BALTIMORE, MD  August 31, 2013 – As Rob Dyson explained to the Dyson Racing guests in the pits, “They are not all like this.”  In fact, very few.  A quick look through American Le Mans Series records shows only two races red flagged due to accidents in its fourteen year history: Mosport in 2010 and today’s race at Baltimore. At the end, the #16 Thetford/RACER Dyson Racing entry with Chris Dyson and Guy Smith finished a hard-fought second.

The Grand Prix of Baltimore got under way at 3:45.59 PM. At 3:46 PM, the red flag was thrown stopping the race.  Behind the starting front rows, eight cars had violently come together, totally blocking the race course.  It took more than an hour to clear the track before the race could resume.  It ran for an hour and fourteen minutes, making it the shortest race in ALMS history.  

Chris Dyson started the race (and stayed in the car for the hour as all remaining competitors were parked on the main straight during the clean-up). The first restart was waved off and at the second, Chris slotted in second behind the Muscle Milk entry. The race went yellow and Chris pitted on lap five for fuel and driver change with Guy Smith getting in the car. The #16 Lola Mazda had to then serve a stop and go penalty for jumping the start, which put it down to 21st.  Twenty laps later, Guy took the lead.

“It was a crazy race,” said Guy. “We had a good run but we got a penalty which dropped us out of contention at the restart, but we put our head down, ran hard and got a run on the Muscle Milk car and I was able to pass him. The car was good, but the last couple of laps, there was a lot of GT traffic and he was able to repass me. I hung on as best as I could, but did not get another opportunity to take back the lead, and we finished a couple seconds back.  We are here to win, but it is nice to be racing and pushing those guys and making them work for it.”

“We really picked up right where we left off at Lime Rock,” stated Chris. “We missed it a bit in qualifying yesterday but I was confident about our chances in the race.  We had what I would describe as an unnecessary penalty that we had to serve but at the end of the day, Guy gave it a great run at the end.  I think everyone knew we were here and we are back up front and that is what we came here to do.”

The eighth race of the ten-race ALMS season will be held at the Circuit of the Americas, the new world-class facility in Austin, Texas on September 21st, sharing   the weekend with the FIA World Endurance Championship.