After the disappointment of Petit Le Mans, Corsa Motorsport rebounded in style at Laguna Seca to secure its first LMP1 podium finish.

Johnny Mowlem and Stefan Johansson shared driving duties in the team's Zytek 07S and brought the car home in eleventh place overall and third in LMP1 behind the factory Audis, which took first and second overall.

Johansson drove the #48 entry to the front of the field during his stint, taking the class and overall lead about an hour and 50 minutes into the event, despite being tapped by an Audi in the early minutes of the race.

The team pitted during one of a number of caution periods for fuel, tyres and a driver change with Mowlem rejoining in twelfth overall after the engine failed to refire immediately because of a wiring problem.

Mowlem then focused on maintaining his position while conserving fuel and needed to make just a late fuel-only stop before bringing the car home to the flag for its first race finish.

“I'm delighted for Steve Pruitt and the entire Corsa Motorsports team, and Zytek Motorsport as well,” Mowlem said. “We raced to a good LMP1 podium. The car was very, very quick, especially early on when there was heat in the track.

“It was a little bit trickier as it got cooler. We were conserving fuel at the end and were able to go without making a splash at the end because of the crazy number of cautions.”

Team owner Pruitt was understandably pleased with the result and said he was hopeful of more strong performances when the team campaigns its hybrid powered machine in 2009.

“I give a lot of credit to the crew and drivers for their hard work this week,” he said. “It's been a dream of mine since getting involved in racing to compete for podiums, wins and championships, and this is just the beginning for Corsa Motorsports and Zytek; we see this as the first of many to come and look forward to incorporating Zytek's hybrid technology as we move forward.”