After qualifying on the pole and building an impressive early-race lead of nearly a minute, a broken clamp
and resulting water leak led to a long pit stop for repairs for the Muscle Milk Pickett team, which
eventually resumed the race four laps behind the leading Dyson Racing team of Chris Dyson and Guy
Smith, with just over three hours remaining in the four-hour contest.

It appeared an impossible deficit to overcome, but the team combined perfect pit strategy, two well-timed
full-course cautions, and lap-record pace driving from Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr to steadily erode the
leaders’ margin. At the two-hour mark, two laps had been made up, as starting driver Graf handed off to
Luhr, who would drive the remainder of the race.

With just over 40 minutes remaining, Luhr was back on the lead lap, but nearly a full lap behind Smith’s
Lola-Mazda. Despite contending with lapped cars and slower traffic, Luhr continued to close on Graf and
was just three-tenths of a second behind as the pair started their final lap. Luhr made several passing
attempts, briefly taking the lead entering the final corner, but Smith was better positioned for the final run
to the finish line to take the closest overall victory in American Le Mans Series history.

In LMP2, the two-car HPD-equipped Level 5 Motorsports team with drivers Scott Tucker, Christophe
Bouchut and Luis Diaz resumed its season-long battle with the Conquest Endurance Racing Morgan
Nissan of Martin Plowman and David Heinemeier Hansson, with all three taking turns at the front of the
field as they battled for the class victory.

But an unscheduled late-race pit stop by Bouchut, to repair left-rear suspension damage that most likely
was the result of contact with another car earlier in the race, dropped the #055 HPD ARX-03b of Bouchut
and Tucker to a third-place LMP2 finish. The team’s #95 entry of Diaz and Tucker was also brought to
the pits for a precautionary suspension inspection, and finished fourth in LMP2.
With just three races remaining in the 10-race 2012 season, HPD and its partner teams and drivers
continue to lead their respective championships. In LMP1, Graf and Luhr hold a 12-point lead over the
Dyson Racing duo of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith; while in LMP2, Bouchut and Tucker own a five-point
lead over Hansson and Plowman.
Having completed its annual Midwest swing, the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron
now heads to the East Coast for the Sept. 1 Grand Prix of Baltimore, the final street-circuit event of the
2012 season.
Lucas Luhr (#6 Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03a) started 1st, finished 2nd, recovered from a
four-lap deficit in the closest overall finish in American Le Mans Series history: “Once again our
HPD ARX-03a was super, super quick and Klaus [Graf, co-driver] did a brilliant job at the beginning. But
it’s just a little frustrating because we are all working so hard and to have a small piece fail like that and
cost us a possible victory is disappointing. That said, coming back from four laps down here at Road
America is just unreal, we did it at Lime Rock but this track is the longest on the schedule, it’s
unbelievable! The perfect story would have been to win the race but I have to congratulate Dyson
Racing. Guy Smith drove very well at the end and defended his position well. I tried to make a move in
Canada Corner but that didn’t work out and then I made a move in the last corner but I was so late on the
brakes I couldn’t get the car to rotate. However, considering that we came back from four laps down, it’s
a very good result and ‘thank you’ to the crew for getting us back out there. That was very important.
We’ve had a good season so far with five wins in a row and now a second place. We couldn’t really ask
for more.”