Amazing LMPC finish

October 2, 2011

Amazing LMPC finish

October 2, 2011

Eric Lux and the Genoa team had one goal to maintain their LMPC championship lead – finish ahead of the CORE autosport duo of Gunnar Jeannette and Ricardo Gonzalez.

The CORE guys task was also simple – finish ahead of Eric and Genoa.

However, the unique mathematical anomaly was that if the CORE car finished 3rd and the Genoa car 4th – then all three drivers would be tied on points.

But not just on points – they would be tied for number of wins, 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and 5ths. Each driver would have exactly the same results in the nine race season.

And that is exactly what happened.

The wild race swung back and forth like a pendulum throughout the 1000 miles.

CORE was on the back foot early when Ricardo Gonzalez was pushed off at turn 12 and lost 2 laps. Further set backs came with a broken engine belt with Jeannette at the wheel and a trip into the sand by co-driver Rudy Junco.

Jeannette’s quick thinking to park the car immediately at the pit exit when the belt failed – forcing the marshals to move his car out of harms way (back into the pit lane) – probably saved his championship.

The Genoa charge was hindered by a broken drivetrain component which sent their car back to the paddock for an extended visit.

Late in the race, things were looking good for Lux with Jeannette and Gonzalez many laps behind third in fourth place and the Genoa car fifth.

Then the third placed CORE machine of Jon Bennett got spun around and had the transmission lock-up.

The #05 machine’s extended paddock visit pushed Jeannette and Gonzalez back into title contention.

But with seven laps to go – Lux got his big championship break.

Exiting the pit lane, Ryan Dalziel in the Bennet/Frankie Montecalvo was collected by the Dyson Racing Mazda of Chris Dyson – putting the car out on the spot.

So after 3469 minutes of racing three drivers could not be separated for the title.

The LMPC team’s title was almost as close – CORE autosport prevailing by a single point over Genoa !

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