Lola sports cars achieved more strong results at last weekend’s Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City. Drayson Racing finished a close second place in the 4th round of the American Le Mans Series after leading a third of the 2hr45mins race. The green Drayson Racing Lola Judd also took the fastest race lap and the Michelin® Green X® Challenge which was a major objective for the environmentally aware team.

After securing a well earned 2nd place on the starting grid, young British talent Jonny Cocker captured the lead after 30 minutes, soon extending the lead to over half a minute with some excellent laps in the Lola designed and built LMP racer. Pitting just before the one hour mark, Cocker handed over to Emanuele Pirro who was deputising for the injured Paul Drayson for the weekend.

Pirro also led for a time, setting the overall fastest race lap of 1m36.291s before taking the chequered flag to score the teams best ever ALMS result.

"The Drayson Lola-Judd was really good,” said Jonny Cocker after the race.”No doubt that the car was capable. At the start we just bided our time really and I managed to get by for the lead in turn-five. I was able to pull a 20-second gap but we lost our advantage when the safety car came out and we gave back all we were able to manage on that first stint. Everyone at Drayson Racing did a great job and we really deserve this second-place."

Finishing in 4th place was the Intersport Racing team in their Lola-AER. The Ohio-based team enjoyed a familiar flying start to the race with Jon Field sprinting up from 5th on the grid to take the lead in to the first corner, making it a Lola 1-2-3-4 (Intersport, Drayson, Dyson, Autocon) on the opening lap. The father and son partnership of Jon and Clint Field eventually crossed the finishing line in 4th place to score their best result of the season so far.

Dyson Racing showed once again that they are potential winners in the ALMS with another strong display. Qualifying 3rd, Chris Dyson started the event well and the new Castrol liveried Lola was in a solid third position when he handed over the car to Guy Smith. Frustratingly for the team, the Mazda powered Lola stopped on track with 30mins to go whilst running in 4th place.

Autocon Motorsports finished 5th in the LMP division to claim more points in their AER powered Lola B06/10. Tony Burgess and Bryan Willman once again shared the driving duties and ran as high as 4th in the opening exchanges.

The next race on Lola’s global sports car schedule is the third round of the 2010 Le Mans Series at Portimao in the Algarve this weekend. Lola will be aiming to retain both the LMP1 and LMP2 constructor crowns that it won in 2009.

RACE RESULT - 2hrs 45mins

Pos Cl Drivers Car Time/Gap

1. LMP Brabham/Pagenaud HPD 2h45m43.162s
2. LMP Cocker/Pirro Drayson Lola + 19.116s
3. LMP Pickett/Graf Porsche + 1m30.374s
4. LMP Field/Field Intersport Lola + 3 laps
5. PC Tucker/Bouchut ORECA + 5 laps
6. PC Jeannette/Zugel ORECA + 6 laps
7. PC Figge/Hyatt ORECA + 6 laps
8. PC Tucker/Wallace ORECA + 6 laps
9. GT Melo/Bruni Ferrari + 6 laps
10. GT Auberlen/Milner BMW + 6 laps
11. GT Magnussen/O'Connell Corvette + 7 laps
12. GT Mueller/Hand BMW + 7 laps
13. GT Bergmeister/Long Porsche + 7 laps
14. GT Fisichella/Vilander Ferrari + 7 laps
15. GT Sharp/van Overbeek Ferrari + 8 laps
16. GT Brown/Cosmo Ferrari + 8 laps
17. GT Sellers/Henzler Porsche + 8 laps
18. LMP Willman/Burgess Lola + 9 laps
19. GT Beretta/Gavin Corvette + 9 laps
20. GT Law/Neiman Porsche + 10 laps
21. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen Porsche + 11 laps
22. GTC Richard/Lally Porsche + 11 laps
23. GTC Rodriguez/Bieker Porsche + 12 laps
24. GTC Lewis/Vento Porsche + 12 laps
25. GTC Miller/Hines Porsche + 13 laps
26. GTC Beggs/Baron Porsche + 13 laps
27. GT Robertson/Robertson/Murry Doran Ford + 13 laps
28. GTC Curtis/Sofronas Porsche + 13 laps
29. GTC Sweedler/Kapudija Porsche + 14 laps

Retirements:
LMP Dyson/Smith Lola-Mazda 73 laps
GT Dalziel/Goossens Jaguar 57 laps
PC Marcelli/Wong ORECA 21 laps
GTC Gonzalez/Diaz Porsche 5 laps
GTC Gonzalez/Leitzinger Porsche 0 laps

All pictures Auto GP.

An excellent second for the Drayson Racing Lola.



Fourth for the Intersport car which led the race in the early stages.



The Dyson Lola-Mazda was an unfortunate retirement.



The start of the race with Lola to the fore.



Pitstop for the Intersport car.



The Lola-Mazda in action.



The Intersport Lola at speed.



The Drayson Racing Lola from the rear.



Jonny Cocker awaits his turn in the Drayson Racing car.