Michelin rolls to victories at Grand Prix of Mosport

Michelin and its technical partner teams roared to victory at the Grand Prix of Mosport, the fifth round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series.

Michelin technical partner teams enjoyed the competition, the crowd, and the performance of their Michelin tires on a hot, sunny day at the ultra-fast and demanding 2.459 mile Canadian Tire Motorsport Park circuit. Taking their fourth consecutive win of the 2012 season was the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD Honda driven by Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf.

Graf and Luhr celebrated their respective birthdays over the weekend in style by winning the pole, the race, the Michelin Green X Challenge and setting fastest lap of the race. The only misstep came when Luhr sprained his ankle exiting the team trailer in the paddock Saturday afternoon.

“Lucas and I have been here, many, many times,” said Graf of the pairing that has now won here three consecutive years. “It's a good team effort and we have a good group of people and good partners with HPD and Michelin. I think it is a combination of all those things. Michelin provided us tires that we are very confident with and it is showing.” All four of the Muscle Milk team victories have come using the Michelin “street soft” tires, initially designed for temporary circuits like Long Beach.

Michelin Takes GT Class 1-2- with Ferrari and Corvette
The most competitive class in international motorsports once again lived up to its billing as Michelin technical partner teams from Flying Lizard Porsche, Extreme Speed Ferrari, and Corvette Racing finished 1- 2-3. The Flying Lizard Porsche of Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long followed up their Lime Rock victory with the GT win, but fell to a stall test violation in post-race inspection and the car was disqualified.

Johannes van Overbeek, co-driving with team owner Scott Sharp, celebrated his 100th ALMS start aboard  the #01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari with a daring pass of the #3 Corvette of pole winner Jan Magnussen  (Antonio Garcia) to claim what became the team’s first ALMS GT win on the final lap of the two hour- 45 minute race. The margin of GT class victory was 0.47 seconds.


RSR Claims First PC Win
Former Indy Car star Bruno Junquiera and co-driver Tomy Drissi claimed the RSR team’s first victory in ALMS competition, as they ended the four-race win string of the CORE autosport team.  Finishing second in PC was the #05 car of Colin Braun and team owner Jon Bennett. Teammates Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel completed the class podium.

“Winning the Grand Prix of Mosport is a tribute to our engineers, tire developers and technical partners,” said Silvia Mammone, manager of motorsports, Michelin North America. “The circuit is very demanding and our teams were able to take advantage of the performance, and consistency that Michelin was able to provide. Our teams were able to close gaps, make passes for positions and extend leads against our direct competitors and that is a true measure of performance,” said Mammone, a native of Montreal, who was pleased to take a victory at the only ALMS race in Canada.

The race marks the mid-way point of the 2012 American Le Mans Series season. The next stop is at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, August 3-4.