The Detroit Sports Car Challenge presented by Bosch was the ninth round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at the Detroit Belle Isle street circuit, Michigan on August 30, 2008.
Report Andretti Green Racing scored their first overall victory, as well as the second overall victory for the Acura program. Audi failed to win the LMP1 category for the first time all season after one car crashed and the other was disqualified for a rule infraction. Intersport Racing, the lone remaining LMP1 competitor, earned the class win. Flying Lizard managed to finish the race with all three of their Porsches in the top four in GT2 to help extend their lead over the Tafel Racing Ferraris, while Corvette Racing easily led the GT1 category.
This race marked the first time since the debut of the Porsche RS Spyder at the 2005 Monterey Sports Car Championships that Porsche failed to finish in a podium position in the LMP2 class; the Acuras of Highcroft Racing and de Ferran Motorsport completed the LMP2 and overall podium behind the Andretti Green Acura, and ahead of the #7 Penske Racing Porsche in fourth.
Race results Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).
Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps Engine 1 LMP2 26 Andretti Green Racing Franck Montagny James Rossiter Acura ARX-01B 104 Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8 2 LMP2 9 Patrón Highcroft Racing Scott Sharp David Brabham Acura ARX-01B 104 Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8 3 LMP2 66 de Ferran Motorsports Gil de Ferran Simon Pagenaud Acura ARX-01B 104 Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8 4 LMP2 7 Penske Racing Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas Porsche RS Spyder Evo 104 Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8 5 LMP2 6 Penske Racing Patrick Long Ryan Briscoe Porsche RS Spyder Evo 104 Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8 6 LMP2 16 Dyson Racing Chris Dyson Guy Smith Porsche RS Spyder Evo 103 Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8 7 LMP2 8 B-K Motorsports Gerardo Bonilla Ben Devlin Lola B07/46 103 Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4(E85 ethanol) 8 LMP2 20 Dyson Racing Butch Leitzinger Marino Franchitti Porsche RS Spyder Evo 102 Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8 9 GT1 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 100 Chevrolet LS7-R 7.0 L V8(E85 ethanol) 10 GT1 3 Corvette Racing Johnny O'Connell Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 100 Chevrolet LS7-R 7.0 L V8(E85 ethanol) 11 GT2 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister Wolf Henzler Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 98 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 12 GT2 46 Flying Lizard Motorsports Johannes van Overbeek Patrick Pilet Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 98 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 13 GT2 62 Risi Competizione Jaime Melo Mika Salo Ferrari F430GT 98 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 14 GT2 44 Flying Lizard Motorsports 44 Lonnie Pechnik Martin Ragginger Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 98 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 15 GT2 61 Risi Competizione Harrison Brix Rob Bell Ferrari F430GT 98 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 16 GT2 73 Tafel Racing Jim Tafel Alex Figge Ferrari F430GT 95 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 17 GT2 11 Primetime Race Group Joel Feinberg Chris Hall Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 94 Dodge 8.3 L V10 18 GT1 008 Bell Motorsports Terry Borcheller Chapman Ducote Aston Martin DBR9 93 Aston Martin 6.0 L V12 19 GT2 40 Robertson Racing David Robertson Andrea Robertson David Murry Ford GT-R Mk.VII 89 Ford 5.0 L V8 20 GT2 71 Tafel Racing Dominik Farnbacher Dirk Müller Ferrari F430GT 88 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 21DNF GT2 21 Panoz Team PTG Tom Milner, Jr. Tom Sutherland Panoz Esperante GT-LM 87 Ford (Élan) 5.0 L V8 22 LMP1 37 Intersport Racing Jon Field Clint Field Richard Berry Lola B06/10 83 AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8(E85 ethanol) 23 LMP2 15 Lowe's Fernández Racing Adrian Fernández Luis Díaz Acura ARX-01B 83 Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8 24DNF GT2 54 Black Swan Racing Tim Pappas Anthony Lazzaro Ford GT-R Mk.VII 49 Ford 5.0 L V8 25DNF GT2 18 VICI Racing Nicky Pastorelli Francesco Pastorelli Marc Basseng Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 38 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 26DNF LMP1 2 Audi Sport North America Marco Werner Lucas Luhr Audi R10 TDI 21 Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12(Diesel) 27DNF GT2 007 Drayson-Barwell Paul Drayson Jonny Cocker Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 1 Aston Martin 4.5 L V8(E85 ethanol) DSQ† LMP1 1 Audi Sport North America Emanuele Pirro Marcel Fässler Audi R10 TDI 104 Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12(Diesel)
† - The #1 Audi Sport North America entry was disqualified after the car failed post-race technical inspection. The car was under the minimum weight requirement for its class.
Statistics Pole Position - #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing - 1:13.483 Fastest Lap - #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing - 1:15.540
References