Pirelli scores a one, two in P2 class at Road Atlanta

Clint Field, Robin Liddell and Milka Duno Lead Intersport Team to Fifth Victory of Season at the Chevy Presents the 10-Hour Petit Le Mans Braselton, Georgia, September 25, 2004 It wasnt easy, but truer words were never spoken than those of Clint Field, lead driver of the Interscope Racing Lola/Judd, following his P2 class pole-setting qualifying lap for the 10-Hour Petit Le Mans. I think our car is best at reliability where the Courage is best at speed. Hopefully we can win the race; it will be up to the drivers. With six cars in class and several of them either new or nearly newcomers to the class, the Interscope trio of Field, Scot Robin Liddell and Milka Duno from Venezuela had their work cut out for them. Duno became the first woman in history to win a major sports car race in North America, when she and teammate Andy Wallace won the Grand Prix of Miami for CITGO Racing earlier this season. Last weekend in Homestead, Florida, the duo repeated their historic feat, taking the checkered flag at the Miami 250 for their second win of the season. " I raced with Intersport at the Grand Prix of Washington, DC in 2002, and it was a great experience, said Duno. Theyhave a very dedicated and hard-working squad with an amazing record so far this year. I' m really looking forward to driving with Clint and Robin and I hope that together we can help deliver another win for CITGO and Intersport." For much of the 10-hour enduro it was a back and forth battle among several of the P2 entries. But as the intensity of the battle began to take its toll, the Pirelli-sponsored Interscope Lola motored to victory, followed by the Pirelli-shod Lola B2K/40/Millington of Andy Lally, Ryan Eversley and Spencer Pumpelly, which finished 30 laps behind the Interscope team. Clint Field not only took the P2 pole, but followed this up with the fastest lap race in P2. With the one, two finish in P2, Pirelli assumed the tire manufacturer lead in P2 by three points with only the season-ending four-hour race at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca, California remaining. In GTS, the Corvettes continued to dominate the top two rungs of the podium, but below the Vettes it was a dog fight for third place. The ACEMCO Saleen S7R, the Carsport America Dodge Viper GTS-R and the two Lamborghini Murcielago R-GTs of Krohn-Barbour Racing, all on Pirellis, played a game of I lllead. No, you take over. Wait, I vechanged my mind, Ill lead again for much of the race. None of the four had an easy time of it with various gremlins popping up to pull them into the pits to repair the glitches. But as the clock ticked over to the 9:37 p.m. finish of the 1000-mile race, the threesome of Tom Weickardt, Jean-Philippe Belloc and Fabio Babini in the Pirelli-shod Viper heaved a collective sigh of relief as they snatched the third podium spot in GTS. The Viper team was fast all weekend and the podium finish is a just reward for a team that has overcome a lot of adversity this season. The ACEMCO S7R trailed the Viper by two laps to finish fourth in GTS. The exciting ALMS format, along with picture perfect weather, drew more than 66,000 sports car fans to the Road Atlanta track for the two-day race weekend. The American Le Mans Series next moves to Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, October 15-16. The race on Saturday, October 16 will be televised live on NBC Sports from 2-4 p.m. (EDT). Race fans can also listen to live coverage of the race on the ALMS radio web at www.americanlemans.com.