Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Corvette Score Third ALMS Win and
Increase Championship Lead
PORTLAND,
August 5, 2001 –
For the third race in a row, Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell drove to a
first place finish in the GTS class. The Portland Grand Prix victory was
also the third win out of four ALMS races this year and the fifth win out
of six races Corvette participated in so far. Earlier this year,
America’s legendary sportscar scored class wins in Texas, Le Mans and
Sears Point, as well as the overall win in the Daytona 24 Hours.
“Coming
to Portland was a last minute decision,” said
Fellows, “and I'm glad it worked
out. We have a real shot at the Drivers, Teams and Manufacturer
championship and it would have been a shame to pass up this race. Johnny
and I both like this track and the team did a miraculous job in a very
short time to get the cars back to the shop in Michigan, get them prepared
for this race and then bring them back out to the West Coast.”
“Our
main competition, the Saleen S7R, was a handful for us today,” Fellows
continued. “The track was slippery
– we were slipping' and sliding'. They were faster towards the end and
it would have been interesting to see whether or not we could have handled
them at the end of the race.”
“The
guys gave us a great car and we needed it against the Saleen today,” said
Johnny O'Connell, “but in my mind,
when I got in the car for my shift it was going to be a battle between our
car and the other Corvette just as it was a couple of weeks ago in Sears
Point. Mechanically the car
is so strong – it was a good day.”
The
team’s other Corvette, driven by Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins,
finished in a solid second place in class, just 5.517 seconds behind
winners Fellows and O’Connell. However, at the post-race scrutineering
the car was found to be slightly underweight and subsequently
disqualified. The team is looking into what caused the weight reduction.
In
two weeks the series will head to Mosport International Raceway in
Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada which is Fellows’ home track and a track on
which he has recorded wins in a variety of cars and classes.
“We have two solid weeks to prepare for Mosport and I can assure you that we will do everything necessary and possible to win in Canada,” the championship leader said. “We all want to keep this momentum going.”
GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND – ALMS Round 4
– Race Results
1.
Brabham/Magnussen
Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S
131 laps
2.
Pirro/Biela
Audi R8
+ 0m00s374
3. Herbert/Wallace
Audi R8
+ 0m15s589
4. Graf/Lagorce
Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S
+ 0m21s758
5. Capello/Kristensen
Audi R8
+ 4 laps
6.
de Radigues/Graham/Duno Reynard-Judd
01Q (1st LMP675)
+ 8 laps
7. Fellows/O’Connell
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (1st GTS)
+ 9 laps
DQ. Pilgrim/Collins
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R
+ 9 laps
8.
Said/Stuck
BMW M3 GTR (1st GT)
+ 10 laps
9.
Luhr/Maassen
Porsche 911 GT3-RS (2nd GT)
+ 11 laps
10.
Lehto/Müller
BMW M3 GTR (3rd GT)
+ 11 laps
11.
Ekblom/Müller
BMW M3 GTR
+ 11 laps
12.
Knight/Hawkins
Lola-Nissan
B2K/40 (2nd LMP675)
+ 11 laps
13.
Pobst/Menzel
Porsche 911 GT3-RS
+ 12 laps
14.
Bernhard/Mowlem/PetersenPorsche 911 GT3-RS
+ 13 laps
15.
Altenburg/Lewis
Dodge Viper GTS-R (2nd GTS)
+ 13 laps