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You didn't think I would forget the awesomeness of the GT class, did you? Much like the 6 hour endurance race, the class left the best for last. There were also close races in the driver's and manufacturer's championships coming into the race weekend. The GT class has been a very competitive one this year. The class has seen wins from Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and Chevrolet – less than 40 points separate the 4 manufacturers in the manufacturer's championship points race. In the driver's championship chase Joey Hand & Dirk Mueller held a solid 25 point lead on the second place Corvette C6R team of Oliver Gavin & Jan Magnussen. The other BMW M3 team of Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner round out the top 3. The honorable mention in the standings is 4th place Team Falken which has pulled off 2 wins this season.
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| On a side note – Team Falken is developing R compound tires! The Falken Porsche used to run Dunlops, but in the pits we saw the tires they were using and they were indeed Falken race rubber. Unfortunately the Falken Porsche was rear ended early and was not able to complete the race. |
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| BMW Team RLL has yet to experience a win at Laguna Seca, but things were looking good for the team going into the race. This is Joey Hand's home track and he was able to drive the car to the poll position during qualifying – he qualified almost a full second faster than the second place Corvette C6R. |
As the final hour started winding down the top 3 positions were held by BMW, Ferrari and Porsche. With less than 10 minutes to go in the race things got really interesting. The Ferrari F458 Italia of Risi Competizione took the lead from the Flying Lizard Porsche of Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister and tried every trick in the book to keep it – including trying to bump the Lizards into the wall of the front straight away on the second to last lap of the race! On the next lap the Ferrari seemed to have willingly given up the position in order to avoid a harsher penalty for avoidable contact, but it was all for nothing. On the final lap, as the field was nearing the finish line, the Ferrari started starving for fuel and the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche was able to cruise to the checkered flag.
This was the first win of the season for the reigning champion Flying Lizard team and only the second podium finish of the year. The team is not in the hunt for any championships, but the win helped bring Porsche within 22 points of BMW for the manufacturer's championship.
The second place finish by Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand of BMW Team RLL helped them clinch the American Le Mans Series GT Driver championship. The team started strong this year with 3 consecutive wins and though they have yet to win another race, constant podium finishes helped keep them in the running. Thanks to this consistency the team has a commanding lead over Corvette Racing and were able to also secure the GT Team Championship
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| The Ferrari F458 of Risi Competizione technically crossed the finish line in third place, but were penalized 90 seconds for avoidable contact with the Flying Lizard Porsche on the front straight. The penalty dropped them down to sixth place. |
