Chris Dyson started the Mazda MZR-R and settled into a comfortable top-three pace, handing the car over to Andy Meyrick an hour into the race. Meyrick maintained that competitive pace, matching the leader's lap times and led laps 97-113. A stop to replace a damaged nose at the three-hour mark put the car down a lap. Dyson took over the Dunlop-shod entry a half-hour later while in second place and moved the car forward so the team could take advantage of a full-course caution pit stop to get the car back on the lead lap four and a half hours into the race.
Smith got in the car on that stop and chased down Marino Franchitti in the Highcroft entry. He attacked the eighteen-second gap and passed Franchitti under braking going into turn one on lap183. He pitted seventeen laps latter, giving the lead back to the Highcroft car. Smith launched his second pursuit, but was not able to finish its second act when the car stopped on course twenty-five minutes from the end with mechanical problems.

"We won the pole yesterday, set fastest lap today and chased down and passed last year's champion car. We had the measure of the field today and it is tough not to come away with a win here. But we have to look on the bright side. We took away third place points with the ARCO car, Mazda MZR-R, this weekend and we continued our strong showing in the championship," commented Chris Dyson.