Corvette Racing Sweeps the Streets of Baltimore

For the second year in a row the American Le Mans Race in Baltimore turned into a demolition derby on the first lap with massive crashes before the race could even get underway.

Video of Start of Race

Both Corvettes escaped the ruckus and survived to finish 1st and 2nd. Jan Magnussen made a bold move after the final restart and jumped ahead of two cars to take first place.  Corvette Racing improved on their #2 and #3 finishes in the last race at Road America to finish P1 and P2 and lead this season's series in all categories!

The Vipers, despite two great races at Mosport and Road America, did not perform as well as either the BMWs or the Corvettes this time out.  No other cars in the GT class finished the race -- all the Ferrari and Porsche entries did not finish.  With seven races down and three to go, Team Corvette is leading in the Driver, Class (GT), and Manufacturer categories.  Corvette has 4 1st place finishes, BMW has 2 and Viper has 1.  I'm hoping for a "triple crown" like again this year like last year!

At the request of various of my Corvette Racing Fans, I have simplified the traditional graph to show only the points of the manufacturers (rather than all the cars).  See below:




And here are quotes form the sports writers of ALMS and NBC Sports:

ALMS:  Jan Magnussen made a third-to-first move to take the GT lead shortly after the final restart, and held off teammate Tommy Milner by .457 seconds in a 1-2 finish for Corvette Racing. Magnussen and Antonio Garcia won their second race of the season in the No. 3 CompuwareC6 ZR1, over the No. 4 entry of Milner and Oliver Gavin. Dirk Mueller was leading on the restart following the third caution in the No. 55 Team RLL Crowne Plaza BMW Z4 GTE, with Magnussen passing both Milner and Mueller to take the lead.

NBC Sports:  GT runners finished fifth through ninth overall, with the two Corvettes leading the two BMW Team RLL Z4s and the No. 91 SRT Viper. It was a great battle between the Corvettes and the BMWs all day and the winners, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, took their second win of the year. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner’s No. 4 Corvette was second with the No. 56 of Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand third. Corvette actually led overall for just more than a lap but lost the lead as the P1 leaders cycled through.