 hour event should help sort it all out.
Reports are that the de Ferran crewmember Keith Jones remains in the hospital in critical condition after the burns he suffered from the loose fuel hose in the pits. It was easy to see that Gil de Ferran was quite shaken from the event while being interviewed later, and understandably so.
On a far less severe note, a few GT2 teams had a rough go at Mid-Ohio. Joel Feinberg went too deep in a turn and ended up in the gravel, meaning that their day was done early. The Robertson Racing Ford GT lost a tire near the end of the race and had to limp to the pits. And the other Ford GT entered by Black Swan Racing had a disappointing day after a somewhat promising first race at Lime Rock. P1 team Intersport Racing made it about 23 laps before they had to retire; their 2nd car, the No. 30 car, managed a 15th place overall finished, but still finished behind the GT2 winner.
The series next turns to Road America, a favorite among many drivers. It's the first 4 hour race of the season, and should prove to be a great one, providing high speed straights and just about every variant of turns imaginable. Hopefully, the lack of patience displayed by many prototype drivers at Mid-Ohio and Lime Rock will not carry over to the early August event. Traffic will not be as much of an issue on the 4 mile circuit, so tempers should be kept in check.
