Petit Le Mans is more than just a stop on the ALMS schedule. It is one of the three biggest sports car races in the world, joining Sebring and the granddaddy of them all, Le Mans. A quality field of North American entrants is usually supplemented by top European teams, and this year may have taken the cake with 14 prototypes on the starting grid and a record sell out of 90,000 rabid fans during the four-day weekend.

A terrific team effort for Autocon Motorsports was cut short just three hours into the ten hour event with the first engine failure of the season. The JeanRichard Lola EX257 had performed flawlessly for the three days of practice and qualifying, and was running as high as 6th position overall before the rare, but terminal engine failure on lap 127.

"Petit is a huge and very tough event," says team owner/driver Mike Lewis. "We were better prepared this year than ever before. Our Lola is perfectly-suited for this kind of high-speed track. The crew did a terrific job of preparing the car for this test of endurance and my co-drivers Bryan (Willman) and Chris (McMurry) did a great job in practice to sort out the handling and setup. We were in good shape for a great finish."
Like most teams, Autocon performed a customary engine change on Thursday to make sure it was running on fresh power. The engine performed well during qualifying as Lewis ran to a team and personal best 1:13.8 lap time, about one and half seconds quicker than any prior times recorded by the #12 car. That earned 10th spot on the starting grid.   

Lewis was tapped for the first stint come race day, and made an excellent start with his lap times quickly lowering to near-qualifying pace. “He held position, managed the complicated traffic created by 28 cars in four separated classes, and completed a brisk pit stop under yellow to get an early indication of tire wear,” says Engineer Bud Wilkinson.

"The car felt good and we were comfortably in the top ten early on, and that’s a good position to be in for such a long race. Ultimately one of the cars just ahead of us finished third overall," continues Lewis. "Things were looking very positive. Bryan then drove a stint that marked some of the best driving in his career. He very consistent and very clean, and turned in his best lap times during the race. We were nearing another pit stop for tires, fuel and driver change when Brian radioed in reporting bad engine noises and announcing his imminent arrival at the pits.”

"This is a tough one for us," said Willman. "The car was terrific and I felt very good with my driving. I got a lot of laps on the first day of practice and that track time really helped. I felt I was doing a good job and was going to hand off to Chris soon in a good position. Then it sounded like a header broke. It is a major disappointment to go from a predicted good team finish to a DNF but that is what we face in this arena of world class racing."

During the unscheduled pit stop the team strapped McMurry into the car, hoping for a rapid solution to the technical problem. But it was not to be as the car was pushed behind the wall for closer examination before the painful decision to withdraw from the event.

"It is difficult to get your arms around this kind of a race," says McMurry. "We were looking good. Mike and Bryan did exactly what was needed for a good result. The car was good all weekend but our normally-reliable AER motor let us down." The AER motor strapped to Highcroft Racing’s Lola EX257 was the highest finishing non-manufacturer motor. “Sometimes it is just luck of the draw,” concludes McMurry.

The final round of the 2006 American Le Mans Series is the Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca at 2:45 p.m. PDT on Saturday, October 21. SPEED will broadcast the race from 8 p.m. to midnight. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage, and IMSA Live Timing & Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.