Alex Job Racing - Miami win

Miami, Fla.
race, Oct. 5, 2002

championship win 

Alex Job Racing clinched the American Le Mans Series 2002 GT team 
championship with a one-two finish on the streets of Miami.  Lucas Luhr and 
Sascha Maassen won their sixth race of the season in the No. 23 McKenna 
Xybernaut Porsche.  Their teammates Jörg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard 
finished second in the No. 22 Porsche.

Luhr started the No. 23 Porsche from the GT pole, with Bergmeister second in 
the No. 22.  The team lost the class lead with early pitstops and driver 
changes to Maassen (23) and Bernhard (22), but Bernhard regained team honors 
with a move to the class lead just before the first hour of the two-hour 
45-minute race.  Quick work on a third pitstop put the No. 23 car ahead with 
Luhr at the wheel.  He and Bergmeister swapped the lead twice before a 
caution period left Bergmeister a lap down because of the safety car's 
position on track.

It was Maassen's 14th ALMS win, tying him with Olivier Beretta for most 
series victories.  With one race remaining, Luhr leads the GT driver 
standings by one point over Maassen.  The team's strategy is for Maassen to 
gain a bonus point for driving the most laps at the final race, ensuring a 
co-championship between the drivers.

Lucas Luhr  "I really enjoyed the battle with Jörg.  I'm sorry for him 
because he was really unlucky.  I was just able to pull away [from traffic] 
and he didn't.  That's why he lost a lap  - because I got a wave-by the pace 
car and he didn't.  But we saw each other again on the last couple of laps so 
it was still a good race."

Sascha Maassen  "I have to thank our team for great strategy, great pitstops 
and a great car.  It was not easy to survive this race and it was not easy to 
do what we planned to do.  I lost my championship lead, maybe this is a sad 
thing [he joked].  It all went to plan and the car is in one piece for 
Atlanta so I'm very happy."

Jörg Bergmeister  "The car was good, we had no problems at all, just the 
traffic like always.  I lost a position to Lucas then I got a big gap in 
traffic because one of the prototypes hit me in the back.  Bad luck again."

Timo Bernhard  "It's second again, like always this year.  But we have Road 
Atlanta next week and I think we will be competitive.  If we have a little 
bit of race luck, it will be okay."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945