Intersport wins LMP2, remains title contender

BRASELTON - The LMP2 championship race remained alive in both the driver and team<br> category as Intersport Racing drivers Clint Field, Robin Liddell and Milka Duno took a class win in the Petit Le Mans and leader Miracle Motorsports scored no points due to mechanical failures that sidelined both of its cars.<br> <br> Field and Liddell won for the fifth time this season in Intersport's Lola B2K/40-Judd and closed to within 21 points of class driver points leader Ian James. James tried valiantly to repair the Miracle Courage C65-AER after it stopped on course due to an electrical problem, and managed to "bump" start the car to drive it back to the pits, but the team retired the car after finding the problem to be terminal for the race.<br> <br> James Gue and John Macaluso co-drove with James and had the Courage in the lead for much of the race before it retired after only 128 laps.<br> <br> "We had a reliable car, it's the strong point," said Field. "Robin and Milka did great jobs, but reliability was on our sides. We were pushed in the beginning. The car keeps running and running."<br> <br> "It was a great win and I'm extremely happy for myself and the team," said Liddell. "Road America was disappointing after we were<br> disqualified. We've kept the championship alive. The LMP2 cars can be light and problematic, our car was faultless. The engine didn't miss a beat, we were double-stinting tires. There was a better field in P2 than<br> all season, its too bad they weren't right there at the end.<br> <br> "We were pretty conservative," he said. "The nature of this track makes lapping difficult. I was using the car's ability to get through traffic while driving conservatively. I had a close call near the finish, there was a Porsche who didn't see me, it was close, but he didn't touch me. Sometimes its difficult to be too careful."<br> <br> Andy Lally, Ryan Eversley and Spencer Pumpelly finished second in the LMP2 class in the Marshall Cooke Racing Lola B2K/40-Millington, the only other P2 car running at the finish.

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