LAKEVILLE, Conn. – June 30, 2006 – Romain Dumas from France broke the outright American Le Mans Series qualifying record by more than one second in his Penske Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 prototype Saturday enroute to the pole position for tomorrow’s New England Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.

Dumas, who will co-drive with Timo Bernhard from Germany, not only topped the LMP2 class, but outdistanced all the more powerful LMP1 race cars, including the Audi R8 – which qualified fourth - to sit on the overall pole for the race, breaking both the LMP2 and LMP1 qualifying records. Also breaking both records was the Porsche RS Spyder team car, driven by Lucas Luhr from Monaco. Luhr and Sascha Maassen from Belgium placed second in qualifying, and will start along side Bernhard/Dumas for tomorrow’s event, marking the first time Porsche has put two cars on the front row at an ALMS event.

“The Porsche factory engineers and Penske Motorsports crew have worked hard to improve the ride and suspension travel for the RS Spyder, and it handled the bumps and surface changes at this track very well today,“ said Dumas, who turned his fast lap on his third lap out.

“We had planned to do six laps. but after four fast laps, we decided to bring the car in. I think there is even more speed for the car here, but we will save it for the race,“ said Dumas, who won

the GT2 class here last year with Timo Bernhard in the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Five weeks ago at Mid-Ohio, Dumas/Bernhard were forced to the rear of the grid after pole-setting qualifying times because of a slight vehicle weight violation, but came back to score Porsche’s first overall win in the American Le Mans Series since its inception in 1999. Maassen/Luhr were second in Ohio, marking the first time that LMP2 cars have finished one-two overall in the history of the series.

Dyson Sets P1 Pole

The rain has receded here on the east coast and no water wings were required in today's American Le Mans qualifying at Lime Rock Park. James Weaver won the LMP1 pole, setting a class record in the process.

The Dyson team did a good job of maximizing the single day of practice and qualifying. "This was the best qualifying car I have had in a long time," commented Weaver. "The car was running fantastic. It's the best it's been all year. The new chicane is different. It will make overtaking a little more difficult. I just wish that foxy Porsche was a little slower!"

The five weeks since the Mid-Ohio race have been spent maximizing development time of the car. There is new front suspension geometry on the Lola B06/10, different front suspension mounting points and better drivability from the AER engine. The No. 16 Thetford/Norold car came off the truck quick with only minor set up tweaking needed. "The car feels quite good," said Butch Leitzinger. "There is a little bounciness in the rear yet and a little understeer but it is all manageable."

The #20 sister machine missed qualifying with mechanical issues that sidelined the car less than an hour before qualifying and could not be repaired in time. The Chris Dyson/Guy Smith car will start from the rear of the field in tomorrow's two hour and 45 minute race. "A shorter track like this with lots of traffic promotes aggressive driving and we will be able to bring the car to the front quickly," noted Chris Dyson. "This should be an interesting race. We always look forward to Lime Rock as it's our home race. We always do our best to put on a good show for our fans, and running up through the field will just add to that."

This weekend is the 21st birthday of Rob Dyson's debut of his Porsche 962 in the International Motorsports Association's top echelon GTP ranks here at Lime Rock in 1985. They won that first race and have accrued an additional fifty-one wins in the last two decades.

Audi R8 Starts its Final Race from Second Row

The Audi R8 of Dindo Capello (Italy) and Allan McNish (Scotland) will line-up on the second row of the grid for the fourth round of the American Le Mans Series at Lime Rock Park (US state of Connecticut) on Saturday 3:00 p.m. local time (9:00 p.m. German time).

Capello, who like McNish, has never previously raced on the eight-turn, 1.54-mile road course, set the fourth fastest time overall for Team of Audi Sport North America – second in the LM P1 category – a 46.965secs in Friday's 20-minute qualifying session for the "New England Grand Prix".

Capello and McNish, who had just two, one-hour practice sessions to acclimatise themselves with the undulating track prior to qualifying, are aiming to bring down the curtain on the Audi R8 in style and extend their lead in the LM P1 Drivers', Manufacturers' and Teams' Championship points advantage.

The 2hr 45mins Lime Rock race marks the Audi R8 sports-prototype's final race in the world having made its race début in March 2000. Audi Sport has created a unique design for the R8 with the names of all 18 drivers who have won a race with the R8 together with the names of the 23 race tracks worldwide on which a R8 has won. The Lime Rock circuit name already appears following wins in 2004 and '05 by Team ADT Champion Racing.

The new Audi R10 TDI – the first diesel-powered sports car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans – returns to American Le Mans Series action for the next race at Salt Lake City (15 July).

Turner Captures GT1 Pole

British driver Darren Turner drove the 007 Aston Martin DBR9 to pole position in GT1 today for Saturday's New England Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Turner's lap time of 50.272 seconds on the 1.45-mile track gave him his first pole in the American Le Mans Series.

Pedro Lamy qualified the 009 DBR9 in fourth position (50.905) after an incident near the end of the second practice session almost prevented him from qualifying. Lamy, in order to avoid another car, drove off course and came to rest in a deep puddle of water just 20 minutes before the start of the qualifying session. Officials towed the car back to the paddock where the team set about removing the mud and water that had filled the car. The damage was largely superficial and the team managed to get the car back on the track with 12 minutes of the qualifying session remaining.

Friday was the first time the team and the drivers had run at Lime Rock Park so it was a learning experience for everyone with all four of the Aston Martin Racing drivers using the two test sessions to familiarise themselves with the track.

Pole Position for Ferrari F430GT

It was the best of times at Lime Rock Park today, when a Ferrari 430GT, campaigned by R. Ferri Competizione with race support from Risi Competizione, took the GT2 pole for the American Le Mans Series New England Grand Prix which takes place tomorrow.

Toni Vilander, driving the red F430GT for the first time in America at a track he had never seen before, posted the quickest time of the day—and a new fastest lap—with a 53.322 lap of the 1.54 mile circuit. Vilander was followed by a very quick BMW E43 M3 which had its fastest time set by Joey Hand (53.713) with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR taking third position on the grid with a lap of 53.920 set by Lonnie Pechnik. Vilander has been paired with Ralf Kelleners, who won this race in 2004 for Risi Competizione, for the weekend, a combination that had some pundits in the paddock area predicting the pole for the F430GT. They were right.

The situation was not quite as positive for the Risi Competizione No. 62 F430GT. Marc Gene, a Ferrari factory test driver, was practicing during the final practice session before qualifying when the car hit the tire barrier, doing what appeared to be substantial damage to it. Ralf Kelleners though took one look at the 430GT as it was unloaded and said "it's just makeup…nothing to worry about."

The Risi Competizione technical team went to work immediately, first assessing the damage, and then initiating repairs to the body work. Managing Director Giuseppe Risi said, "There is no question that number 62 will be on the grid tomorrow. We missed qualifying, so we will have to earn our way to the front. But we will be there. Count on it."

The Ferrari effort at Lime Rock this weekend reunited Risi Competizione and R. Ferri Competizione in a program that puts two Ferrari F430GTs into the New England Grand Prix. Both cars are running on Michelin tires. For the first time this year, Ferrari has a double presence in the GT2 class, something that has been missing in 2006. For this race, Toni Vilander, from Finland, is paired with Ralf Kelleners, the German ace that has driven in recent years for Risi Competizione. Also new to the effort are a group of technicians, managers, and a strategist for the R. Ferri team, which is an effort also supported by Ferrari of Silicon Valley.