The Graf/Maassen/Gidley Porsche

Bob Heathcote/AR1.com

Seeing a Porsche out front at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is nothing new. Klaus Graf set the fastest time in Thursday’s test session for the American Le Mans Series Monterey presented by Patr¢n. He set his best lap of 1:15.444 in the Muscle Milk Team CytoSport Porsche RS Spyder, a car that has had tremendous success at the circuit on the Monterey Peninsula.

Graf is teaming with Sascha Maassen – a three-time class winner at the circuit – and Memo Gidley – a late addition to the Muscle Milk lineup. The Porsche RS Spyder has won in class three times at Mazda Raceway since its debut in 2005 and sat on the LMP2 pole position from 2005-07, the last being an overall pole for Maassen.

Graf was just 0.563 seconds better than Clint Field in Intersport Racing’s Lola B06/10-AER. Field turned in a best lap of 1:17.232 in the car that he will share with father Jon – who led overall at Long Beach – and Nikolas Constant. Patr¢n Highcroft Racing’s HPD ARX-01c was third at 1:16.185 – David Brabham’s best time. He is driving with Simon Pagenaud, a winner overall last year with Gil de Ferran, and Marino Franchitti.

Gimmi Bruni quickly found favor with the Mazda Raceway layout. In his first visit to the track, he set the best GT time for Risi Competizione with a lap of 1:23.933. He will drive the Ferrari F430 GT with Jaime Melo. The class was tight yet again with the first six cars within 0.862 seconds. Patrick Long was second in class at 1:24.010 for Flying Lizard Motorsports in his Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Risi and Flying Lizard are tied for the class championship lead.

In LMPC, Gunnar Jeannette led the way for G-Oil’s Green Earth Team Gunnar with a lap of 1:20.426 (100.177 mph) in the ORECA FLM09 that he will drive with Elton Julian and Christian Zugel. Jeannette and Julian are tied for the class championship lead with Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut.

Tom Sutherland was second-quickest in class for Genoa Racing at 1:20.449 (100.148 mph). He is driving with Tom Weickardt and Kyle Marcelli. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ entry was next with a lap of 1:21.265 for Johnny Mowlem; he is teaming with Tom Papadopoulous and Ryan Lewis.

Terry Borcheller went quickest in GT Challenge for GMG Racing. A former GT1 race-winner at Mazda Raceway, his best lap was a 1:28.606 (90.928 mph) in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry that he will drive with James Sofronas and Bret Curtis. Borcheller was a scant 0.049 seconds quicker than Black Swan Racing’s Jeroen Bleekemolen and another 0.251 seconds better than Alex Job Racing’s Butch Leitzinger, a race winner twice already this year with teammate Juan Gonzalez.

The American Le Mans Series Monterey presented by Patr¢n from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a six-hour endurance race set for 2:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 22. The full race will be streamed live online at americanlemans.com starting at 5:30 p.m. ET in partnership with TodoCast.tv. CBS Sports will broadcast the event from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 29. Live radio coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche – a production of Radio Show Limited – as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242. Visit the Series’ schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.

Results

Pos	CP	No	Class	Drivers	Time	Speed	Diff	Make
1	1	6	P	Gidley/Graf/Maassen	1:15.444	106.792	-.---	Porsche RS Spyder
2	2	37	P	J.Field/C.Field/Konstant	1:16.007	106.001	0.563	Lola B06 10
3	3	1	P	Brabham/Pagenaud/Franchitti	1:16.185	105.753	0.741	HPD ARX-01c
4	4	16	P	Dyson/Smith/Meyrick	1:17.023	104.603	1.579	Lola B09 86 Mazda
5	5	8	P	Drayson/Cocker/Pirro	1:17.297	104.232	1.853	Lola B09 60
6	6	12	P	Willman/Burgess/Ehret	1:18.257	102.953	2.813	Lola B06 10
7	1	99	PC	Julian/Jeannette/Zugel	1:20.426	100.177	4.982	Oreca FLM09
8	2	36	PC	Sutherland/Weickardt/Marcelli	1:20.449	100.148	5.005	Oreca FLM09
9	3	52	PC	Mowlem/Papadopoulos/Lewis	1:20.796	99.718	5.352	Oreca FLM09
10	4	95	PC	Tucker/Wallace/Frisselle	1:21.265	99.142	5.821	Oreca FLM09
11	5	55	PC	Tucker/Bouchut/Wilkins	1:22.028	98.220	6.584	Oreca FLM09
12	6	89	PC	Pagerey/Wong/Ducote	1:22.501	97.657	7.057	Oreca FLM09
13	1	62	GT	Melo/Bruni	1:23.933	95.991	8.489	Ferrari 430 GT
14	2	45	GT	Bergmeister/Long	1:24.010	95.903	8.566	Porsche 911 RSR
15	3	3	GT	Magnussen/O'Connell	1:24.224	95.659	8.780	Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
16	4	02	GT	Brown/Cosmo	1:24.604	95.230	9.160	Ferrari 430 GT
17	5	90	GT	Mueller/Hand	1:24.632	95.198	9.188	BMW M3 GT
18	6	44	GT	Law/Neiman/Bernhard	1:24.795	95.015	9.351	Porsche 911 RSR
19	7	4	GT	Beretta/Gavin	1:24.955	94.836	9.511	Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
20	8	17	GT	Sellers/Henzler	1:24.961	94.829	9.517	Porsche 911 RSR
21	9	01	GT	Sharp/van Overbeek	1:25.060	94.719	9.616	Ferrari 430 GT
22	10	92	GT	Auberlen/Milner	1:25.285	94.469	9.841	BMW M3 GT
23	11	61	GT	Krohn/Jonsson	1:25.997	93.687	10.553	Ferrari 430 GT
24	12	75	GT	Gentilozzi/Dalziel/Goossens	1:26.633	92.999	11.189	Jaguar XKRS
25	13	40	GT	D.Robertson/A.Robertson/Murry	1:26.820	92.799	11.376	Doran Ford GT-R
26	1	32	GTC	Curtis/Sofronas/Borcheller	1:28.606	90.928	13.162	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
27	2	54	GTC	Pappas/J.Bleekemolen/S.Bleekemolen	1:28.655	90.878	13.211	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
28	3	81	GTC	Gonzalez/Leitzinger/Junco, Jr	1:28.857	90.672	13.413	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
29	4	88	GTC	Lewis/Aschenbach	1:28.859	90.669	13.415	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
30	5	63	GTC	Richard/Villeneuve/Lally	1:29.069	90.456	13.625	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
31	6	48	GTC	Miller/McMullen/Hines	1:29.282	90.240	13.838	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
32	7	23	GTC	Sweedler/Kapudija/Lueders	1:29.831	89.688	14.387	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
33	8	80	GTC	Gonzalez/Diaz/Junco, Jr	1:29.881	89.639	14.437	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
34	9	28	GTC	Beggs/Baron	1:30.136	89.385	14.692	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
35	10	69	GTC	Rodriguez/Bieker/Wilson	1:30.259	89.263	14.815	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup