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[Sports Cars] Sascha Maassen - Mid-Ohio podium |
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Monday, 22 May 2006 |
Sascha Maassen - Mid-Ohio podium
Sascha Maassen started from a record pole position and finished a close second in the May 21 American Le Mans Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
Maassen, of Raeren, Belgium, took the overall pole position in the No. 6 Penske Porsche RS Spyder with a record LMP2-class qualifying lap of one minute 12.815 seconds on the 2.258-mile road course, at an average speed of 111.636 mph. He opened a 29-second lead before handing off to Lucas Luhr of Monaco just past the first hour of the two-hour 45-minute race.
Luhr and his Penske teammate Romain Dumas of Basel, Switzerland, swapped the lead twice before contact and a tire puncture forced Luhr to pit, giving the lead to Dumas in the No. 7 Spyder. Luhr quickly regained second place and set a class race-lap record (1:13.774, 110.18 mph), but was unable to retake the lead. He and Maassen finished second.
"We had a great race," Maassen said. "I was a little bit nervous about the start, but it was very good because I pulled away right away. My biggest advantage before I pitted was 29 seconds to the competition, so I was feeling very confident. Then there was a yellow [caution period], so the others caught us and Lucas got hit. We had to replace a tire, so we dropped to second. Because we had to pit so early, we had to slow down to make it to the end with fuel."
Maassen will be chasing his first ALMS prototype victory in the next series race, scheduled for July 1 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn.
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