Level 5 Team Fights for Podium Finish at Road America

EKLHART LAKE, Wis. -- Championship teams know how to overcome adversity. Scott Tucker and the Level 5 Motorsports did that this weekend at Road America in the American Le Mans Series Time Warner Road Race Showcase.

After myriad engine problems hampered the Level 5 team's effort throughout the weekend, Tucker brought the No. 95 Microsoft Office 2010-sponsored ORECA FLM09 home in third place in the LMPC class Sunday. The finish allowed him to hold on to a four-point advantage over Gunnar Jeannette in the ALMS LMPC standings with two races remaining on the 2010 schedule.

A 20-second penalty for too many men over the wall during a pit stop with nearly an hour remaining in the 2-hour, 45-minute race also hurt the team's chances for a top-2 LMPC class finish. Jeannette won the LMPC class, taking the checkered flag in the No. 99 ORECA FLM09 by more than 21 seconds over Luis Diaz.

"You don't like to have penalties like that. But, in this case, our guys were just a bit overzealous," Level 5 Team Manager David Stone said. "The penalty really took us out of the opportunity to win.

"It was really incredible. It was a super human effort by those guys just to keep us in the hunt. They deserve a lot of credit and thanks for that."

Most of the Level 5 Motorsports crew went more than 38 hours without sleep after two engine failures on Friday and another on Saturday.

Andy Wallace started the race in the No. 95 ORECA FLM09 and ran up front in the LMPC class for several laps. An extended caution period with nearly an hour to go prompted the Level 5 team to pit, with Tucker taking over the seat.

It was during that pit stop that the Level 5 team was hit with the 20-second penalty. That allowed Jeannette to move into the lead and put Tucker back in fourth in the LMPC running order.

Tucker made up one spot prior to the checkered flag.

"We had a lot of things to overcome this weekend. It seemed like it was one thing or another," Tucker said. "Unfortunately, things like that happen. We hung in there and we came out of here still in the lead in the standings, and that's all that matters right now. We're still focused on winning a championship."

The No. 55 ORECA FLM09 encountered some tough luck Sunday. During the first half of the race, Tucker was involved in an accident that saw a GT car hit him from behind. The damage was too extensive for the Level 5 Motorsports team to repair.

Christophe Bouchut, co-driver of the No. 55 ORECA FLM09, did not get an opportunity to drive Sunday and didn't score any points.

Following this weekend's race, the American Le Mans Series visits Mosport Speedway in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, August 27-29, before the season finale 13th annual Petit Le Mans at Road America in Braselton, Georgia, September 29-October 2.

"We've got a lot of work to do before we get to Canada next week," Stone said. "We've got a wrecked car to repair before Wednesday, and we're going to have to thrash to get it done. We'll see what happens. Mosport is a fast track like Road America. It's going to be interesting to see what happens."

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