Risi Ferrari leads a tightly-packed crowd of GT contenders including Flying Lizard Porsche, Rahal Letterman BMW and Corvette. Photo credit: Rick Dole for Michelin North America

An incredibly tight American Le Mans Series GT championship battle heads  into the midway point of the season at Lime Rock Park.  Fresh from their second win of 2010, Risi Ferrari’s Jaime Melo and Gianmaria “Gimmi” Bruni have jumped to the top of the drivers’ championship on 75 points, two clear of Flying Lizard Porsche’s Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long. But Bergmeister has owned Lime Rock , with GT2 wins the last four years (2006-’09), and Flying Lizard has won the last three GT2 rounds at Lime Rock.

And though neither Rahal Letterman BMW has won a race yet this season, Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner in the No. 92, and Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller in No. 90 are each within striking range at 63 and 62 points apiece. Their total of five podium finishes between them from eight combined starts has BMW on top of the coveted manufacturer’s championship with 76 points to Ferrari’s 75 and Porsche’s 73.

Risi has once again brought in a pair of top guns, former Melo full-season co-drivers Mika Salo and Pierre Kaffer, in the No. 61 “rosso red” Ferrari. As taking points off the rivals is the goal, these two can afford to go for broke to aid their teammates championship bid.

Also of note, Corvette Racing looks for a strong weekend after having a comeback podium with Jan Magnussen and Johnny O’Connell in Utah.  Lime Rock completes the cycle of circuits  where  the team’s new GT2-spec Corvette ZR1 is making its first appearance. Starting at Mid-Ohio, it will be the second time through for the ZR1 pair as they prepare to make a championship move. And Extreme Speed Ferrari has done quite well of late with consecutive front row starts from Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 01, sharing with Sharp.

The GTC class of Porsche GT3 Cup cars loses four entries to drop from 10 cars to six, including the class points leaders Butch Leitzinger (the 2009 Lime Rock P2 winner with Dyson Racing) and Juan Gonzalez.

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