Long Beach Repeat For Muscle Milk Pickett Racing

Fuel strategy won out at Long Beach on Saturday with Klaus Graf and Lucas
Luhr winning the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach for
the second straight season. The Muscle Milk Honda Performance Development
ARX-03a stopped twice during the race’s sole caution period and ran the final 56 minutes without another stop to win over Dyson Racing.

The Graf-Luhr pairing became the first to repeat at Long Beach in the ALMS’
six visits. Graf and Luhr now share the P1 championship lead with Chris Dyson
and Guy Smith. The race marked the end of a hectic weekend in which Friday’s
qualifying was washed out, and the first time the field saw a dry track came in the race.

“It was a really difficult week. We didn’t have any dry times,” said Luhr, now a
three-time winner at Long Beach. “We are driving a new car so we had no data
to use from previous races. We took our best guess, and the engineers and the
guys from Michelin did a perfect job. The tire choice was excellent for here. It all worked out well.

The Muscle Milk car lost the lead on its first pit stop when the team suspected
the car didn’t get a full fill of E10 – an issue that harkened back to the team’s
disastrous closing moments at Sebring when it lost the race due to fueling rig
problems.

Saturday’s curse turned out to be a blessing as the quick splash just before the
restart ensured the car could get to the end without fueling again.

“It was not the plan for the extra fuel,” Graf said. “We did a good driver change and usually by that time we are ready to go, but I’m not sure why it took so long.  We weren’t sure if we got a full fill, and with one yellow we knew it would be very tight. We just had to be sure we were safe on fuel until the end. I did a number of qualifying laps just to catch up to Chris. Once I was close to him we were side by side going down the front straightaway. I got just ahead of him, kept ahead, and maintained the lead.”

“Klaus and I had a chat about Sebring, I think we were almost over it, then we
saw a video about Sebring and it all came back to mind,” Luhr admitted. “The
Sebring is the Super Bowl of Sports Car racing. It still hurts, and at the end of the day you have to get over it. A good team comes back strong and that is what we did today. So hopefully we continue to win races the rest of the year.”

Muscle Milk Pickett Racing proved that clean, fast and efficient can coexist by
also claiming the Michelin Green X Challenge prototype victory. This was the
team’s second consecutive MGXC victory at Long Beach and ninth since the
conception of the challenge.

“HPD and Honda have proven to be a reliable and fuel efficient combination,”
said winning co-driver Klaus Graf. “We feel very strongly that in long-distance
races a big part of the race is to go the furthest, fastest and use the least amount
of energy. Future rules will change in that direction and we are pleased to
partner with HPD to have success both in the race and in the Michelin Green X
Challenge.”

Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin gave Corvette Racing its first victory at Long
Beach since 2009 and its first in ALMS since Mosport in July with an 8-second
victory over BMW Team RLL’s Joey Hand and Dirk Müller.

Milner won for the first time in ALMS and was part of a dynamic opening fight
between Corvette and BMW.

“I’ve had some great podiums and big heartbreaks after chances to win,” Milner
said. “With an unknown car from the rain sessions, it was great to get a win
that meant something. I learned a bit from last year where I had put myself in
bad situations so I focused on keeping out of them this year. It’s a big team win
today.”

Following the restart, it didn’t take Gavin long to track down Müller in the leading BMW M3 GT. The Englishman felt he had the superior car and with 46 minutes left, finally got the break he needed on the late part of a lap to get around Müller and drive away.

“It certainly was a great job from Corvette Racing putting together a great car
right off the truck,” Gavin said. “I learned a lot from Tommy. He was a bit of a
Guinea pig for me today. Seeing how the tires lasted, seeing it through the longer run. It was harder to get ahead of (Müller); I finally managed to squeeze through. Then it was about managing and saving the tires. The Michelin tire was great, I was pleased with the performance. It got a bit hairy, with extra traffic, and there were a lot of cars going off. It kept you on your toes. But I had enough gap to stay ahead of the BMW.”

After Hand and Mueller, Extreme Speed Motorsports’ Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek placed third in their Ferrari F458 Italia.

The ESM Ferrari earned its green stripes by claiming its second Michelin Green
X Challenge GT title. Sharp and van Overbeek drove their Ferrari to green victory after starting ninth in class.

Through the Green Racing initiatives in the ALMS, including the Michelin Green
X Challenge, oil consumption at the 2012 race at Long Beach was reduced by
38.8 percent compared to the all oil-based fuels used prior to 2005. For the 2012 ALMS season to date the amount of oil savings total 40.6 percent.

Level 5 Motorsports’ Christophe Bouchut took the P2 lead with six minutes left
as race-leader Martin Plowman had to pit late. Bouchut and Scott Tucker won in
class at Long Beach for the second straight year, this time in a HPD ARX-03b.
The duo recovered from an early-race spin after Tucker was hit from behind, and the HPD completed the race on a single stop.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Tucker said. “I was able to get the car turned
around. It didn’t have any damage so I kept it running. The balance came way
out, but we were able to stick with it and it eventually worked out for us.”

Bouchut ran the majority of his stint in second behind Plowman’s Morgan-Nissan. As was the case with the Muscle Milk entry, the earlier spin may have been a positive situation in the end. Level 5’s engineers told Bouchut to change the on-board fuel mapping to conserve fuel in hopes that the Frenchman would not need to pit again.

“Sometimes you need some (luck) to win, and this was a rich result for us here,”
Bouchut said. “I knew the (Conquest entry) needed to pit again. After just three
laps in my stint, I knew the times I was doing were not very good. I asked two or three times (for his engineers) to repeat (changing the fuel map) because I
knew I needed the power. In the end it was great because I finished the race on
reserve fuel. I thought I might have run out, but it was perfect.”

Level 5’s second entry – driven by Tucker and Luis Diaz – placed third in class.

CORE autosport won its second race of the season and consecutively at Long
Beach with Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel victorious in Prototype Challenge. The
CORE ORECA FLM09 was 19 seconds quicker on its lone pit stop than runner-
up Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, and that proved key to the outcome.

Dalziel and Memo Gidley dueled in the early part of their stint before the CORE
entry pulled away late and won by a lap.

“This was my first race when I moved to the US in 2002, and I bugged CORE
to let me race here and help Alex extend his lead in the championship,” Dalziel
beamed. “The pit stop was a great success. It was difficult staying ahead of
Memo. We tried to pace and save fuel. At the end they gave me the green light to extend it and I had a lot of fun putting it through the paces.”

Popow led in a rough-and-tumble opening stint that saw some of his closest
challengers fall by the wayside via spins or penalties. He had a close call himself
with a slower car that allowed Michael Guasch in the Muscle Milk car to take the
lead just before the caution.

“It was a little stressful for me first time driving at Long Beach,” said Popow, who increased his lead in the team championship. “(Friday) I just did three laps, and I said it would be a big challenge for me starting on pole. But from the first lap I started to pull away and then started to save fuel in the second half of my stint.”

CORE scored two podiums in class for the second straight race. Colin Braun and
Jon Bennett placed third in the sister entry.

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In GT Challenge, Green Hornet Racing’s Damien Faulkner drove a strong
second stint in a hard-fought battle with Alex Job Racing’s Leh Keen as the
Irishman and Peter LeSaffre won in class over Keen and Cooper MacNeil.
Faulkner broke away and finished 3.107 seconds ahead of Keen following a
tense series of laps following the race restart.

Both drivers took turns posting the fastest race lap for the class in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entries until Faulkner gained the upper hand with less than 20
minutes to go.

Like Tucker in P2, LeSaffre had a few dramatic moments in the opening part of
the race. He was part of a multi-car pileup on the opening laps that damaged the
Porsche’s splitter but had no other damage. The victory was his first in ALMS as
well as the first for Green Hornet.

“It was an interesting start,” LeSaffre said. “It was kind of tough driving without
the splitter, but we just fought and I handed it over to Damien. It was definitely
a street fight. I’m excited for the first victory. Hopefully there are a lot more to
come.”

Saturday’s win was Faulkner’s second in ALMS but first on a street course. The
Irishman said his hands felt like they had large blisters after his fight with Keen.
He had still more work to do after a relatively long stop under yellow to fix the
Porsche’s headlights that were damaged in LeSaffre’s incident.

“[LeSaffre] was unlucky getting into the Lotus,” Faulkner said. “Then when I got
in, the headlights didn’t work. When they came on and the officials released us, I was in fourth. I took my stint to take time picking off car after car after car.”

JDX Racing’s Michael Valiante and Chris Cumming finished third in class, the
team’s best finish in ALMS competition.

The American Le Mans Series next travels to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for
the third round of the 10-race championship. The six-hour American Le Mans
Monterey presented by Patrón is set for 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 12 from
the 2.238-mile circuit in Monterey, Calif. ESPN2 will air the race at 5 p.m. ET on
Sunday, May 13.

For more info, visit ALMS.com.

American Le Mans Series
Long Beach Street Circuit – Long Beach, CA
Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach – April 14, 2012

1. (2) Lucas Luhr, Germany; Klaus Graf, Germany; HPD ARX-03a Honda (1, P1),
86.
2. (1) Guy Smith, Beverley, UK; Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Lola B12/60
Mazda (2, P1), 86.
3. (8) Alex Popow; Ryan Dalziel, Scotland; Oreca FLM09 (3, PC), 85.
4. (11) Michael Guasch, Palo Alto, CA; Memo Gidley, San Rafael, CA; Oreca
FLM09 (4, PC), 84.
5. (10) Jon Bennett; Colin Braun, Ovalo, TX; Oreca FLM09 (5, PC), 84.
6. (18) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Oliver Gavin; Corvette C6-ZR1 (1, GT), 84.
7. (16) Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Dirk Mueller; BMW E92 M3 (2, GT), 84.
8. (24) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL;
Ferrari F458 Italia (3, GT), 84.
9. (17) Antonio Garcia; Jan Magnussen; Corvette C6-ZR1 (4, GT), 84.
10. (4) Scott Tucker; Christophe Bouchut, France; HPD ARX-03b Honda (5, P2),
83.
11. (27) Darren Turner; Adrian Fernandez; Aston Martin Vantage (6, GT), 83.
12. (23) Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Wolf Henzler; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7,
GT), 83.
13. (25) Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Jörg Bergmeister; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
(8, GT), 83.
14. (20) Bryce Miller, Hoboken, NJ; Sascha Maassen; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (9,
GT), 83.
15. (3) Michael Marsal; Eric Lux, Jacksonville, FL; Lola B11/66 Mazda (10, P1),
83.
16. (14) Lucas Downs, North Mankoto, MN; Kyle Marcelli; Oreca FLM09 (11,
PC), 83.
17. (6) David Heinemeier Hansson; Martin Plowman, Indianapolis, IN; Morgan/
Nissan (12, P2), 83.
18. (13) Duncan Ende, Los Angeles; Henri Richard; Oreca FLM09 (13, PC), 82.
19. (7) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Scott Tucker; HPD ARX-03b Honda (14, P2), 81.
20. (21) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Marco Holzer; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
(15, GT), 81.
21. (22) Ed Brown, Las Vegas, NV; Guy Cosmo, Long Island, NY; Ferrari F458
Italia (16, GT), 80.
22. (9) Rudy Junco Jr.; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Oreca FLM09 (17,
PC), 80.
23. (29) Peter LeSaffre, Rye, NH; Damien Faulkner; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (1,
GTC), 79.
24. (28) Cooper MacNeil; Leh Keen, Dublin, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (2,
GTC), 79.
25. (31) Chris Cumming, Vancouver, BC; Michael Valiante, Vancouver, BC;
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (3, GTC), 79.
26. (33) Alex Welch; James Sofronas, Newport Beach, CA; Porsche 911 GT3
Cup (4, GTC), 79.
27. (30) Emilio Di Guida; Spencer Pumpelly, Mason Neck, VA; Porsche 911 GT3
Cup (5, GTC), 77.
28. (32) Michael Aventatti; Bob Faieta, Tujunga, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (6,
GTC), 74.
29. (19) Jorg Muller, Germany; Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; BMW E92 M3 (18, GT), 71.
30. (12) Tomy Drissi, Hollywood, CA; Bruno Junqueira; Oreca FLM09 (19, PC),
69.
31. (26) Bill Sweedler, Westport, CT; Townsend Bell, Santa Monica, CA; Lotus
Evora/Cosworth (20, GT), 57.
32. (15) Tony Burgess, Canada; James Kovacic; Oreca FLM09 (21, PC), 35,
Accident.
33. (5) Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Jeroen Bleekemolen, Netherlands; Lola B11/80 HPD (22, P2), 1.