Sascha Maassen - Mosport race

Sascha Maassen increased his lead in the American Le Mans Series LMP2 driver
championship standings with a second-place class finish at Mosport
International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ont., on Sept. 3. Maassen, of Raeren,
Belgium, finished behind his usual co-driver, Lucas Luhr of Monaco, so the
two are now tied in championship points, despite driving different cars for
the final four races this season.

 

The Mosport starting grid was determined by practice times when the
qualifying session was cancelled due to heavy rain. Maassen started the No.
6 Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder second on the LMP2 grid, based on the
car's fastest practice lap of one minute 7.382 seconds on the 2.459-mile
road course. 

 

He stopped for fuel 15 minutes into the two-hour 45-minute race and dropped
back to third in class, but regained second place just past the one-hour
mark. He took the class lead a few minutes later and led until 1h26, when he
pitted for a driver change. Timo Bernhard of Dittweiler, Germany, took over
and returned to the track second in class. He held the position to the
checkered flag.

 

"The track is incredible. It's the quickest track I've been on so far and
with this car, you have amazing speeds around the corners. It's almost
scary. There's not a lot of runoff and you cannot make a mistake; you have
to be really focused," Maassen said.

 

"After struggling with weather, the race was dry the whole time, but still
it was very cold. It was a trouble-free race for us and we finished one and
two – or two and one. Now Lucas and I are not driving together, but we're
still together in the points. If everything works according to plan and we
don't have any trouble with the car, hopefully we can be champions
together."

 

Maassen's next race will be the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton,
Ga., on Sept. 30.