Jan Magnussen and Robin Liddell cruised to victory in the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, this weekend at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT. Eighty degree, mostly sunny weather had spectators heading for the shade, while drivers depended mightily on their cool suits to stay on form.

A late race pass by Jordan Taylor moved the #88 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro into second place, where he managed to stay in front of the #59 Brumos Porsche driven by Leh Keen and Andrew Davis. Taylor and co-driver, Bill Lester, won the most recent Rolex series race at Virginia International Raceway.

Photos: Grand Am

As easy as Magnussen made it look, there are always things to keep you distracted. “The car was very, very, very hot inside, but it’s funny how it feels OK when you’re in the lead. It’s a whole different thing if you’re really hot and in the back somewhere. We’ve had so many problems all year. Even though we had a huge lead at the end, I was still thinking in the closing laps, ‘What’s going to go wrong this time?'”

Sports car racing enters a busy period now, having completed Lime Rock, the troupe heads over to Watkins Glen, NY, for the 6-hour race there this coming weekend. Following that, for teams and drivers that have been invited, the 24 Hours of Le Mans follows on June 11 and 12th. The weekend’s schedule was similarly compacted, with two practice sessions, qualifying and the race all taking place on Monday.

Some uncertainty was evident for the Camaro teams coming into the Lime Rock weekend, as they had been assessed a 25-pound ‘Balance of Performance’ weight increase. Grand Am works tirelessly and thanklessly to maintain a level playing field among the diverse entrants. This avoids turning the competition into a spec series, which limits spectator appeal. The results from this weekend show that the weight increase did not seem to put the Camaros at a significant disadvantage.

Robin Liddell and Jan Magnussen were consistently fast in the in the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro, regardless of what the weather threw at them. Boris Said topped the second practice session in the #31 Whelen Engineering Corvette, just eight hundredths in front of Liddell. Said was enjoying his time at Lime Rock Park.

“This is a very unique track,” he explained. “It’s like an exotic European circuit unlike anything we have over here. This is a momentum track, with almost all right-hand turns and only one left-hander. Also, you have short lap times. It’s easy to get close here. It’s real tough to get that last tenth (of a second) out of the car.”

Dawn had brought a brief thunderstorm, with first practice starting under a light drizzle. Qualifying conditions were sunny and steamy as a result, but that didn’t hold anyone back. Robin Liddell earned his second career pole with a fastest lap of 55.351 seconds (97.559 mph). It was the third pole position this season for the #57 Camaro. Boris Said would start beside Liddell, after posting a lap of 55.402 (97.469 mph) in the #31 Corvette.

In a dramatic turnaround from last year, racing at the 1.53-mile, seven turn track was remarkably uneventful in terms of crashes and full course caution periods. Liddell and Said would swap lead several times early in the race, ultimately passing it to Jan Magnussen just shy of the 100-lap mark. By lap 137, Magnussen had built up enough of a lead to be able to pit and return to the track without giving up position.

From there, it was smooth sailing for the #57 Camaro GT.R, logging their first victory of the 2011 season, by a margin of almost 45 seconds. Jordan Taylor brought the #88 Autohaus Camaro home in second place, while Eric Curran and the #31 Corvette parked in 5th spot, after running as high as second late in the race. Olivier Gavin and Gunter Shaldach brought the #07 Banner Racing Camaro GT.R home in eighth place.

The next event in the Rolex Sports Car Series is Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, running June 3 – 4, 2011 in Watkins Glen, NY. The event will be broadcast later that day (4:30 pm) on Speed TV.