Rising to the Challenge
LEXINGTON, OH August 3, 2012 – Dyson Racing qualified second and third for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge, the sixth round of the ten-race American Le Mans Series. Chris Dyson turned a time seven tenths off pole on his second to last lap of qualifying in the #16 ModSpace Mazda entry. Eric Lux qualified third in the #20 Dyson Racing entry that he co-drives with Michael Marsal with a time a second and a half quicker than the car’s fastest lap in practice prior to qualifying.
Lux, who won here in GT in 2008, said that “last weekend we were saying how quickly the car came off the trailer and this weekend is more how racing usually goes: finding speed. The whole team worked hard yesterday and last night to find time in the car and today we made a number of changes in practice to find mechanical grip and it paid off for us just in time for qualifying. It is good to see the car at its potential.”
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“The car is greatly improved from Mosport two weeks ago,” noted Dyson. “Dunlop has worked hard to come up with a new rear tire construction for this race and it has been a large step forward. It is a credit to Peter Weston and our technical team and their hard work with a limited amount of track time. We have identified some issues and Guy Smith, myself and the team are feeling much better about the rest of the season.”
As the series enters the second half of the season, Rob Dyson commented on the season to date. “In true Dyson Racing fashion, we gathered up rapidly from day one as we faced the challenges of a new car and the ripple effects that we have been dealing with since. Our guys never cease to amaze me in how imaginative and how disciplined and how competent they are in problem solving and getting things done quickly in challenging circumstances. We still have a ways to go but everyone who works with the team, Dunlop, AER, Penske Shocks and Mazda, have been pulling together. We have given a good account of ourselves in the past couple races and with the car constantly improving, I think we have a good shot at it for the season.”
The team has historically done well at Mid-Ohio. They have three one-two finishes at Mid-Ohio: 2005, 1999, and 1998. They have won a total of four times and in the past fourteen Mid-Ohio races, Dyson Racing has three poles, three fastest laps and has finished on the class or overall podium eight times. Last year, Guy Smith won pole and led fifty-eight of ninety-six laps. In 2010, the #16 car of Dyson and Smith won the race, giving Mazda, Dunlop, and the biofuel isobutanol their first overall American Le Mans Series win.