Repeat winners were the order of the day in the Michelin Green X Challenge during this past weekend’s action at Lexington’s Mid Ohio track.
Finishing second in the overall American Le Mans Series (ALMS) race by 0.506 seconds and taking their second Green X “race within a race” win were David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud in their E10-fueled HPD Highcroft Racing prototype.
The prototype category saw three different manufacturers, teams and fuels claim the top three positions as Brabham and Pagenaud’s E10-powered car prevailed over the E85R-fueled Intersport Lola and the overall ALMS-winning Mazda Lola of Dyson Racing, which was running with Isobutanol fuel.
The Highcroft crew did “a fantastic job in achieving great fuel economy without sacrificing performance,” says Pagenaud.
“The Michelin Green X Challenge is a great reward for the team and we are delighted to win it again,” he adds. “We’re now leading the series standings, which is great, and we’d love to win more of these in the last three races.”
There was also a repeat winner in the GT Category as the E85R-fueled Flying Lizard Porsche of Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long scored their second GT win of the season. The victory was the fifth of the 2010 season and third in the GT category for the Porsche marque. Ten of the top GT Class entrants – including the top Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Corvette teams – have all switched to E85R fuel in recent months.
“The competition for the Michelin Green X Challenge continues to increase, and development of new technologies and energies through ALMS competition continues to speed up as evidenced by the shift to E85R and the performance of the Isobutanol-fueled car here,” says Silvia Mammone, Michelin’s manager of motorsports.
For more information, visit www.michelinman.com.
