Alex Job Racing victory @ Sears Point

Sears Point Raceway
race, May 19, 2002

Alex Job Racing collected its first victory at Sears Point Raceway, finishing 
first and third in the GT class in Sunday's American Le Mans Series race on 
the 2.53-mile road course.  The race started in heavy rain, but drying track 
conditions ensured a fast finish.

Jörg Bergmeister started the No. 22 McKenna Xybernaut Porsche second in 
class, with his teammate Lucas Luhr third on the GT grid in the No. 23 car, 
also a Porsche 911 GT3 RS.  Both passed Kevin Buckler in the pole-sitting 
Racer's Group Porsche on the first green lap.

Luhr took the class lead from Bergmeister after 30 minutes of the two-hour 
45-minute race.  His co-driver Sascha Maassen took the wheel of the No. 23 
Porsche after 1h10 and held the lead, gaining a lap because of the car's 
position relative to the pace car during a yellow-flag caution period.  Luhr 
took over at the two-hour mark and drove the final stint to victory.

Bergmeister maintained second in class in the No. 22 Porsche until 1h10, then 
handed off to his co-driver Timo Bernhard.  Bernhard diced with The Racer's 
Group Porsche for the rest of the race, ultimately settling for third place.

Lucas Luhr:  "The beginning of the race was a little bit tough with the 
water, but thanks to Alex Job Racing, we had a fantastic car.  It's my first 
win at Sears Point, so I'm really happy about it.  At the end for us, 
everything was perfect."

Sascha Maassen:  "I had the easy part of the race.  Lucas had more problems 
in the rain, because everything was very close together, but once we got in 
the lead after the yellows, we controlled the race.  We already had one lap 
lead because of our luck with the yellows - we had the same luck in Sebring - 
but fortune is sometimes with the guys who work hard."

Jörg Bergmeister:  "Lucas and I went out on rain tires , we had a couple of 
overtakings together and it was good fun.  Then I came into the pits and Timo 
did a great job.  It wasn't as hard at the beginning - it actually was harder 
with the rain tires when the track was getting drier.  But the car was really 
perfect."

Timo Bernhard:  "I think it was quite a good race.  A podium is always good 
and now we got a few points.  It's our second race together and I think we 
can still improve.  At the end it was a tough race.  I caught up to the 
Buckler car, but he had more luck with traffic."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945