Mid-Ohio hosted the third round of the American Le Mans Series at the weekend with several Lola sportscar customers in action.

Dyson Racing made the long journey from Houston to Mid-Ohio in good spirits after a highly promising weekend in Texas seven days previously. After finishing second in class and claiming pole position for that race, James Weaver attempted to repeat the feat but ultimately had to settle for 3rd place, between the Porsche and Audi cars after challenging for victory during stages of the two and three quarter hour event.

Despite the Chris Dyson/Guy Smith car suffering from a mechanical problem early on in the race, the long-term Lola customers were pleased with progress made during the Mid-Ohio weekend.

After finishing 1-2 at Mid-Ohio last year, Dyson Racing didn't quite endure the same result this season but still showed their pace and potential in the new Lola B06/10.

Early on in the race, Butch Leitzinger had enjoyed a titanic battle with Timo Bernhard in the Penske Porsche and the American much enjoyed the scrap, saying: "It was a great battle. Both with Bernard in the Porsche and McNish in the Audi, we had a nice dice going on.  Everyone was driving aggressively and right up to the line of professional courtesy - it was very tough but fair."

On taking over from his team mate, James Weaver was running in second place, forty-five minutes from the end when a punctured tyre put him in to the gravel.  "The left rear tyre went down going into the hairpin," said
Weaver. "The car shot straight into the hedge and by the time we dug ourselves out, they wouldn't open the pits and we lost two laps with that. After we got the tyre replaced and back in the race, the car was fine, it was just that tyre going down that did us in."

It was a bitter pill for Weaver/Leitzinger and the Dyson team but a 2^nd place in the LMP1 results ensures that they are still within 12 points of the Audi pairing of McNish and Capello.

Intersport Racing claimed 3^rd position in the LMP2 class at Mid-Ohio and 4th position overall. Liz Halliday and Clint Field were campaigning the AER engined Lola B05/40 on home turf as the Intersport team are based at nearby Dublin. The pair still lead the LMP2 class after class victories at Sebring and Houston.

Like Leitzinger earlier in the race, Clint Field enjoyed a spirited fight with some of the LMP1 machinery, saying: "I had a great little battle with Dindo [Capello] and [James] Weaver which I enjoyed enormously. I seemed to have them in the esses and carousel, but they could pull away in the straights. The important thing for us today, is that we came up with some good points going into Lime Rock [July 1] and we're still at the top of the table."

Autocon Motorsport were also in action with their LMP1 Lola B01/60-AER which once again was shared by Chris McMurry and Brian Willman. The blue and white car finished a creditable 3^rd in class and 11^th overall.

Van Der Steur Racing took their B2K/40 to 5^th place in LMP2 with Ben Devlin again doing some very quick laps in the AER powered car.

The next race on the schedule is Dyson Racing's home track of Lime Rock where they will also celebrate their twenty-first anniversary of top line sportscar competition. They debuted their Porsche 962 at Lime Rock in the International Motorsports Association GTP class in 1985 and won the race with Drake Olson driving.  In the twenty years since, they have not relinquished their title as America's premier sport car team.

RACE RESULTS

Pos  Drivers                          Car                                            Laps
 1.  Bernhard/Dumas           Porsche RS Spyder                119
 2.  Maassen/Luhr              Porsche RS Spyder                119
 3.  McNish/Capello            Audi R8                                119
 4.  Leitzinger/Weaver        Lola B06/10 AER                    116
 5.  Gavin/Beretta              Corvette C6-R                      116
 6.  O'Connell/Fellows         Corvette C6-R                       116
 7.  Turner/Enge                Aston Martin DB9                   115
 8.  Halliday/Field               Lola B05/40 AER                     115
 9.  Sarrazin/Lamy             Aston Martin DB9                    114
10.  Cosmo/Bach               Courage C65 Mazda                112
11.  McMurry/Lewis            Lola EX257 AER                     111
12.  Henzler/van Overbeek   Porsche 911 GT3 RSR             110
13.  Brabham/Maxwell         Panoz Esperante GTLM           110
14.  Neiman/Law                Porsche 911 GT3 RSR             109
15.  Auberlen/Hand            BMW E46 M3                         109
16.  Marks/Sellers              BMW E46 M3                         107
17.  Salom/Melo                Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta          105
18.  Devlin/Van der Steur    Lola B2K/40 AER                     104
19.  Long/Bergmeister         Porsche 911 GT3 RSR               93
20.  Jeannette/Milner         Panoz Esperante GTLM              57
21.  Dyson/Smith               Lola B06/10 AER                        3
22.  Rockenfeller/Graf         Porsche 911 GT3 RSR                 0