News From The American Le Mans Series - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 2012
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SNAKEBITE FROM 1996 TO 2000, Viper proved to be one of the most successful racing cars in modern endurance sports car history. A dozen years later, SRT brings the Viper back to the American Le Mans Series stage here at Mid-Ohio, with a potent pair of 2013 SRT Viper GTS-R cars entered by a factory-backed SRT Viper Racing team. “Racing has been a significant part of the illustrious history of Viper not only with wins on the track, but also in the continued development of the street cars – and our new 2013 SRT Viper models are proof of those lessons learned,” said Ralph Gilles, President and CEO-Street and Racing Technology Brand and Motorsports, Chrysler Group LLC. The announcement of the return to ALMS competition with the SRT Viper GTS-R entries at the New York Auto Show in April was quickly followed by the completion of the first race cars and an aggressive series of on-track tests. “The decision to make our debut at Mid-Ohio is a result of the progress made with our testing program,” said
Gary Johnson, Road Racing Manager SRT Motorsports. SRT Motorsports partnered with Riley Technologies on the designand-build process of the new SRT Viper GTS-R. Riley also handles the day-to-day operations for the new team. SRT Motorsports is partnering with Roush Industries on the development of the 8L Viper V10 engine. Since its debut, Viper has a long history of success in competition. Viper has previously teamed with Michelin for a pair of ALMS GT titles, three GT-class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, three overall wins at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, five FIA GT World Championships and an overall win at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Viper withdrew from ALMS competition at the end of the 2000 ALMS season. Entering one of the most competitive classes in international motorsports is not for the faint of heart. Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and arch-rival Corvette have already claimed victories in 2012 ALMS
competition. They are joined by Lotus and periodic appearances by the Aston Martin factory team. “The new SRT Viper GTS-R represents a rebirth for us on the race track,” said Gilles. “Now the time has finally come to go head-to-head with the best sports car teams from around the world.” The SRT Viper driver line-up includes four-time ALMS race winner Dominik Farnbacher of Germany; 11-time starter at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Marc Goossens of Belgium; World Challenge and Dodge Viper ACR star Kuno Wittmer of Montreal; and Californian Tommy Kendall, a four-time Trans Am champion. IndyCar star Ryan Hunter-Reay will join the SRT Motorsports team for the longer races. “With our new race team and the launch of the GTS-R, we’re excited and proud to begin writing more chapters in the racing history of the Viper, beginning at Mid-Ohio,” said Beth Paretta, Director of Marketing and Operations–SRT Brand and Motorsports.
PC BATTLE OFFICIALS OF THE AMERICAN Le Mans Series are getting more than they expected when they announced plans for a Prototype Challenge class, (cleverly designated as “PC”) starting with the 2010 ALMS season. They envisioned a package featuring identical ORECA chassis, Chevrolet LS3 engines, and single specification MICHELIN® tires to attract new teams and help reduce costs. What they may not have expected is the level of talent and competition the PC class currently features. Former Indy Car star Bruno Junqueira, NASCAR’s Colin Braun and sports car aces Marino Franchitti, Ryan Dalziel, Butch Leitzinger and Kyle Marcelli are among the “pros” who have paired with a sportsman driver in 2012 ALMS PC competition. Given identical cars, the competition is always tight and PC
cars often take spots in the top-five or even top-three in the overall race. Part of that performance is due to the quality of the teams that the PC class has attracted. The combination of race proven cars, equipped with paddle shift transmissions and MICHELIN® tires has appealed to teams looking to get the most bang for their race buck without edging into the factory racing wars. Newcomers like CORE autosport, PR1 Mathiasen and Merchant Services Racing have joined teams migrating to PC from other classes like Dempsey Racing, Performance Tech Motorsport and Grand Prix of Mosport PC winner, Paul Gentilozzi’s RSR team. For most of the PC teams, the race boils down to two phases, the sportsman driver tries to gain an advantage of his direct rivals before
PC
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having the pros slug it out for the balance of the race, or the pros try to build a lead that their co-driver can maintain. To assure that the pros don’t gobble up all the seat time, the ALMS requires that each driver complete a minimum of 60 minutes of time during the two-hour 45 minute race. Jon Bennett’s CORE team has taken wins in four of the five races with Alex Popow claiming the first two rounds and Bennett and Colin Braun taking a pair. Junqueira and Tomy Drissi combined for the victory at Mosport, while Kyle Marcelli took the Lime Rock Park pole position for the Merchant Services team. Few expected that the competition in PC would become so intense that teams would seek out top international drivers and that; they in turn would welcome the opportunity.
E S I R P SUR
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RIVALRY
IT IS ONLY NATURAL that two of the greatest names in sports car competition today are fierce rivals. Porsche and Ferrari both have strong national cultures, passionate followings and stunning records of success in international competition. Each also reflects its native culture in music, art, language, foods and beautiful race cars. When an executive at one of the world’s most successful Ferrari teams, Houston-based Risi Competizione says “We are an Italian racing team,” the meaning is clear and the passion and emotion are obvious. Porsche takes a different approach. Porsche customers and fans are drawn to the engineering expertise that the company commits to its street cars. Porsche Motorsports is a department within the company’s Research and Development division. Porsche is committed to sports car racing as a research and development tool to improve its street cars and to be in the forefront in implementing new technology. It also uses racing to help recruit and train young engineers who work both on motorsports and street car programs. Each has enjoyed extended periods of great success and today the rivalry plays out at major events around the world, including here in the American Le Mans Series.
It was not always that way. Before 1960, Ferrari usually ran for overall race wins in major international events while Porsche’s smaller displacement race cars ran for class wins. That changed in 1960 when Porsche took the overall win at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, the first of a record 18 overall victories. Porsche also owns the overall victory record at Le Mans with 16 wins. Porsche cars were often just half the cost of Ferrari’s least expensive car, but the battle for supremacy at the track was on and some of the most famous cars in racing history were to follow. Today, each manufacturer sells a special version of its latest cars for sports car competition. ALMS fans have especially enjoyed the competition in recent years as the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and Ferrari 430GT and the new 458 Italia have battled each other and Corvette, BMW and other top makes. Porsche now has more than 100 class wins in ALMS events, including 12 overall race wins with the Porsche Penske RS Spyders. From 1999 to 2006, Porsche racked up 21 wins in the major races: Sebring, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans. Ferrari has enjoyed considerable success in recent years, taking nine major wins since 2007, including the GTE –Pro class honors at Le Mans this June.
RIVALRY
Sidelined this season, Risi Competizione Ferrari has scored 20 of Ferrari’s 28 wins in ALMS competition in addition to three victories at Le Mans. Each assigns factory drivers to top customer teams. Porsche places Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Marco Holzer with Flying Lizard and Wolf Henzler at Falken. Ferrari assigns its top shoes, like Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni, to AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance championship. Porsche takes a three-pronged approach in ALMS, led by stalwart Flying Lizard Motorsports and joined by the Falken and Paul Miller Racing entries. Ferrari counters in ALMS with Scott Sharp’s Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) Ferraris. Each has taken a recent win in 2012 ALMS competition, with the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche winning Lime Rock and ESM Ferrari at Mosport. Just hours before the team secured its first ALMS victory at Mosport, team owner Scott Sharp said: “I think it is hugely prestigious for us to be running Ferraris, especially when you think of their lineage and history. Hopefully, ESM makes a tiny contribution to that overall record.” Why did his team choose Ferrari? “Ferrari matched up so well with the premium brand of Tequila Patrón and that
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was one of the initial reasons we looked at Ferrari. Ferrari was very interested in trying, at the time, to get a second team. Now we find ourselves as the only Ferrari team in the American Le Mans Series,” said Sharp. How does he see the battle? “It is a challenge to be the only Ferraris here and certainly we’re up against full-fledged factory-backed efforts. We certainly have support from Ferrari, but I don’t think it is quite the same as what some of the other teams, the levels of support they have or all their resources behind them. We realize the slope of our hill is high but we work extremely hard. On top of all of that, thank goodness we’re on the best tires that are out there; otherwise it wouldn’t be worth showing up.” What does the future hold? New rules, new technologies and new cars, including Porsche’s return to Prototypes at Le Mans in 2014 will come, but fans hope the rivalry will continue for many, many years to come. So, can a Porsche fan also be a Ferrari fan? A Porsche loyalist says, “It is like the Red Sox and the Yankees -- a baseball fan can appreciate the way both teams play. You can appreciate both as a sports car racing fan, but a real fan of either team would not wear the other team’s shirt.” That spirit is a sign of a great rivalry.
6 DIJYANO?
I arranged to get a special birthday cream pie for Klaus, I had no idea I was going to get one next! Muscle Milk’s Lucas Luhr may have got his birthday teammate with a perfect pie to the face. He had no idea his birthday pie was coming next.
Dijyano
DID YOU KNOW
Me first!
Marino Franchitti is having a tough time getting to drive in the actual races this season. He skipped the early races to develop the Nissan DeltaWing. He tested at several tracks and practiced at Le Mans, but his first race stint was due to begin six hours into the race and the car was shoved into a wall after five. He returned to the ALMS at Mosport and was to take the handoff from PR1 Mathiasen’s Ken Dobson, but he too fell victim to a wrong place, wrong time moment. He may want to call shotgun for his next start.
OLD FRIENDS For the ALMS fans, there are plenty of familiar faces this weekend over in the IZOD IndyCar paddock. The likes of Simon Pagenaud and Ryan Briscoe have been full-time drivers in sportscars in the past while Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, JR Hildebrand, Marco Andretti and EJ Viso all have ALMS starts on their record. Hunter-Reay will be back for Petit Le Mans with the new SRT Viper squad.
Alley Live
www.michelinalley.com Follow a live Michelin Blog with features, race insights, interviews, videos, photos and highlights from all 2012 ALMS events.
Go go JVO! After celebrating his 100th ALMS start with the win at Mosport, Johannes van Overbeek, co-driver Scott Sharp and the Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari team head to Mid-Ohio looking to claim the team’s second win. JVO has the most ALMS wins of any active driver here at Mid-Ohio with three. There were three first-time ALMS winners at the Grand Prix of Mosport as Scott Sharp’s ESM Ferrari notched its first ALMS GT win thanks to Johannes van Overbeek’s last lap pass. Eric Bachelart’s Conquest Endurance also notched its first win in LMP2 after Martin Plowman and David Heinemeier Hansson prevailed in a race long battle with Level 5 Motorsports. Meanwhile, Paul Gentilozzi’s RSR team scored its first win in PC with Tomy Drissi and Bruno Junqueira.
Winning!
TK RETURNS Not only are fans looking forward to the debut of the new SRT Viper GTS-R this week, US racing legend Tommy Kendall recently announced on SPEED TV’s Wind Tunnel program that he was making a full-time comeback with the team. Welcome to the ALMS, Tommy.
The juggler If Derrick Walker pulls on a striped shirt and a whistle this weekend, you may want to follow him. In addition to leading the defending GT winning #17 Porsche, Walker manages the Ed Carpenter Racing IndyCar team and advises drivers Will Power and ex-ALMS champ Simon Pagenaud. When Will and Simon traded remarks at Toronto, DW advised them to get things sorted or he would hold a pow-wow here. Actually, a five-time Indy 500 winner as GM at Penske Racing, he won’t need the shirt or whistle.
NEWS
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The American Le Mans Series and ABC/ESPN continues its broadcast and digital package for the 2012 ALMS season which involves televising the world’s premier sports car series over several ESPN programming and media platforms, including ABC, ESPN2 and ESPN3.com. All ALMS races and qualifying sessions will be broadcast live and in their entirety on ESPN3 and for viewers outside the U.S., via ALMS.com.
Weekend Schedule Thursday, August 2, 2012 3:15 pm - 3:45 pm
Test Session - ALMS (GT/GTC)
3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
Test Session - ALMS (All Classes)
4:45 pm - 5:15 pm
Test Session - ALMS (P1/P2/PC)
Live streamed coverage of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course can be viewed on ESPN3.com with television coverage on ABC, Saturday, August 4 from 2:00 – 4:00 pm (ET). The full broadcast will be available on demand on ESPN3.com for three weeks and on AmericanLeMans. com after that.
Friday, August 3, 2012 8:00 am - 8:30 am
Practice #1 - USF2000
8:45 am - 9:45 am
Practice #1 - ALMS (All Classes)
10:00 am - 11:00 am Practice – World Challenge 11:15 pm - 12:15 pm Practice #2 - ALMS (All Classes) 12:25 pm - 12:40 pm Qualifying - ALMS (GTC) 12:40 pm - 12:55 pm Qualifying - ALMS (GT) 1:05 pm - 1:20 pm
Qualifying - ALMS (PC)
1:20 pm - 1:35 pm
Qualifying - ALMS (P1/P2)
2:00 pm - 2:45 pm
Practice #1 - IndyCar Group A
2:45 pm - 3:30 pm
Practice #2 - IndyCar Group B (All Cars)
3:45 pm - 4:15 pm
Practice #2 - USF2000
4:30 pm - 5:15 pm
Qualifying – World Challenge
Catch the ACTION
Saturday, August 4, 2012 8:00 am - 9:00 am
Practice #3 - IndyCar
9:20 am - 9:50 am
Warm Up - ALMS (All Classes)
10:10 am - 10:40 am Qualifying - USF2000 10:45 am - 11:30 am ALMS Autograph Session 11:00 am - 12:15 am Qualifying - IndyCar 1:05 pm - 3:50 pm
Race - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge for the ALMS (Round 5)
- 2 Hours 45 Minutes
4:25 pm - 4:55 pm
Race #1 - USF2000
5:10 pm - 6:20 pm
Race #1 – World Challenge
2012 ALMS Schedule 17 March
Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sebring, FL
14 April
Long Beach Grand Prix, CA
12 May
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA
7 July
Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT
22 July
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Canada
ALMS TV and Online Schedule
4 August
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH
Fri. August 3
18 August
Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI
ESPN3.com Live Qualifying (12:35 – 1:35 pm Eastern)
1 September
Baltimore Grand Prix, Baltimore, MD
Sat. August 4
ESPN3.com Live Race Coverage (12:45 – 4:00 pm Eastern)
15 September Virginia International Raceway, Danville, VA 20 October
Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta, GA
Sat. August 4 ABC
Live Televised Race Coverage
(2:00 - 4:00 pm Eastern)
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Graf/Luhr Michelin Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03a
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Dempsey/Foster Michelin Dempsey Racing Lola B12/87
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Junqueira/Drissi Michelin RSR Racing Oreca FLM09
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44 Neiman/Holzer Bergmeister/Long 45 Michelin Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
Click below to watch Dempsey Racing’s Patrick Dempsey talk about the actors in the past whose footsteps he is following.
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