(Provided by Speed.com) It was one of the most bizarre finishes in ALMS history. Despite not taking the checkered flag, Green Earth Team Gunnar scored its second victory of the year in LMPC.

The Mark Shomann-engineered crew gambled with a one-stop strategy, hoping to stretch the fuel mileage of its Oreca FLM09 down to the very last drop of E10. The only problem was that Gunnar Jeannette ran out of fuel on the last lap, with about three-tenths of a mile to go.

With a one-lap lead, and the second-placed PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports machine of Alex Figge already taking the checkered flag behind the overall winner, Jeannette and co-driver Elton Julian were declared winners, amid mass confusion post-race.

Jeannette managed to get the G-Oil-sponsored car back to the pit lane on the starter motor, not knowing if he’d actually won the race or not. “Sitting in West Bend with the car on the starter in second gear, chugging along... I was fuming angry because I didn’t know we had done it,” he said. “I was actually in disbelief as I pulled into the pit lane, and they said, ‘You need to go to the podium because you won.’ I was like, ‘Are you sure we didn’t finish second?’ ‘No you won!’ I wasn’t going to argue with that!”

The win marked a superb comeback for the Florida-based team. After starting from the rear of the field after suffering gearbox problems in qualifying,which wasn’t solved until halfway through morning warm up, Julian put in a storming stint to move up to third by Lap 21.

“I was certain that we hadn’t won, thinking of ACO regulations with the way things work,” Julian said. “Mind you, I did lose a podium to a Penske Porsche in ’06 for the same reason, so I kind of feel good about getting it back!”

“We anticipated there being more yellows at the end, but unfortunately there wasn’t to give us that last quarter of a lap,” Jeannette explained of the strategy. “We stopped once and [Mark Shomann] was actually not telling me to conserve fuel because he was pretty confident we would run out right at the start/finish line. Unfortunately, I think he was three-tenths of a mile off. That’s pretty darn good fuel calculation.”

It was also a good points day for the team. The championship leading Level 5 Motorsports entry of Christophe Bouchut crashed out in warm-up, damaging the Oreca’s tub beyond on-site repair. While Scott Tucker still gained third-place points for his drive in the team’s sister No. 95 car, Jeannette has closed to within four points of the Level 5 owner/driver.