Sometimes, even in the world of sports, you can have your cake and eat it too. Level 5 Motorsports owner-driver Scott Tucker came about as close as he could to that win-win scenario last weekend at the ALMS season-capping Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. Driving for both of Level 5's Honda prototypes, Tucker certainly couldn't win in each of them. But with a victory in the No. 055 LMP2 and a pole qualifying result in the No. 95, he couldn't have asked for much more.
The week before Petit Le Mans was a flurry of events, car modifications - and not much else for Level 5. The team received its second prototype just days before showing up at Road Atlanta, and the build still wasn't finished. Earlier in the season, Tucker had reserved the two cost-capped prototypes - a Honda Performance Development/Wirth Research collaboration - specifically in order to have them in time for Petit Le Mans. When the manufacturer in London didn't finish the second car in time, it was shipped to Atlanta where the Level 5 team worked tirelessly to finish the project on-site.
Aside from the stress of finishing the build, the team didn't see many other obstacles. The cars ran seamlessly. The first prototype already had a flawless performance under its hood after Tucker drove it to victory last month at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. As Petit testing week progressed, it became clear that the pristine run wasn't a fluke; these cars were good. Facing no mechanical issues and having to make very few adjustments for driver comfort, Level 5 focused on running their own race and preparing for the traffic the Petit Le Mans track is famous for.
Luis Diaz ended up clinching the pole position for Saturday's race in a dramatic Friday qualifying run, just edging out the usual field-dominating Nissan for the placement. Originally purchasing the two LMP2 cars with the Nissan performance in mind, Diaz's victory was exactly what Tucker and the team had been hoping for.
They got more of that on Saturday, when Tucker's No. 55, co-driven by Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa, held off the Signatech Oreca Nissan once again until the fifth hour, when the Nissan experienced mechanical problems and fell off the pace. From there, the Level 5 team needed only to maintain pace and avoid traffic traps and easily nabbed the victory by the 10th hour.
The victory meant Tucker and Bouchut won drivers' championships in the ALMS and the team garnered another ILMC point, valuable for the races in Italy and China later this month.
"This was a great victory for us," Tucker said. "With the brand new car practically running flawlessly, it was a great event for us. Christophe and I won drivers' championships, and it notches another big point for us in ILMC points."
More important than the car running well, perhaps, was simply running the car at all. The team cruised consistently for most of the second half of the race, making sure not to lose the lead or collide with traffic, but most of all taking the opportunity to get a feel for the new cars. On the final few laps, they finally opened up and tested the speed, resulting in an impressive finish. "With what we learned here, the car's going to improve every race, and every race is going to be important for us to get to know and improve the car," Barbosa said. "We're looking forward to going to Zhuhai and trying to repeat another victory."
Said Bouchut: "It was the first time when we were able to run the HPD against the Nissan. We knew that our car would be competitive, but at times we had to fight to keep the leading position, so as soon as they ran into a problem, we started to run easy with our car. Our car was fast and reliable, and we were able to go very fast at the end."
The week before Petit Le Mans was a flurry of events, car modifications - and not much else for Level 5. The team received its second prototype just days before showing up at Road Atlanta, and the build still wasn't finished. Earlier in the season, Tucker had reserved the two cost-capped prototypes - a Honda Performance Development/Wirth Research collaboration - specifically in order to have them in time for Petit Le Mans. When the manufacturer in London didn't finish the second car in time, it was shipped to Atlanta where the Level 5 team worked tirelessly to finish the project on-site.
Aside from the stress of finishing the build, the team didn't see many other obstacles. The cars ran seamlessly. The first prototype already had a flawless performance under its hood after Tucker drove it to victory last month at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. As Petit testing week progressed, it became clear that the pristine run wasn't a fluke; these cars were good. Facing no mechanical issues and having to make very few adjustments for driver comfort, Level 5 focused on running their own race and preparing for the traffic the Petit Le Mans track is famous for.
Luis Diaz ended up clinching the pole position for Saturday's race in a dramatic Friday qualifying run, just edging out the usual field-dominating Nissan for the placement. Originally purchasing the two LMP2 cars with the Nissan performance in mind, Diaz's victory was exactly what Tucker and the team had been hoping for.
They got more of that on Saturday, when Tucker's No. 55, co-driven by Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa, held off the Signatech Oreca Nissan once again until the fifth hour, when the Nissan experienced mechanical problems and fell off the pace. From there, the Level 5 team needed only to maintain pace and avoid traffic traps and easily nabbed the victory by the 10th hour.
The victory meant Tucker and Bouchut won drivers' championships in the ALMS and the team garnered another ILMC point, valuable for the races in Italy and China later this month.
"This was a great victory for us," Tucker said. "With the brand new car practically running flawlessly, it was a great event for us. Christophe and I won drivers' championships, and it notches another big point for us in ILMC points."
More important than the car running well, perhaps, was simply running the car at all. The team cruised consistently for most of the second half of the race, making sure not to lose the lead or collide with traffic, but most of all taking the opportunity to get a feel for the new cars. On the final few laps, they finally opened up and tested the speed, resulting in an impressive finish. "With what we learned here, the car's going to improve every race, and every race is going to be important for us to get to know and improve the car," Barbosa said. "We're looking forward to going to Zhuhai and trying to repeat another victory."
Said Bouchut: "It was the first time when we were able to run the HPD against the Nissan. We knew that our car would be competitive, but at times we had to fight to keep the leading position, so as soon as they ran into a problem, we started to run easy with our car. Our car was fast and reliable, and we were able to go very fast at the end."
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