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| | | By Jan Magnussen Presse - Jan Kaiser - 12-07-2010 | | |  | | Photo: Richard Prince. | |
Jan Magnussen and teammate Johnny O'Connell American finished in third place in the GT class in their Corvette GT.R at the fourth round of the American Le Mans Series that took place at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.
Johnny O'Connell started from the seventh starting position in the race, which was run Monday night Danish time. After having lost a position at the beginning O'Connell began to advance in the close-fought class. When he after about an hour's drive handed over the car to Jan Magnussen, he had worked his way up to third place. With 1 hour 45 minutes left Jan Magnussen ´hunted down the leading Ferrari #62 and BMW # 90. He caught the # 90 BMW in second place and began to add pressure. But at the Corvettes last pit stop, with just over half an hour to go, the team got a stop-go penalty for collision with an air hose. The penalty brought Magnussen's Corvette down to fifth place from which a new hunti was started. The # 45 Porsche had to pit, giving a place back and Magnussen put new pressure on BMW # 92 in third place. With only 9 minutes left of the race he made a trick overtaking move on BMW driver Dirk Muller, so he could regain third place and last place on the podium.
Corvette Racing's second car had a bad day and ended the race in tenth place. Corvette Racing has now run six races in the American Le Mans Series without victory, which is quite unheard of for the team that usually makes victories as a matter of fact. We have to go back to 1999-2000 to find a longer winless streak. Despite this Jan Magnussen and Johnny O'Connell is now the fifth in the GT championship, just 22 points behind the leading Ferrari. There are five remaining races in the championship.
"We have absolutely no luck on our side, but we can still finish on the podium, even so one can only imagine how strong we will be when we get a smooth run," said Jan Magnussen after the race. "That I again was the victim of a small mistake in the pits, that results in a stop-go is beyond comprehension. When I think of how rarely it has happened in my career and I this year has been exposed to errors in the pits four times, then it is impossible to believe. I could not see what was happening, but have been told that this was the compressed air hose, which lifts the car at the pitstop, I hit on the way out. My crew-chief pull it out of the car and throw it away, but it apparantly strikes the pit wall and ricochet off the wall at hits my rear tires when I leave the pits. And even if it is a misdemeanor, which means nothing, the rules are clear and we get a stop-go. After that it was all about to get as far forward as possible. I had a great duel with the BMW and tricks him to believe that I am trying an overtaking manouvre into the bend. He brakes late and exits off apex, so I can get inside and past in the next turn. Third place was little consolation on a day that could have brought a little more. I think it would have been difficult to challenge the winning Ferrari today, but we'll come back. "
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