SPECIAL TO THE PVT The Pahrump Valley-based Ferrari F430 GT started 16th overall in the American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park (Con.) Sunday, in a race in which the teaM was the defending class winners. Advertisement

When rain canceled qualifying at Lime Rock (Conn.) Park, the Pahrump Valley-based Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing team earned its third GT2 pole of the season by virtue of a quick lap in the morning's first practice.

The Ferrari F430 GT started 16^th overall in the American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix, a race in which they were the defending class winners. The pole position was the fifth front row starting effort of the six-event-old season.

Tomas Enge lapped the 1.54-mile, eight-turn facility in a track record-bettering time of 52.431 seconds and said, "The car is set up great for the race, we know this track is very tricky and slippery and is going to be all about not making any mistakes, not making any contact with other cars and having good strategy."

Enge's teammate, Darren Turner, also bettered the lap in his best dry time of 53.192 seconds. Turner began the race and was relieved by Enge at the midpoint of the race.

For most of the race, the Petersen/White Lightning team led the GT2 class but was forced into the pits for repairs because of contact with another car.

The extended pit stop relegated the team to a seventh-place finish and disappointment.

The team was particularly disappointed because it had dominated the weekend to that point in the race, leading each practice session and of course, claiming the pole.

Turner relinquished the lead at the first turn after the drop of the green flag but stayed close to the leader, often nose to tail. In the early going, the car was so quick that, for the fifth consecutive race, the Petersen team set the fastest GT2 class race lap.

In the process of turning that lap, Turner set a track record for the class at Lime Rock Park with a time of 53.045 seconds.

Twenty-five minutes into the event, Turner made contact with a slow-moving back-marker while attempting to overtake it which resulted in a spin off course. The spin cost the team about 15 seconds but they maintained their position in second place. A yellow flag tightened the gap between the two GT2 leaders and Turner pitted and turned the Ferrari F430 GT to his teammate, Enge.

When racing resumed, Enge went on the attack, taking the top spot with just 1 hour, 11 minutes remaining in the race. Several laps later, Enge encountered another back-marker but this time the results of the contact were severe. Both Enge and the other vehicle spun and sustained heavy damage to the left-front including the radiator, headlight assembly, nose, both mirrors and the front splitter (undertray).

Enge said it was "a very disappointing race.

"Definitely we had the fastest car in the race, but with such narrow and slippery track conditions, it was very difficult to overtake. That is why there were several contacts in the race. Unfortunately, one of the contacts ruined our race, which was a big shame for everybody on the team after such great work from them all weekend."

Dedicated work by the pit crew enabled the Ferrari F430 GT to wheel out of the pits just 23 minutes after limping in, albeit minus the nose assembly. The car was capable of regularly running in the 54-second range.

That strong showing elevated the White Lightning team to move to seventh in the GT2 class, 20^th overall, in the final standings.

Team manager Dale White praised the crew for their dedication.

"The crew did a great job of getting the car back on the track after the accident. Again, we were quick but it takes more than that in this class," said White. "We knew this race was going to be a tough one; you just put it all on the table and hope that the return outweighs the risk. Today, that was obviously not the case."

In explaining the contact with a slower car, Turner felt that Lady Luck proved to be a bigger foe than the competitors on the track.

"It proved to be a race of what could have been," said Turner. "The start was a little unlucky off the line, as the left lane was a little slow and allowed Melo to have the inside line for turn one.

"The two of us pulled away from the rest of the pack and we had a great pace but the traffic played a key part. When Tomas (Enge) got in the car he was right on the tail of Salo. It didn't take long to get passed into the lead. At that point, I really thought we were on for a second win but, unfortunately, that wasn't to be."

A Porsche RS Spyder, co-driven by Sascha Maassen and Ryan Briscoe for Penske Racing, won, completing 174 laps. The GT2 leader, a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, was co-driven by Johannes Van Overbeck and Jorg Bergmeister, for Flying Lizard Motorsports. The car completed 157 laps.

The American Le Mans Series moves on to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course at Lexington, Ohio, July 20-22 for the seventh round of the series.

Locally, condolences are in order for the Snowden family. Dan Snowden's father passed away while I was in Michigan because of the death of my mother-in-law.

I ran into Snowden at the Pahrump Nugget Sunday and he is bringing out not only his super stock but also his modified in the coming weeks of racing action at the Pahrump Valley Speedway.

He was leading the super stock division at Mohave Valley Raceway earlier in the season and still maintains the highest points average per race (48.67) of any of the other competitors.

Of the 10 races that the class has competed, Snowden has raced in six of them and is in eighth place.