JJ Lehto made headlines and history at Portland International Raceway yesterday by winning the 50th American Le Mans Series race for Michelin.
Amazingly, Lehto also led the dominant tire manufacturer to victory in the first ever ALMS race at Sebring in 1999. The Finn drove with Tom Kristensen and Jorg Muller to win the Sebring event aboard a BMW prototype.
On Sunday he combined with reigning ALMS prototype champion Marco Werner to win their fourth consecutive race of the year – a record for the series. Throughout the six year history of the ALMS, Lehto has driven to 14 wins as part of Michelin's 50 victories - he also equalled Dindo Capello and Frank Biela's record of 14 outright victories in the ALMS.
In addition to his 14 prototype wins, Lehto also has four victories in the GT class as well. Every one of Lehto's victories has been earned on Michelin tires.
Throughout the history of the ALMS, Michelin has only failed to win on two occasions - recording 50 wins from 52 events - an amazing success rate of 96 per cent.
The victory for Lehto and Michelin was one of the hardest fought in the history of the championship. After qualifying third Lehto moved to second at the first turn and quickly motored into the lead on the opening lap.
However, disaster soon struck after 10 minutes when Lehto tangled with the J3 Racing Porsche of Tim Sugden. That was only the start of the dramas for the Champion Racing squad.
Fighting back in pursuit of the two Dyson Racing Lolas, Lehto caught Butch Leitzinger and forced his way past at the Festival Curves. The two cars touched with Leitzinger spinning off the circuit.
Lehto was forced to return to the pits after being given a stop-go penalty. His second fightback was then launched and he charged back to catch race leader Chris Dyson. This titanic battle provided fierce action for fans and SPEED Channel viewers.
While chasing Dyson, Lehto was tapped into a spin by the Corvette of Oliver Gavin at the action-packed Festival curves seconds after the two P1 cars had passed the slower GTS entry on the main straight..
Lehto dramas weren't over yet, however, with Butch Leitzinger attempting a pass on Lehto shortly after. The Dyson Lola made contact with the Champion Audi in traffic, forcing Lehto sideways.
This time, Leitzinger spun and was hit by the following Corvette of Gavin. The Lola driver was also forced to serve a stop-go penalty. Despite damage to the Audi's front bodywork, Lehto recovered to launch a final attack on Dyson and made the final pass for the lead around the outside of the first turn with one hour to go.
"This race was certainly tough. I made a few mistakes during the day but it was the best race I have had for a long long time," Lehto said.
In addition to Michelin's 50th American Le Mans Series victory, it has also won the past seven 24 Hours of Le Mans events.
"Today is certainly a very proud day for everybody at Michelin," said Amanda Head, Michelin's motorsport marketing manager.
"There have been hundreds of people involved in these 50 victories – the drivers, the teams, the tire engineers, designers and fitters - it has been a complete team effort. It is very fitting for JJ take our 50th victory today because he took our first win in 1999.
"It is a tremendous milestone for us today. But now we set out sights on winning the next 50. Our dedication to victory will continue at the next round of the championship in Mosport."
VICTORY EARNED THE HARD WAY ˆ
Michelin led 60 of the 141 laps at Portland International Raceway. JJ Lehto led the event for 10 laps, while Marco Werner was able to press through to victory for the final 50 laps.
Dating back to the series' inception in 1999, Michelin teams have led 8,760 out of a possible 9,259 laps (94%) in ALMS competition en route to winning 50 out of 52 races, including all six Twelve Hours of Sebring events. During the 2004 season, Michelin teams have led 711 of 887 laps in the ALMS.
Michelin also led every lap of the GTS and GT classes today.
ANOTHER SWEEP FOR MICHELIN ˆ
Michelin's success in all classes entered continued at Portland with Corvette and Porsche taking additional victories for the "Bibendum Boys".
Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell took their second win in a row for Corvette-Michelin and their fourth win of the year. Michelin and Corvette remain undefeated in the GTS class in 2004.
In GT, Romain Dumas and Mark Leib were victorious for Alex Job Racing. It was the first win for this new driver combination. Michelin has now won four of the five GT races contested in the ALMS this year - every win scored by a different driver combination.
Michelin tires were fitted to the first seven cars in the GT class. Michelin's dominance in international sportscar racing has been highlighted in 2004 by taking 14 class victories from the 15 classes entered this year in the American Le Mans Series.
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