Highcroft Racing ended fellow LMP1 Acura squad De Ferran Motorsports' streak of American Le Mans Series victories in today's Road America round at Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Gil de Ferran and teammate Simon Pagenaud had looked set to further erode Highcroft duo David Brabham and Scott Sharp's championship lead after they took pole, but in the race the Highcroft car got ahead when de Ferran opted to make an early pit stop under the first yellow. Later cautions brought both back onto the same strategy, and they were nose to tail again with Brabham just ahead of de Ferran when the green flag waved for the final time with six minutes to go.
De Ferran tried his utmost, but Brabham was able to absorb the pressure and win by half a second, stretching his and Sharp's points lead again.
It was another Acura 1-2-3, with the Fernandez entry winning LMP2 in third overall. The Dyson Lola-Mazdas had looked good early on, but the timing of the second yellow during the opening pit stops worked out badly for Dyson duo Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti, allowing Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz to get in front and win again. The #20 Dyson car took a close second, with the Cytosport Porsche not far behind.
Rahal Letterman's Joey Hand and Bill Auberlen gave BMW its first GT2 victory since the German marque returned to the ALMS this year. Having dominated class qualifying, the two BMWs were handed a one-lap advantage over their rivals when the first yellow fell just as the leaders had lapped the rest of the GT2 pack.
A penalty for a pit infringement dropped Dirk Muller and Tommy Milner off their team-mates' tails soon afterwards, leaving Hand and Auberlen to cruise to the class win. Muller resisted a late charge from the best of the Corvettes and the GT2 points-leading Flying Lizard Porsche to complete a BMW 1-2.