Saturday was a day of firsts in the American Le Mans Series: Steven Kane and Humaid Al Masaood of Oryx Racing, driving their rented Dyson Racing Lola Mazda, got their first prototype win in the first Baltimore Grand Prix in their first season in the series; it was also the first street race for Al Masaood.
“Driving smart is definitely a challenge, and it’s easy to make a mistake at the start of a race like this,” said co-driver and team owner Masaood. “It’s easy to go off and be in the wall. You have to be very precise, take a little off and make good decisions. You really have no room for error.”
Baltimore was only the fifth ALMS race for Oryx Racing; the team is in its first year of operation.
The Baltimore Grand Prix is also new to the American Le Mans series; conceived in 2008 and developed over the next three years, the event faced huge difficulties, not the least of which was building a temporary racetrack in the busiest part of the Baltimore in just a few days’ time, attracting and accommodating tens of thousands of fans, and then tearing the track down in time for business to start Monday morning.
“Driving smart is definitely a challenge, and it’s easy to make a mistake at the start of a race like this,” said co-driver and team owner Masaood. “It’s easy to go off and be in the wall. You have to be very precise, take a little off and make good decisions. You really have no room for error.”
Baltimore was only the fifth ALMS race for Oryx Racing; the team is in its first year of operation.
The Baltimore Grand Prix is also new to the American Le Mans series; conceived in 2008 and developed over the next three years, the event faced huge difficulties, not the least of which was building a temporary racetrack in the busiest part of the Baltimore in just a few days’ time, attracting and accommodating tens of thousands of fans, and then tearing the track down in time for business to start Monday morning.
Despite setbacks imposed by Hurricane Irene, the organizers and the city pulled of a great event; the grandstands were packed, and the fences along every bit of the track were lined with ranks of spectators—estimates for Saturday ran to over 50, 000.
The track, parts of which were hurriedly paved over Friday morning, held up perfectly; the only mishap was a single manhole cover which was sucked up out of the street by the force of the cars passing over it. This was rewelded within a few minutes and racing resumed.
“I want to start off thanking everyone in Baltimore, for putting on such a great race,” Steven Kane told Americanlemans.com. “The crowd is here, it was great. To me it looks like a great success already. It might be because we won, but this might be my favorite race so far.”
“I want to start off thanking everyone in Baltimore, for putting on such a great race,” Steven Kane told Americanlemans.com. “The crowd is here, it was great. To me it looks like a great success already. It might be because we won, but this might be my favorite race so far.”
Al Masaood started second behind the similar Lola Mazda of Chris Dyson. Both cars pitted during the race’s first caution period (for that manhole cover,) switching drivers, changing tires, and adding fuel. Guy Smith in the Dyson car couldn’t get the engine restarted; Steven Kane in the Oryx car left the pits in the lead, and never gave Smith a chance to catch up.
Oryx Racing’s task was made easier by the bad luck of the Muscle Milk AMR Lola Aston Martin, which had a complete electrical failure Friday and had race Saturday without either driver having driven the car on the new circuit. The crew worked for 25 hours straight to get the car running, finishing the task only an hour before the green flag.
Oryx Racing’s task was made easier by the bad luck of the Muscle Milk AMR Lola Aston Martin, which had a complete electrical failure Friday and had race Saturday without either driver having driven the car on the new circuit. The crew worked for 25 hours straight to get the car running, finishing the task only an hour before the green flag.
It was a day of firsts for the Muscle Milk team: new co-driver Romain Dumas was driving the car for the very first time; he had not turned a single racing lap before the green flag dropped Saturday. Klaus Graf, the other driver completed his first lap of the track when he took over halfway through the race.
Despite having no time to set the car up to suit the new track and no time to practice, the Muscle Milk drivers acquitted themselves well. Although the car had to pit twice for lengthy adjustments to the brakes, driver Klaus Graf still managed to set the fastest lap of the race.
“For no practice and not being on the track and then to do fastest race lap that is a big accomplishment,” Graf said in a team press release.
Report of GT, LMPC, and GTC classes to follow.
Despite having no time to set the car up to suit the new track and no time to practice, the Muscle Milk drivers acquitted themselves well. Although the car had to pit twice for lengthy adjustments to the brakes, driver Klaus Graf still managed to set the fastest lap of the race.
“For no practice and not being on the track and then to do fastest race lap that is a big accomplishment,” Graf said in a team press release.
Report of GT, LMPC, and GTC classes to follow.
