Ryan Lewis' sportscar career got off to a fantastic start last weekend when he finished third in the LMP1 class in Saturday's Acura Sports Car Challenge at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the latest round in the 2008 American Le Mans Series.
The British driver had qualified his Intersport Lola AER in fourth place but moved up a spot prior to the start when the team's sister car developed a problem and had to start from the pit lane.
Lewis got a clean start and did a professional job, lapping consistently in the top ten and staying out of trouble, before coming in for fresh tyres and fuel after 40 minutes.
He had a spin just over an hour into the race – caused by a slow puncture after touching the back of a GT2 car - but he gathered it up and continued on his way before pitting after one hour and 20 minutes to hand over in third place to his team-mate, John Faulkner.
"I got on the gas a little bit too early and touched him on the right rear wheel," Ryan explained. "Unfortunately, that developed into a slow puncture which caused me to spin in the Esses.
"We were coming up to put John in the car so I think we learned a lot with what time I had in the car."
As this was Lewis' first sportscar race it was the first time he has had to share his car - something that can take a bit of getting used to for single-seater drivers - and also the first time he has had to deal with so much traffic due to the different classes, but he took it in his stride and is already looking forward to his next race which takes place at Road America in three weeks' time.
"It was very busy out there but I was quite happy with the pace," he added. "I wish I could have been a little quicker but it's very, very busy.
"There are a lot of cars out there you have to worry about, but once you get into a rhythm everyone knows who's going to do what. I'm still learning a lot, but it's been a good weekend."
