De Ferran And Pagenaud Excel In Long Beach
by Joe Jennings
4/18/2009

Tweet

Long Beach, Calif. - Master drivers Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud scored their first American LeMans Series victory with a solid run in the 100-minute Tequila Patron event on the streets of Long Beach. The pair drove the Acura ARX-02a owned by de Ferran Motorsports.

"It is a fantastic day for us and a great day for Acura," de Ferran said. "Long Beach is a home race for Acura, and there are many familiar faces here today. We've been in existence for less than a year and to be at the top of the podium is a fantastic accomplishment for a team like ours."

Added Pagenaud, "I started the race and figuring I was going to get a challenge from the Patron car, I worked hard on my braking, to find the right spots to brake. And it worked."

De Ferran's last victory came in an IndyCar Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway in 2003.

The winners finished a second ahead of a similar Acura ARX-02a driven by David Brabham and Scott Sharp. They led 25 of the 76 laps and had it not been for a 20-second penalty assessed against a crew member for not having a helmet, the outcome may have been a different one.

Third overall and the P2 class winner was the Acura ARX-01B of Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez. They won for the third consecutive time in 2009, and they were five seconds ahead of their closest competition, the Lola B09 86 Mazda of Guy Smith and Chris Dyson.

"The start was complicated for me as I knew the Dyson guys would be faster on the straights. But we knew our car handled very well," Diaz said. "Guy (Smith) did get by me, so I just tried to save fuel. Also, I had a close call with the Patron car."

Fernandez said new tires helped him when he took over the car. "I thought we were going to have a good lead, but Chris Dyson caught me. I didn't look in my mirrors after that, and I drove as hard as I could."

Fifth overall and third in P1 was a sister Mazda driven by Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti.

The GT1 victory went to the Chevrolet Corvette of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin. This race marked the last round of competition for Chevrolet in the GT1 class, but the powerful team will return to action later this season, competing in the GT2 class.

Beretta scored his 41st class victory and Gain took his 32nd class win.

Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long took GT2 honors in their Porsche 911 RSR. Finishing five seconds behind them was the Ferrari 430 Berlinetta of Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer.

Bergmeister earned his 25th class win and Long chalked up his 11th class victory.

The race ended on a fiery note when the Chevrolet Corvette of Boris Said erupted in fire in turn 5. Said exited the car on his own, but needed a few moments to regain his composure.





Discuss this article and more in the RacingNation.com community

Print    Favorites    digg    del.ico.us    My Web    Google