"Without a penalty and the late splash and dash, I think we had a chance," Werner said. "There was a little drop in performance late because I was pushing so hard. Ten laps before the end I went from just in front of the winning car to within striking distance. The pace was good so everything was quite OK. We saw today that anything can happen."
Corvette Racing's Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen won in GT1, coming from nearly a full lap back to beat the hard-luck duo of Corvette mates Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin. The duo won for the fourth time in five races and third time in a row. Each was victorious at Lime Rock for the first time.
"There was a time at the first caution where we got caught out behind the pace car. But then situations arose where we could get a splash at the end and get close again," O'Connell said. "It was a fun and exciting moment. I know people think we aren't racing anyone, but we are really going hard. We are definitely pushing as hard as we can. Things went our way this weekend."
"I was absolutely on par with the other car," Magnussen added. "When we started to race the other car, traffic played a big role. The tarmac here is very good and the Michelins were just as fast at the beginning as they were at the end."
O'Connell pitted late from the lead for a splash of cellulosic E85 and entered the track side-by-side with Beretta, who went wide and slightly off the track as O'Connell kept the lead.
Beretta eventually had to park his Corvette when the gearbox lost oil. As a result, O'Connell and Magnussen are 12 points up on their team-mates for the class championship. It's a stark contrast to last season when the duo won just three times and were second in the title chase.
"In the races last year, something silly always went wrong, just little things," O'Connell said. "The funny thing is that racing always goes in cycles. Our never-say-die attitude kept us in the race. We lost nearly a lap and sometimes you quit before knowing what things can happen. You have to attack every single lap."
