When the curtain came up on the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) event at Mosport (August 22-26) things were… well, wet.

Teams, drivers, and spectators had to contend with several stormy practice and qualifying sessions on Thursday and Friday Saturday wasn’t much better.

But in no way did that affect the entertainment value of what was happening on Mosport’s famed, high-speed road racing circuit. The Saturday crowd witnessed lots of great clashes in the Star Mazda, Formula BMW, and SPEED World Challenge GT races, and during AMLS qualifying, spectators got to see (and hear) the setting of a new overall track record by Dindo Capello in his Audi R10 TDI.

Sunday was glorious — completely dry — and contributed to one of the biggest one-day turnouts in Mosport’s history. In case you weren’t one of the thousands on hand, here is a short photo essay on some highlights of that super fast, super cool weekend.

New lap record

The fastest man ever around Mosport? That is now Dindo Capello, who piloted his Audi R10 TDI around the high-speed circuit in 1:05.829, for an average speed of 215.161 km/h 134.476 mph). He set the mark during Saturday’s qualifying session.

“During the first run I found the grip was very good,” noted Capello. “I made a good decision to come in and ask the engineers if I could swap the rear tires because I was having trouble in the really slow corner. Then when I went back out I tried hard and found I could push hard so I ran like hell and got a great lap.” That lap broke the previous record, which had stood for five years. That record was also accomplished by an Audi — the R8 driven by Frank Biela in August 2002.

Although they clearly had the fastest car, Capello and teammate Allan McNish did not win Sunday’s big race. With only three minutes remaining in the 2 hour, 40-minute race, transmission problems slowed the leading Audi down to the extent that it was passed by the LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas. But the Capello/McNish R10 finished second overall and first in the LMP1 class, to once again clinch the class championship for Audi Sport North America.

Penske Motorsport’s other Porsche Spyder (Massen/Briscoe) came third overall.

Fellows makes the scene

His first race at Mosport was in a borrowed Datsun 510. When Ron Fellows took to the Mosport track on August 26, 2007, he was strapped into a Corvette C6.R, entered by the factory Corvette Racing team. And that racecar, competing in the GT1 Class of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), was painted in Artic White, which celebrates and echoes the colours of the Ron Fellows ALMS GT1 Champion Corvette Z06, the first signed special edition in Corvette’s 54-year history.

So this boy from Mississauga has done good. The past GT1 champion is only running selected ALMS races this year. At the Mosport round he and teammate Andy Pilgrim finished third in the GT1 class, and 12th overall. (The only other GT1 entrants were the two other entries from Corvette Racing, which finished 10th and 11th overall.)

As per tradition, Fellows competed in the annual Canada versus the World road hockey game on pit road, for drivers and crewmembers.

Another overall win for Porsche

Penske Racing took home another outright win. Make that seven in row. And with its win at Mosport, the no. 7 Porsche RS Spyder of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas clinched another LMP2 championship for Penske Motorsports.

The heretofore dominant Audi R10s are clearly struggling to overcome a new ruling that decreased their fuel tanks to 81 litres (from 90).

Asked about the controversial ruling at a press conference at Mosport on Saturday, AMLS president Scott Atherton said decision came from the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), which overseas the Le Mans 24 Hours. He said the ACO wrote the rules on alternative fuels (like diesel), before the Audi’s diesel race cars were even built. The ACO determined that they now have a clearer understanding of how much energy is contained in a given fuel cell of diesel; and that information moved them to reduce Audi’s fuel cell size.

“I guess it’s both a blessing and a curse to have this series adhere to the Le Mans rules,” said Atherton.

Ferrari likes GT2

Racking up another win in the GT2 class was Risi Competizione’s Ferrari F430 GT piloted by Mika Salo and Jamie Melo.

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We team with Yokohama for tire give-a-way

We met lots of readers, and potential ones, during race weekend at our booth in the Mosport infield. Our friends at Yokohama Canada, who allowed us to host the Yokohama Tire Give-a-way, no doubt influenced the high number of people who dropped by. Booth visitors filled out ballots for a draw to win four Yokohama tires (any set worth up to $2,000). The lucky (and extremely enthusiastic winner) was Steven Bilenki of Kitchener, Ontario. We took this picture of him (centre) at Mosport, with Brad Sherwin of Yokohama Canada, moments after he received the news.