"We made up about 30 seconds in the last part of the race," Luhr said. "If that's what it takes to win, then we do it. It's always really tough (with the slower cars and traffic). They are racing and we are racing. I saw two or three GT cars racing while I was trying to catch the leader. I can't waste time or tires and it's not easy to find the right way. We didn't touch anyone today so we did OK."
Intersport Racing's trio of Jon Field, Clint Field and Richard Berry placed third in P1 in their Lola B06/10-AER.
Patron Highcroft Racing's Brabham and Sharp won their fourth race of the season and third in four rounds. Brabham got by both Penske Racing's Romain Dumas and Lowe's Fernandez Racing's Adrian Fernandez to put the Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b in position to take advantage of de Ferran's misfortune.
Fernandez and Luis Diaz finished second in class with Penske's Sascha Maassen and Patrick Long placing third.
"How the race panned out I have no idea," Brabham said. "I didn't know Gil was leading when he ran out of fuel. My main concern was getting past Fernandez toward the end. I think he was trying to save fuel as well. It was fantastic racing. We were passing backward and forward. It was a joy to be a part of it."
Unlike their Acura counterparts at de Ferran Motorsports, the fuel strategy paid off for Patron Highcroft. Brabham drove the final hour on a tank of fuel as he had to balance conservation with the speed he needed to fight Dumas and Fernandez.
The victory also closed the gap in the class championship. The Porsche RS Spyder of Dumas and Timo Bernhard ran out of fuel on the last lap, meaning a sixth-place class finish. Brabham and Sharp trail the defending class champions by ten points.
"I think we've had the mindset to keep it going," Sharp said. "Everywhere we show up we're pretty competitive. We don't think there is a track where we don't think we have a chance of winning. The Porsches were getting some great fuel mileage and David's run really saved some fuel."
