The Autocon lineup of owner/driver Mike Lewis, John Graham and Bryan Willman had an enthusiastic view of the season-ending ALMS event at the Monterey Sportscar Championship at Laguna Seca. Lewis had qualified the car in 10th position against a field augmented by several new prototype entrants from Europe. Lewis put in a lap of 1:17.859, which bode well for the four hour event.

Lewis also took the lead stint, but suffered some first lap shuffling and dropped a couple of positions. But in a four hour event the loss was meanlingless and Mike got on with regaining positions and moving up the ladder. Then on lap 8 the back of the JeanRichard #12 entry lit up with smoke. Observers and TV commentators prematurely diagnosed the smoke as an engine failure, but in fact it was a broken wishbone causing the car to settle on the right rear tire creating spectacular smoke.

"There was really no warning save for a few wiggles in the preceeding corners. It is the first such failure with our Lola," stated Lewis. "These pieces were just magna-flux inspected prior to Petit so it was a big surprise. I managed to nurse the car back to pit lane where the Autocon guys did a good job of replacing the wishbone in just over 20 minutes, quite a job for a small team crew. I am very proud of our group this weekend, actually this entire season. They got us back in the race and in another position to score points."

John Graham replaced Lewis after the repairs were completed and rejoined the field with a new goal, to finish and score points. Graham first joined Autocon at his home track of Mosport, but this stint enabled John to experience his first race laps in the JeanRichard Lola (since an accident before Graham's stint at Mosport prevented him from making a debut then). John completed a very long stint without incident while gaining experience for a fuller schedule in 2007. At the race's half way marker John yielded his seat to Bryan Willman during a full course yellow.

"Bryan was in a hard circumstance having the late stint," continued Lewis. "The Dunlops we use are great in long runs but take time to come up to optimal operating temp. Until they do, the car is very unstable and unforgiving. Bryan got caught out by this and spun early. The tires never really came in after that (due to the cool temperatures) and he never was able to approach the lap times he had been comfortably running all weekend. He never got into a rhythm which is a shame since we were looking to build on the big gains he had made at Petit before the engine meltdown. We took the decision to come in and change tires at which time I got in and finished the remaining 50 minutes of the race. Having only run the initial 15-20 minutes, it was nice to get back in and finish the last laps of the season."

The evening following the race marked the annual ALMS Awards Banquet and Autocon was awarded a hard-earned third place in the team championship for 2006 in the top level prototype division. Mike Lewis joined the factory Audi team and the long standing Dyson Racing on the season-ending podium ceremony.

"This is one of my biggest moments in racing," commented a proud Lewis. "We stepped up to a big challenge this year when we acquired the race-winning Lola and decided to mix it up with the big guys. All-in-all we expected more this season and we leave it with the sense there was more on the table to get. The three podiums, including an all-time Autocon best 2nd place at Lime Rock were certainly nice, but there were more opportunities that we didn't take proper advantage of.  The learning curve on the car was steep as expected, but the driving style required to make the EX257 really perform is different than anything I've ever been in and was a revelation that took a few races to get comfortable with. It’s a car that really requires it be driven hard 100% of the time or it will not perform.”

"We have already announced plans to expand to a two car team for 2007," continued Lewis. "We are very close to announcing a driver lineup and, at present it looks like we will be capable of more speed and more podiums next year. Two cars will be more work for sure but the advantages are great. We expect to see some young guns spend time with us and bring our performance to a new and higher level."

Autocon driver Chris McMurry was also honored at the banquet when he was recognized as one of the four finalists for the Founder's Cup. This prestigious award recognizes ontrack performance by drivers who are not full-time pro drivers.

"I am pretty proud to be identified at the top of this class," exclaimed McMurry. "Each year my goal is to better myself as a driver and I feel my year with Autocon helped me a lot. I am pleased with how the year has gone but I am also anxious to up my game for 2007. I can't wait for Sebring."