Viper Breaks Though at Road America

Just one year after debuting its new GT class contender, SRT Motorsports celebrated a historic first win for the Viper GTS-R in a heated battle at Road America.

Gambling on fuel following a race-ending yellow, Marc Goossens took the Riley Technologies-built entry across the line ahead of the pair of Corvette C6.Rs for the GT class victory in Sunday’s Orion Energy Systems 245.

Goossens and co-driver Dominik Farnbacher, along with the pole-sitting No. 93 Viper of Jonathan Bomarito, enjoyed time out front in the 2-hour and 45-minute race, which started under wet conditions and ended under the yellow flag following a late-race accident.

“It was a nail-biter,” Farnbacher said. “I think we came into the finish with the last drop of fuel. It’s so emotional for us. I’m just speechless at the moment.”

It marked the first class win for Chrysler in American Le Mans Series competition since its previous factory effort in 2000.

The No. 3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen came home second in class, ahead of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, who took over the GT points lead after an eighth place finish for the No. 56 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE of Dirk Mueller

Paul Miller Racing recorded a season-best fourth place result, ahead of the similarly prepared CORE autosport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, which rounded out the top-five.

Up front, Muscle Milk Pickett Racing cruised to another overall victory, with Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr taking their HPD ARX-03c to their fifth straight win of the year.

One of the stories of the day, however, came from the DeltaWing, which led overall in the hands of both Katherine Legge and Andy Meyrick. The Elan-powered entry finished a respectable fourth overall and on the lead lap.

The No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B12/60 Mazda also had a trouble-free run, finishing second overall in the hands of Chris McMurry and Tony Burgess.

P2 class honors went to Level 5 Motorsports for the fifth time this year, with Simon Pagenaud and team owner Scott Tucker taking victory in their No. 551 HPD ARX-03b.

A slow late-race stop for fuel deprived Level 5 of a 1-2 finish, as the No. 01 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD of Guy Cosmo got around the pole-sitting No. 552 entry of Marino Franchitti with less than 10 minutes to go.

A heavy crash for the No. 11 JDX Racing Porsche of Jan Heylen brought out the yellow moments later, with the race never restarting.

As a result of the class win, Tucker retakes the P2 championship lead, now four points ahead of teammate Franchitti, who came home third.

RSR Racing scored its second win in three races, thanks to a flawless run for Bruno Junqueira and Duncan Ende.

The Paul Gentilozzi-led squad finished an impressive third overall, ahead of the No. 8 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca FLM09 of Kyle Marcelli and Chris Cumming, which came home second in class.

Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canache took top honors in GTC, their second of the season.

Pumpelly edged out the No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car for top class honors, with the No. 30 NGT Motorsports entry of Sean Edwards completing the top-three in class.

Next up for the ALMS is the Grand Prix of Baltimore on Aug. 31.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John