Lola designed and built Le Mans Prototypes reaped more success at the second round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series held at the famous Long Beach street circuit at the weekend. Cytosport, Dyson Racing and Level 5 Motorsports all took silverware to continue the impressive start to Lola's racing year. The Muscle Milk Cytosport Lola B08/62, powered by Aston Martin, won the race after a race long duel with the Dyson Racing Lola-Mazda. Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr eventually won out in the two hour sprint race on the sinuous Californian streets.

Guy Smith had taken a brilliant pole position in the Dyson Lola-Mazda and his team mate Chris Dyson led from the start but was immediately under pressure from Luhr's Lola-Aston Martin. At Turn 5 the German made his move and it was a lead that the Greg Pickett led team were never to lose over the next 83 laps.

Registering the Huntingdon constructor's first 1-2 result of the 2011 campaign, Lola customer teams showed speed and reliability to ensure its teams now head this year's title race. Chris Dyson and Guy Smith head the LMP1 drivers' points while Luis Diaz and Ryan Hunter Reay lead the LMP2 standings. Lola also lead both the LMP1 and LMP2 chassis manufacturers championships.

Dyson Racing were delighted with their pole position and points haul, with Chris Dyson stating: “We have a lot of positives to take away from this weekend, we are heading into the second half of the season with one of the best championship starts we have had in a while."

Lola also took the LMP2 honours with the Level 5 Motorsport entry of Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker. The team opted for a conservative approach to the race due to the tight turn-around for the team as they head to Le Mans this weekend for the official test day.

Lola Chairman and Executive Chairman, Martin Birrane, commented: "It was a very professional performance by the Cytosport team today and we congratulate them on their first victory of 2011. Dyson Racing did a superb job to take pole and also get more points in their ALMS title quest. Level 5 Motorsports achieved their objectives of maximum points in the LMP2 class which is notable considering their extraordinary schedule at the moment. It has been a very successful start to the season for Lola. All the hard work during the winter is paying off and everyone back at our facility will be very proud of all our customer teams."

Lola LMP cars are next in action at the official Le Mans test day this Sunday. Six Lolas will be in action at the iconic French circuit in readiness for the 79th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 11/12.

The next round of the American Le Mans Series will take place at Lime Rock on 8/9 July.

RACE RESULT

Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap
1. P1 Luhr/Graf Cytosport Lola-Aston 2h01m23.764s
2. P1 Dyson/Smith Dyson Lola-Mazda + 24.624s
3. PC Jeannette/Gonzalez Core ORECA + 2 laps
4. PC Marcelli/Drissi Intersport ORECA + 2 laps
5. GT Muller/Hand BMW + 2 laps
6. GT Gavin/Magnussen Corvette + 2 laps
7. GT Melo/Vilander Risi Ferrari + 2 laps
8. GT Henzler/Sellers Falken Porsche + 3 laps
9. PC Lux/Julian Genoa ORECA + 3 laps
10. GT Beretta/Milner Corvette + 3 laps
11. PC Bennett/Montecalvo Core ORECA + 4 laps
12. GT Junqueira/da Matta RSR Jaguar + 4 laps
13. GT Auberlen/Werner BMW + 4 laps
14. GT Law/Neiman Flying Lizard Porsche + 5 laps
15. GTC Pappas/Bleekemolen Black Swan Porsche + 6 laps
16. GT Brown/Cosmo Extreme Speed Ferrari + 6 laps
17. GTC Sweedler/Keen Alex Job Porsche + 6 laps
18. PC Figge/Maroney PR1 Mathiasen ORECA + 6 laps
19. GTC Potter/Stanton Magnus Porsche + 7 laps
20. GT Pastorelli/Schwager West Lamborghini + 8 laps
21. GTC Ham/Blackett JDX Porsche + 12 laps

Retirements

GT Sharp/van Overbeek Extreme Speed Ferrari 70 laps
GTC von Moltke/Gaughan TRG Porsche 70 laps
GT Miller/Maassen Miller Porsche 68 laps
P2 Tucker/Bouchut Level 5 Lola-Honda 45 laps
GTC Ende/Pumpelly TRG Porsche 36 laps
GT Bergmeister/Long Flying Lizard Porsche 31 laps
GT Jones/Gentilozzi RSR Jaguar 2 laps
GTC Curtis/Sofronas GMG Porsche 2 laps
P2 Tucker/Diaz Level 5 Lola-Honda Not started
PC Nicolosi/Boon Performance Tech ORECA Not started

All pictures courtesy of ALMS, Regis Lefebure and Chris McNeil.