Sascha Maassen - Lime Rock podium

Sascha Maassen passed a lot of cars en route to a double podium finish in the July 1 American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. Maassen, of Raeren, Belgium, and Lucas Luhr, of Monaco, drove the No. 6 Penske Porsche RS Spyder to second in the LMP2 class, third overall.

Luhr qualified second in class and second overall with a lap time of 45.878 seconds (120.842 mph) on the 1.54-mile Lime Rock road course. Maassen drove the first race stint, but his charge stopped just five minutes into the two-hour 45-minute race when the Spyder was hit by a GT2-class Ferrari. The contact sent Maassen back to pit lane with two broken wheel rims and front bodywork damage.

After quick repairs, he returned to the track at the back of the field, three laps down. He set a blistering pace, running laps two seconds faster than the leaders, to regain second place in LMP2 and third overall after 95 minutes. Luhr took over just before the two-hour mark and held the position to the checkered flag.

"I tried to overtake a GT2 car and when I made my commitment inside, he came from the outside and closed the door, but quite heavily. I expected this would be the end of the race because it was really a hard hit," Maassen said. "After that, the car was not the same. Some of the suspension was bent and we had some vibrations, but we could continue. That was good. We managed to come back from last to third, which was a great success considering what happened in the first stages of the race."

Maassen's next race will be at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, on July 15.