Despite a dramatic start which resulted in an enormous turn 1 traffic jam, American Le Mans Series action at the Baltimore Grand Prix ran without interruption for the opening 47 mins with Chris Dyson’s Mazda at the head of the pack.

Unfortunately, after 30 laps, the race went yellow with race officials forced to weld shut a small manhole cover which had been dislodged.

Dyson led in the LMP1 class over teammate Humaid Al Masaood. The courageous battle from the Muscle Milk Aston Martin squad began well when Romain Dumas dodged the turn 1 drama only to suffer brake problems which resulted in a lengthy pit stop.

Tomy Drisi led the LMPC pack for Intersport Racing after early leader Ricardo Gonzalez suffered an electrical problem. The Mexican CORE autosport driver was able to fix the issue on track without visiting the pits but had dropped down the field.

Wolf Henzler led GT over the BMW of Bill Auberlen. The Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Patrick Long suffered an early suspension problem which sent them tumbling several laps off the lead.

However – that was the state of play before the yellow fell…….

Pit lane became the busiest spot in the circuit during the delay. After stops, safety car wave bys and driver changes the state of play pushed Bill Auberlen’s BMW to the overall lead as well as the top GT followed by Tommy Milner’s Corvette in 2nd. Steven Kane assumed the LMP1 lead (3rd overall) and Kyle Marcelli took over from Tomy Drissi to lead LMPC (4th overall).

With 51 minutes remaining – the race resumed under green.