The Porsche RS Spyder was back on the podium in its return to the American Le Mans Series after Team Cytosport Muscle Milk took second in the LMP2 class at Mid-Ohio.

Debuting the ex-Dyson Racing machine, Greg Pickett and Klaus Graf battled back from an early penalty to finish behind championship leaders Lowe's Fernandez Racing in a solid fourth place overall.

With the race going yellow on the first lap, the action only truly picked up during the lap ten restart with team owner Pickett running third in class and fifth overall. While putting in competitive lap times in moist conditions, Pickett made contact with a GT2 car and was sent to the penalty box for a 'stop and go' on lap 24, which dropped the car to fourth in LMP2.

Graf took the reigns of the Muscle Milk RS Spyder, running fifth in class and 15th overall but made up places to get ahead of Adrian Fernandez into second place.

Following his second and final pit stop, Graf was once again running third in class and eventually climbed back to second after a long battle with Marino Franchitti, although the gap to Fernandez out front was just too large – despite the Acura's advantage being brought down from 49 seconds to just ten at the finish.

"Obviously we are very pleased,” Pickett said. “I'm pleased for Porsche, I'm pleased for Michelin, I'm pleased for our brand Muscle Milk and all of our employees and friends and family and fans of both the brand and Porsche. I'm almost speechless, which is a little bit rare for me.

“Klaus did a spectacular job. He ran many, many laps as fast or faster than the leaders and after it was all said and done if it hadn't have been for my mistake in traffic by nudging a GT2 competitor which got me a penalty, that was really the difference in the race. You're bound to be a little bit rusty but all in all I'm just smiling. It's a good day."