The annual ALMS visit to the streets of Long Beach for the 35th revival of racing gave the Autocon family an opportunity to celebrate a home town race.  Long Beach is just an hour from team headquarters in Escondido, California and it evoked big memories for team owner Michael Lewis. "I personally have many warm memories from my Trans-Am days all they way back to my dad taking me to the first races there," stated Lewis. "Protoypes are really challenged on courses similar to Long Beach but the place has so much history we continue to face the challenges and seek success."

Although Autocon took a break after Sebring and did not compete at St. Petersburg that did not mean it stood idle. In fact, the entire driver lineup for Autocon, owner Lewis, Bryan Willman, Chris McMurry and Tony Burgess spent time to test the car at Miller Motorsports Park, the scene of the next ALMS event in May. It was time and effort well spent as each driver exceeded their previous best times and the team in  general learned a great deal about the capabilities and needs of their, still new, Lola/AER.

"We made good progress at the test and it will help a great deal at the upcoming traditional tracks that suit prototypes such as Mosport and Road Atlanta. We are getting closer to realizing the full potential of our Lola and that bodes well for good results upcoming," continued Lewis.

Back at Long Beach things were looking very positive for the JeanRichard/Red Line Oil #12. Progress was made during every session and Lewis saved his best laps for qualifying and put the Autocon entry in P7 overall with a time of 1:16, fully three seconds faster than accomplished in 2008.

"We were very pleased with our preparation for Long Beach and had developed a strategy to achieve a podium finish," stated Lewis. "That enthusiasm lasted until around lap 22 when the engine went into the crapper, it just stopped performing well. We stopped in the pits and downloaded data and got it running but it never returned to full performance. Both Bryan and I soldiered on to finish in 4th in class but were severely disappointed not to achieve a podium."

Willman also saw a lost opportunity. "We had a great test to prepare for the remainder of the season and Mike qualified well. When we look at the lost time from the engine faltering during the event we see a podium opportunity missed. Very early on I learned to fear cars that are immune to engineering input. The other thing to fear is engines which do things that baffle the people who build them."

Next up for Autocon is the Larry Miller Grand Prix at Salt Lake City, May 15-17. Once again the driver lineup will be Michael Lewis and Bryan WIllman. Follow the action at www.americanlemans.com and SPEEDTV.