Series Night of Champions report

SERIES CELEBRATES ON A NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS

Lowe's Fernandez Racing's Luis Diaz and Corvette Racing's Doug Fehan were the big winners Sunday and received highly sought after awards voted on by fans of the American Le Mans Series. Diaz, reigning LMP2 champion, received the Most Popular Driver Award while Fehan, Corvette Racing program manager, won his second straight From the Fans award.

Both honors, based on input from Series fans worldwide through americanlemans.com, were among many special honors presented at the Series' annual awards banquet in Monterey, Calif.

Diaz's award went along nicely with the LMP2 driver championship trophy he picked up later in the night alongside teammate/team owner Adrian Fernandez. Fehan was singled out by fans as being the person who made the greatest contribution to the Series and sports car racing in the past year.

Snow Racing's Melanie Snow, who won three Challenge class races and shared the driving title with husband Martin, won the 2009 Rookie of the Year award. Joel Feinberg, from Primetime Race Group, won the Founder's Cup as the leading gentleman driver in the championship.

Crew Chief of the Year awards went to Raffi Aroyan of Patron Highcroft Racing in LMP1, Lowe's Fernandez Racing's Tony Leith in LMP2, Dave Gahagan of Panoz Team PTG in GT2, and Todd Ketchum from Snow Racing in Challenge. The IMSA Pit Lane and Technical staffs voted for the awards.

Ed Brown, CEO of The Patron Spirits Company, received the second annual Promoter's Trophy for his efforts and those of Patron in the promotion and support of the American Le Mans Series. The premium spirits maker is a leading Series partner and also sponsor of the LMP1 championship-winning Patron Highcroft Racing effort.

2008 American Le Mans Series Award Winners

Most Popular Driver: Luis Diaz
From the Fans: Doug Fehan
Rookie of the Year: Melanie Snow
Founder's Cup: Joel Feinberg
Promoter's Trophy: Ed Brown
Crew Chief of the Year:
    Raffi Aroyan (LMP1),
    Tony Leith (LMP2), Dave Gahagan (GT2),
    Todd Ketchum (Challenge)
IMSA Cup:
    Patron Highcroft Racing (LMP1),
    Lowe's Fernandez Racing (LMP2),
    Flying Lizard Motorsports (GT2)

Manufacturer Champions

Tire: Michelin
GT2: Porsche
LMP2: Acura
LMP1: Acura

Team Champions

GT2:
    Flying Lizard Motorsports (1st)
    Risi Competizione (2nd)
    BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team (3rd)

LMP2:
    Lowe's Fernandez Racing (1st)
    Dyson Racing (2nd)

LMP1:
    Patron Highcroft Racing (1st)
    De Ferran Motorsports (2nd)
    Intersport Racing (3rd)

Driver Champions

Challenge:
    Martin Snow/Melanie Snow (1st)
    Nick Parker/Don Pickering/Charles Skerlong (2nd)
    Wolf Henzler (3rd)

GT2:
    Jorg Bergmeister/Patrick Long (1st)
    Pierre Kaffer/Jaime Melo (2nd)
    Wolf Henzler (3rd)

LMP2:
    Luis Diaz/Adrian Fernandez (1st)
    Marino Franchitti/Butch Leitzinger (2nd)
    Klaus Graf (3rd)

LMP1:
    David Brabham/Scott Sharp (1st)
    Gil de Ferran/Simon Pagenaud (2nd)
    Clint Field/Jon Field (3rd)

-credit: alms