The 2009 Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg was the second round of the 2009 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on April 4, 2009. The Acura ARX-02a earned its first overall victory under the Patrón Highcroft Racing team after early leader de Ferran Motorsports suffered mechanical issues. Acura also won the LMP2 category with Lowe's Fernández Racing, while GT2 was won by the Porsche of Flying Lizard Motorsports.

Report

Qualifying In qualifying solely for the GT2 category, due to the lack of GT1 class competitors for this event, Jaime Melo in the Risi Competizione Ferrari led the pack before a red flag stopped the session due to an incident involving eventual fifth place qualifier Patrick Long in the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche. Farnbacher-Loles and the two BMWs completed the top of the GT2 grid.

In prototype qualifying the Acura of Simon Pagenaud dominated by earning de Ferran Motorsports a pole position by nearly a second over the other Acura of Patrón Highcroft Racing. Acura also led the LMP2 category as the Lowe's Fernández Racing car was piloted by Luis Díaz to third overall, beating the closest Dyson Lola-Mazda by three tenths of a second.

Qualifying result Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.

Pos Class Team Qualifying Driver Lap Time 1 LMP1 #66 de Ferran Motorsports Simon Pagenaud 1:03.776 2 LMP1 #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing Scott Sharp 1:04.722 3 LMP2 #15 Lowe's Fernández Racing Luis Díaz 1:05.178 4 LMP2 #16 Dyson Racing Team Guy Smith 1:05.464 5 LMP2 #20 Dyson Racing Team Marino Franchitti 1:05.666 6 LMP1 #37 Intersport Racing Chapman Ducote 1:09.044 7 GT2 #61 Risi Competizione Jaime Melo 1:12.892 8 GT2 #87 Farnbacher-Loles Racing Wolf Henzler 1:13.173 9 GT2 #90 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Joey Hand 1:13.267 10 GT2 #92 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Dirk Müller 1:13.458 11 GT2 #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Patrick Long 1:13.465 12 GT2 #21 Panoz Team PTG Dominik Farnbacher 1:14.109 13 GT2 #40 Robertson Racing David Murry 1:14.281 14 GT2 #28 LG Motorsports Eric Curran 1:14.633 15 GT2 #11 Primetime Race Group Joel Feinberg 1:15.938 16 GT2 #22 Panoz Team PTG Tom Sutherland 1:15.996 17 GT2 #44 Flying Lizard Motorsports Seth Neiman 1:18.592

Race

Race result Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tire Laps Engine 1 LMP1 9 Patrón Highcroft Racing David Brabham Scott Sharp Acura ARX-02a 93 Acura AR7 4.0 L V8 2 LMP2 15 Lowe's Fernández Racing Adrian Fernández Luis Díaz Acura ARX-01B 93 Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8 3 LMP2 16 Dyson Racing Team Chris Dyson Guy Smith Lola B09/86 92 Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4 4 LMP2 20 Dyson Racing Team Butch Leitzinger Marino Franchitti Lola B08/86 91 Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4 5 GT2 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Patrick Long Jörg Bergmeister Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 88 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 6 LMP1 37 Intersport Racing Jon Field Clint Field Chapman Ducote Lola B06/10 88 AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8 7 GT2 92 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Tommy Milner Dirk Müller BMW M3 GT2 86 BMW 4.0 L V8 8 GT2 21 Panoz Team PTG Ian James Dominik Farnbacher Panoz Esperante GT-LM 86 Ford 5.0 L V8 9 GT2 28 LG Motorsports Lou Giglotti Eric Curran Chevrolet Corvette C6 85 Chevrolet LS3 6.3 L V8 10 GT2 44 Flying Lizard Motorsports Darren Law Seth Neiman Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 84 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 11 GT2 40 Robertson Racing David Robertson Andrea Robertson David Murry Ford GT-R Mk. VII 83 Ford 5.0 L V8 12 GT2 87 Farnbacher-Loles Motorsports Wolf Henzler Dirk Werner Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 74 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 13DNF LMP1 66 de Ferran Motorsports Gil de Ferran Simon Pagenaud Acura ARX-02a 66 Acura AR7 4.0 L V8 14DNF GT2 11 Primetime Race Group Joel Feinberg Chris Hall Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 38 Dodge 8.3 L V10 15DNF GT2 22 Panoz Team PTG Tom Sutherland Ryan Phinny Panoz Esperante GT-LM 38 Ford 5.0 L V8 16DNF GT2 90 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Bill Auberlen Joey Hand BMW M3 GT2 28 BMW 4.0 L V8 17DNF GT2 62 Risi Competizione Jaime Melo Pierre Kaffer Ferrari F430GT 27 Ferrari 4.0 L V8

References