Intersport Takes Momentum To Lime Rock Park

After leading 18 laps and enjoying a solid run at the Utah Grand Prix, Intersport Racing has their eye on a spot on the podium of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park July 23-24.

The Intersport Racing #37 Lenco Mobile Lola AER LMP car has led overall at Long Beach (Jon Field for 23 laps), Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (Clint Field for the first 38 laps) and the Utah Grand Prix (18 laps). After delivering quick times throughout the week in Utah, come race day the #37 Intersport car was at the top of its game. When the green flag dropped, Jon Field rocketed down the 3000 ft. front stretch to lead the field for the first 14 laps.

"The car was great all week," said Jon Field. "With the exception of Sebring where we didn't start, we've led every race this season. We finally got the reliability issues sorted out and the car is great."

Field got the early jump in the first segment at Utah and was able to pull away. While the turbo powered AER motor certainly showed its dominance down the front straights, it would be the right rear tire that would ultimately come into play.

"Our guys put a really great car under me at Utah" expressed Jon. "I was able to put it anywhere on the track. Where we had our challenge was getting the most from our tires. Lime Rock is the opposite of Miller. Where Miller was all left turns, Lime Rock is pretty much right hand turns all the way around. There's only one left. Fortunately there are only seven turns on the track, but again, we find ourselves having to really manage our tires."

Certainly traffic will play into everyone's game plan. Lime Rock, at just under 1.6 miles per lap, is the shortest circuit on the Series' schedule. Given the high grid counts witnessed in 2010, drivers can count on staying fairly busy. On one hand, the drivers will make the least amount of gear changes per lap than any other track. On the other hand, they'll do more laps than at any other track. However the math works out, make no mistake, the drivers will be busy.

Utah was not as kind to Kyle Marcelli and Brian Wong in Intersport's #89 Qucksilver ORECA FLM09 LMPC entry. About a quarter of the way through the race, Brian Wong reported the engine responding intermittently. He was able to re-fire the car and get it back around to the pits.

"I'm not sure what was going on," said Brian. "The motor just died on me. Once I got it restarted, I thought maybe it would be ok, though I'm sure I was just being optimistic. Then as soon as Kyle got in and went back to work, he began experiencing the same symptoms."

The car stopped out on track and finished its day completing 21 laps.

"We had a good car at Utah," said Kyle Marcelli. "We had the speed and the car handled exceptionally well. Hopefully we have the engine issue sorted out and we can show how competitive we are at Lime Rock. This should be a great track for the LMPC cars. I think it will really showcase their handling and power."

"I'm anxious to show what we can do," added Wong. "We've worked real hard and I'm confident everything is beginning to come together. I'm looking forward to sharing the #89 Quicksilver car with Kyle. I think his experience in prototypes and history working with Intersport will be a positive addition. Lime Rock will be a good event for us."

The team announced that Kyle Marcelli will copilot the #89 Quicksilver Oreca FLM09 LMPC car With Wong for the remainder of the 2010 season. The prototype stand-out piloted Intersports IMSA Lite entry for the 2009 season.

The American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix is the fifth round of the 2010 season. The two-hour, 45-minute race is set for 2:05 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 24 from Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. SPEED will air the race live at 2 p.m. ET. 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.

One of the founding teams of the American Le Mans Series, Intersport has established itself as a premier independent team in sports car racing. The Dublin, Ohio-based team has taken on mightiest of factory prototype teams in recent seasons and posted noteworthy class victories within that span including an LMP1 triumph at Detroit in 2008 and 2006 at Sebring. You can find out more about Intersport Racing at http://www.intersportracing.com, join our Facebook Fan Page or follow us on Twitter at Intersport37.