Dirk Muller and Dominik Farnbacher were rewarded with their third victory of the season in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio on Saturday, the latest round in the American Le Mans Series.
The #71 Tafel/Bell Micro
Ferrari brought home the victory after being at or near the top of the GT2 time sheets all weekend, with Dominik Farnbacher, who qualified the car fourth, going on to set the fastest GT2 race time.
Farnbacher started and he set to work in his typical quiet but quick fashion keeping on the tail of the three leading GT2 cars.
Technical director Tony Dowe intuitively watched the calls from other teams on pit lane and played the strategy perfectly at the race's first of four caution periods.
Farnbacher entered pit lane in fourth-place handing the Bell Micro Ferrari over to Muller approximately one hour into the two hour and 45-minute race. The pit crew returned the #71 back on track quickly with Muller taking advantage of Dowe's race strategy to springboard from fourth into the race lead.
A misstep in the strategy of competitors, compounded by pit lane troubles, would further benefit Tafel/Bell Micro giving Muller a one lap lead he would never relinquish.
The #71 car eventually finished ninth overall in the four-class event. It was the eleventh career ALMS victory for Muller, the 2000 GT2 champion, and the third for Farnbacher.
With victories in 50 percent of the events this season, Farnbacher and Muller have now moved to within four points of the lead in the GT2 driver championship chase with five races remaining.
"I want to congratulate Dominik and the whole Tafel team. The strategy was great," said Muller. "There were two teams that were making mistakes with their strategy and we were right on with our strategy. At the end I just controlled it. I had a lap lead and I never pushed the car towards the end.
