2008 Monterey Sports Car Championships

The 2008 Monterey Sports Car Championships presented by Patrón was the eleventh and final round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California on 18 October 2008. It was the first time the event had a sponsor in its name since the 2004 season.

Track map of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Report

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Qualifying

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The LMP2 category dominated qualifying, led by the four Acura teams who were able to qualify in the top five positions, led by David Brabham in the Highcroft Racing Acura on pole position. The Acura squads were broken up only by the #7 Penske Porsche which qualified third. In LMP1, the #1 Audi led that class but was only ninth overall in the standings. Among the Corvette teams, the #3 car once again earned pole over its teammate, while GT2 was led by Farnbacher-Loles' Porsche. Tafel Racing meanwhile led among Ferrari squads in third place within the class.

Qualifying result

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Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.

Pos Class Team Qualifying Driver Time[1]
1 LMP2 #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing David Brabham 1:10.103
2 LMP2 #15 Lowe's Fernández Racing Luis Díaz 1:10.202
3 LMP2 #7 Penske Racing Timo Bernhard 1:10.351
4 LMP2 #66 de Ferran Motorsports Gil de Ferran 1:10.451
5 LMP2 #26 Andretti Green Racing Tony Kanaan 1:10.567
6 LMP2 #6 Penske Racing Sascha Maassen 1:10.586
7 LMP2 #5 Penske Motorsports, Inc. Ryan Briscoe 1:10.606
8 LMP2 #16 Dyson Racing Guy Smith 1:11.010
9 LMP1 #1 Audi Sport North America Emanuele Pirro 1:11.264
10 LMP1 #2 Audi Sport North America Lucas Luhr 1:11.825
11 LMP2 #20 Dyson Racing Butch Leitzinger 1:12.089
12 LMP1 #48 Corsa Motorsports Johnny Mowlem 1:12.819
13 LMP2 #8 B-K Motorsports Ben Devlin 1:13.321
14 LMP1 #37 Intersport Racing Jon Field 1:13.379
15 LMP1 #88 Creation Autosportif Stephen Simpson 1:13.481
16 LMP1 #12 Autocon Motorsports Chris McMurry 1:14.549
17 GT1 #3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen 1:19.291
18 GT1 #4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin 1:19.790
19 GT2 #87 Farnbacher-Loles Motorsport Dirk Werner 1:22.060
20 GT2 #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister 1:22.380
21 GT2 #71 Tafel Racing Dominik Farnbacher 1:22.701
22 GT2 #46 Flying Lizard Motorsports Patrick Pilet 1:22.869
23 GT2 #62 Risi Competizione Mika Salo 1:22.962
24 GT2 #99 JMB Racing Pierre Kaffer 1:23.243
25 GT2 #61 Risi Competizione Niclas Jönsson 1:23.928
26 GT2 #21 Panoz Team PTG Joey Hand 1:24.084
27 GT2 #18 VICI Racing Nicky Pastorelli 1:24.111
28 GT2 #007 Drayson-Barwell Jonny Cocker 1:24.626
29 GT2 #54 Black Swan Racing Anthony Lazzaro 1:24.711
30 GT2 #40 Robertson Racing David Murry 1:24.727
31 GT2 #73 Tafel Racing Pierre Ehret 1:24.970
32 GT2 #11 Primetime Race Group Chris Hall 1:26.124
33 GT2 #44 Flying Lizard Motorsports 44 Seth Neiman 1:26.704
34 LMP1 #10 ECO Racing Did Not Participate No Time

Race

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The final round of the ALMS season was slowed by a total of twelve caution periods over the four-hour race distance, including four within the first hour alone. This allowed for a variety of pit strategies to come into place as teams chose to make their first pit stops during different caution periods. The Acura teams led early, but Audi was eventually able to take the overall lead, eventually completing the race first and second, led by the #2 car of Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr. In LMP2, Acura's also finished first and second, but the #7 Penske Porsche's finish of third was able to secure Porsche the Manufacturers Championship within the class by a single point.

In GT1, the #4 Corvette of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin earned their third win of the season over their teammates, while the #71 Tafel Racing Ferrari secured its fourth victory in GT2 in 2008. The Risi Competizione Ferrari and Farnbacher-Loles Porsche completed the GT2 podium, while the PTG Panoz had a strong fourth-place finish a lap behind.

Race result

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Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).[2]

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps
Engine
1 LMP1 2   Audi Sport North America   Marco Werner
  Lucas Luhr
Audi R10 TDI M 145
Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12
(Diesel)
2 LMP1 1   Audi Sport North America   Emanuele Pirro
  Christijan Albers
Audi R10 TDI M 145
Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12
(Diesel)
3 LMP2 26   Andretti Green Racing   Franck Montagny
  Tony Kanaan
Acura ARX-01B M 145
Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8
4 LMP2 66   de Ferran Motorsports   Gil de Ferran
  Simon Pagenaud
Acura ARX-01B M 145
Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8
5 LMP2 7   Penske Racing   Timo Bernhard
  Romain Dumas
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 145
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
6 LMP2 5   Penske Motorsports, Inc.   Hélio Castroneves
  Ryan Briscoe
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 145
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
7 LMP2 16   Dyson Racing   Chris Dyson
  Guy Smith
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 145
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
8 LMP2 20   Dyson Racing   Butch Leitzinger
  Marino Franchitti
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 144
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
9 LMP2 15   Lowe's Fernández Racing   Adrian Fernández
  Luis Díaz
Acura ARX-01B M 144
Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8
10 LMP2 6   Penske Racing   Patrick Long
  Sascha Maassen
Porsche RS Spyder Evo M 144
Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
11 LMP1 48   Corsa Motorsports   Gunnar Jeannette
  Johnny Mowlem
  Stefan Johansson
Ginetta-Zytek 07S D 142
Zytek 4.5 L V8
12 GT1 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin
  Olivier Beretta
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R M 139
Chevrolet LS7-R 7.0 L V8
(E85 ethanol)
13 GT1 3   Corvette Racing   Johnny O'Connell
  Jan Magnussen
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R M 139
Chevrolet LS7-R 7.0 L V8
(E85 ethanol)
14 GT2 71   Tafel Racing   Dominik Farnbacher
  Dirk Müller
Ferrari F430GT M 139
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
15 LMP2 9   Patrón Highcroft Racing   Scott Sharp
  David Brabham
Acura ARX-01B M 139
Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8
16 GT2 62   Risi Competizione   Jaime Melo
  Mika Salo
Ferrari F430GT M 139
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
17 GT2 87   Farnbacher-Loles Motorsports   Dirk Werner
  Bryce Miller
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 138
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
18 LMP1 88   Creation Autosportif   Jamie Campbell-Walter
  Stephen Simpson
  Liz Halliday
Creation CA07 D 138
AIM (Judd) YS5.5 5.5 L V10
(E85 ethanol)
19 GT2 21   Panoz Team PTG   Tommy Milner
  Joey Hand
Panoz Esperante GT-LM Y 137
Ford (Élan) 5.0 L V8
20 GT2 46   Flying Lizard Motorsports   Johannes van Overbeek
  Patrick Pilet
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 137
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
21 GT2 44   Flying Lizard Motorsports 44   Darren Law
  Seth Neiman
  Lonnie Pechnik
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 135
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
22 GT2 99   JMB Racing
  Aucott Racing
  Ben Aucott
  Pierre Kaffer
Ferrari F430GT D 134
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
23 GT2 007   Drayson-Barwell   Paul Drayson
  Jonny Cocker
Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 D 134
Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
(E85 ethanol)
24 GT2 54   Black Swan Racing   Tim Pappas
  Anthony Lazzaro
  Andy Pilgrim
Ford GT-R Mk.VII F 133
Ford 5.0 L V8
25 GT2 45   Flying Lizard Motorsports   Jörg Bergmeister
  Wolf Henzler
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 133
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
26 GT2 73   Tafel Racing   Harrison Brix
  Alex Figge
  Pierre Ehret
Ferrari F430GT M 132
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
27 GT2 61   Risi Competizione
  Krohn Racing
  Tracy Krohn
  Niclas Jönsson
Ferrari F430GT M 129
Ferrari 4.0 L V8
28 GT2 40   Robertson Racing   David Robertson
  Andrea Robertson
  David Murry
Ford GT-R Mk.VII D 129
Ford 5.0 L V8
29 GT2 11   Primetime Race Group   Joel Feinberg
  Chris Hall
Dodge Viper Competition Coupe H 112
Dodge 8.3 L V10
30 LMP2 8   B-K Motorsports   Gerardo Bonilla
  Ben Devlin
  Raphael Matos
Lola B08/86 D 106
Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
(E85 ethanol)
31
DNF
LMP1 37   Intersport Racing   Jon Field
  Ryan Lewis
  Richard Berry
Lola B06/10 D 102
AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8
(E85 ethanol)
32
NC
LMP1 12   Autocon Motorsports   Chris McMurry
  Tony Burgess
Lola B06/10 D 87
AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8
33
DNF
LMP1 10   ECO Racing   Andrew Prendeville
  Hideki Noda
Radical SR10 D 46
ECO (AER) 5.0 L Turbo V10
(Diesel)
34
DNF
GT2 18   VICI Racing   Nicky Pastorelli
  Francesco Pastorelli
  Marc Basseng
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR K 17
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6

References

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  1. ^ "ALMS Final Grid" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. 2008-10-18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  2. ^ "ALMS Provisional Result" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. 2008-10-18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2008-10-18.


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