Tequila Patrón ESM took the honours at the Motul Petit Le Mans last weekend, with the #2 trio of Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel and Brendon Hartley capitalising on late penalties from two of their main rivals to triumph in the ten-hour event.
The sister #22 machine of Johannes van Overbeek, Pipo Derani and Bruno Senna may have led more laps at Road Atlanta, but a penalty for avoidable contact with the #67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe saw them handed a drive-through penalty, while the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac was also penalised for forcing the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac off track.
This left the #2 machine at the front of the field, and team co-owner and driver Sharp was delighted with the victory, even if the penalty for the #22 ruined the opportunity of a one-two finish.
“What an amazing race,” said Sharp. “That was just a stellar performance for both cars at Tequila Patrón ESM. I can’t say enough. We had a really strong weekend.
“To look up at the board so many times to see our cars in first and second, was great. We had a lot of ups and downs on both ends near the end of the race. We had an alternator problem on our car, and so the No. 22 jumped us. They were strong and then at the end, we thought we were going to finish first and second.
“Unfortunately Pipo got the drive through penalty. They deserved to win, but I’m happy one of our cars still won.”
