Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf gave the Muscle Milk Lola-Aston squad its second straight ALMS victory as a late deluge caused the race to be halted 15 minutes from the finish.
Luhr assumed control of the race with just over an hour to run, jumping the pole-sitting Dyson Lola-Mazda of Guy Smith and Simon Dyson -- which had led for much of the race -- at a restart before easing away at the head of the field.
Luhr then handed over to Graf, who had to survive a huge rainstorm and a spate of safety cars in the final 30 minutes. The extreme wet conditions saw several cars spin or suffer offs, with the safety car a regular visitor before stewards were forced to call a premature halt to the race.
"This win means a lot," a delighted Graf said. "It was very difficult and we knew it would be hard, so to win is very special. Lucas did an awesome job and I was able to keep it on the road in the rain, we worked so hard and it feels great."
Despite pitting for wets earlier than Graf, Dyson lost ground in the final stages and eventually brought the No. 16 Lola-Mazda home in second, 69sec down the road.
In LMPC, the top three ORECA FLM09s finished within 10sec of each other, but victory went to Kyle Marcelli and Tommy Drissi -- their first win in the ALMS.
"It wasn't looking good when I first got in the car, but I prayed for rain and it happened," Marcelli said. "It was real team work, and it feels great."
Jon and Clint Field finished second, less than three seconds down the road, with Javier Echeverria bringing home the No. 52 in third.
The GT class was possibly the most affected by the extreme weather, with several cars falling off in the final minutes. Amid the drama Wolf Henzler in the No. 17 Porsche 911 was able to make great progress, moving up from fifth to take the class lead.
"It feels unbelievable," Henzler said. "I must say the rain came just in time for us, the team made a good call to come in for wets. The tire was so good in the rain, I could just overtake everybody."
Oliver Gavin spun in the wet in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette, but was still in contention for the class lead as the race finished under the safety car.
Rounding out the GT podium was the No. 55 BMW M3 of Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner, which had earlier been tipped into a spin by the sister 56 car of Dirk Muller. The 56 car was involved in another accident late on, clashing with Jamie Melo in the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, ending the F458's race and bringing out another lengthy safety car period.
Spencer Pumpelly took victory in the GTC class in his No. 66 Porsche 911.
• ESPN2 airs the race Sunday night, starting at 10 p.m. ET.
| Pos |
Driver |
Car/Engine |
Laps |
Time/Delay |
| 1 |
L.Luhr/K.Graf |
Lola/Aston Martin |
96 |
2h 31:47.755 |
| 2 |
C.Dyson/G.Smith |
Lola/Mazda |
96 |
1:09.720 |
| 3 |
K.Marcelli/T.Drissi |
Oreca |
93 |
3 Laps |
| 4 |
J.Field/C.Field |
Oreca |
93 |
3 Laps |
| 5 |
D.Cheng/J.Echeverría |
Oreca |
93 |
3 Laps |
| 6 |
W.Henzler/B.Sellers |
Porsche |
92 |
4 Laps |
| 7 |
O.Gavin/J.Magnussen |
Chevrolet |
92 |
4 Laps |
| 8 |
B.Auberlen/D.Werner |
BMW |
92 |
4 Laps |
| 9 |
D.Müller/J.Hand |
BMW |
92 |
4 Laps |
| 10 |
S.Sharp/J.van Overbeek |
Ferrari |
92 |
4 Laps |
| 11 |
O.Beretta/T.Milner |
Chevrolet |
92 |
4 Laps |
| 12 |
G.Jeannette/R.Gonzalez |
Oreca |
91 |
5 Laps |
| 13 |
D.Murry/A.Lazzaro |
Ford |
91 |
5 Laps |
| 14 |
E.Lux/C.Zugel |
Oreca |
91 |
5 Laps |
| 15 |
B.Miller/S.Maassen |
Porsche |
91 |
5 Laps |
| 16 |
J.Bergmeister/P.Long |
Porsche |
91 |
5 Laps |
| 17 |
J.Bennett/F.Montecalvo |
Oreca |
90 |
6 Laps |
| 18 |
D.Law/S.Neiman |
Porsche |
89 |
7 Laps |
| 19 |
T.Burgess/C.McMurry |
Lola/AER |
88 |
8 Laps |
| 20 |
PJ Jones/R.Moran |
Jaguar |
88 |
8 Laps |
| 21 |
B.Junqueira/K.Wilden |
Jaguar |
88 |
8 Laps |
| 22 |
D.Ende/S.Pumpelly |
Porsche |
87 |
9 Laps |
| 23 |
T.Pappas/J.Bleekemolen |
Porsche |
87 |
9 Laps |
| 24 |
J.Potter/C.Stanton |
Porsche |
87 |
9 Laps |
| 25 |
A.Nicolosi/J.Boon |
Oreca |
87 |
9 Laps |
| 26 |
N.Ham/C.Cumming |
Porsche |
87 |
9 Laps |
| 27 |
J.Melo/T.Vilander |
Ferrari |
86 |
Accident |
| 28 |
B.Sweedler/L.Keen |
Porsche |
86 |
10 Laps |
| 29 |
A.Robertson/M.Snow |
Ford |
86 |
10 Laps |
| 30 |
P.LeSaffre/A.Davis |
Porsche |
85 |
11 Laps |
| 31 |
D.von Moltke/M.Bunting |
Porsche |
82 |
14 Laps |
| 32 |
E.Brown/G.Cosmo |
Ferrari |
78 |
Electrical |
| 33 |
H.Al Masaood/S.Kane |
Lola/Mazda |
38 |
Accident
|