The Alley : April 2014 Long Beach

michelinalley.com

News From the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship - Long Beach 2014

The balancing act

Life’s a beach for BMW Bill

AUBERLEN OUT TO REPEAT HOME TOWN VICTORY

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Long Beach GT Set-up The 100-minute race on the 1.968-mile Long Beach Grand Prix street circuit should see a great GT fight. Literally every GT car here is a legitimate threat to win. The field is closely matched and qualifying in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class is always exceptionally tight. At Sebring, the top eight spots were within 3/10ths of a second on a two-minute lap. Track position and pit strategies are keys to success. Here is the GT breakdown by the staff of www.michelinalley.com.

The Factory Teams Porsche North America: The new Porsche North America factory team has already claimed GTLM victories in the first two events of the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The rear engine Porsche 911 RSR should be especially strong on turn-in and powerdown out of the slow corners and hairpin with drivers Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz aboard the #911 and Patrick Long and Michael Christensen driving the #912.

BMW Team RLL: The defending Long Beach GT champions scored the new BMW Z4 GTE’s first win here last year with a big 1-2 finish.

The Z4 pays a price on the high-speed circuits for all its down force, but that is a driver’s friend here. As an added bonus, the team can draw upon boss man Bobby Rahal’s IndyCar squad for the latest info on track conditions, car set-ups and always sharp race strategies.

Corvette Racing: The factory team’s sleek new Corvette C7.Rs have led impressively at both Daytona and Sebring before falling late to new car mechanical blues. Winners here at Long Beach in 2009 and 2012, expect the Corvette Nation to be strong with 2012 Long Beach winners and Series champions Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner aboard the #4 and the 2013 ALMS champs Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia in the #3. Corvette Racing has won 9 of the last 19 races. A victory here would raise the batting average to .500.

SRT Viper: The Bill Riley led factory SRT Motorsports team surprised fans with a pole performance and podium finish in the big iron’s first appearance here last year. Former Long Beach GT winner (2008) Dominik Farnbacher is teamed with Marc “The Goose” Goossens aboard the #91 while Californian Jonathan “JBom” Bomarito and Canada’s Kuno Wittmer have rapidly blossomed into front runners in the #93 SRT Viper GTS-R.

The Independents Risi Competizione Ferrari: Despite showing plenty of speed, the most successful independent GT team in recent years has been the hard luck entry in the first two races of 2014. With Ferrari factory drivers and world class prep and pit work, the Risi Ferrari 458 Italia is a major threat to upend the factories.

Falken: After skipping Daytona, the independent squad is quickly getting up to speed with its new Porsche 911 RSR. Porsche factory ace Wolf Henzler and rising star Bryan Sellers have enjoyed success on the streets in Baltimore and with IndyCar ace Derrick Walker’s veteran crew and pit calls, they will certainly be a factor here.

BMW’s BEACH BOY H

aving driven BMW cars in more races than any driver and raced and won all over the world as a senior factory driver for BMW, you may think that a race less than 20 minutes from his Redondo Beach home would not be all that important to Bill Auberlen. You would be very wrong.

Winning the GT class at the 2013 Grand Prix of Long Beach with Maxime Martin aboard his BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE was especially satisfying for Auberlen precisely for that reason.

Long Beach is his hometown race.

Where else could he indulge his other interests, including motorcycles, deep sea fishing and building record setting off-shore powerboats?

Having so many fans, friends and family nearby to help celebrate made the race, and the entire victory party, especially memorable.

“I brought the trophy with us to celebrate,” said Auberlen. “It sat right in the middle of the table and I believe everyone in the

restaurant came over to take a picture.”

Few had expected the new BMW Z4 GTE, appearing in just its second race in North America, to enjoy success so soon.

In fact, Auberlen’s hopes for victory seemed to evaporate early when codriver Maxime Martin required a pit stop and tire change just 25 minutes into the 120 minute event.

Auberlen hopped aboard and began his inspired climb back through the field, skipping a fresh set of MICHELIN® tires on his final stop to emerge with the victory.

BMW Team RLL backed up the first win for the new Michelin-BMW technical partnership with teammates Joey Hand and Dirk Müller finishing second.

“We followed a different tact and at the end we put both cars at the front of the field and the Z4 GTE into the history books with a 1-2 finish in only our second race,” said team leader Bobby Rahal.

“We were able to run more than one stint on the MICHELIN tires and that

was crucial to make our strategies work.

There is nothing like winning at Long Beach. Sebring is the big one, but Long Beach is not far behind in my book.”

But the start of the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season makes clear that Auberlen and his new co-driver, former DTM star Andy Priaulx, are already in championship form.

They arrive in Long Beach leading the TUDOR Championship GTLM driver standings on the strength of podium finishes in the first two races.

Now, with the longest events of the season, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Twelve Hours of Sebring behind them, the two have already had several long discussions regarding their approach for the season’s shortest race, 100 minutes at Long Beach.

But having finally taken the top step at Long Beach, Auberlen now knows how to find his way home to the top of the podium here.

And the only thing better than a home race party is one that comes after having won that day’s race.

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We may all T

he biggest winners at the Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach may not be the winning car and drivers, but rather the fans and the series itself.

Officials of the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, created by the merger of the rival American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, have methodically addressed scores of challenges, none more difficult than finding a way to produce equivalent performance from the disparate Prototype cars from each series into a single Prototype class.

Finding the precise “balance of performance” is like “comparing an apple and a banana,” International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) technical director Scot Elkins recently told www.Racer. com.

IMSA and Elkins are credited with success in establishing such a balance for the GT category, but the delicate balance can only be determined by acquiring and analyzing copious amounts of data from track, wind tunnel and dyno testing.

That process takes time and patience, the latter being an exceedingly rare commodity in a sports business filled with Type A personalities. It is a thankless and seemingly endless task.

Yet, the day may have arrived here in the form of the 1.968-mile Long Beach circuit.

Attempting to address a deficit of 6.2 seconds

at last year’s data grab at a special Road America doubleheader event, series organizers have helped the former GRAND-AM Daytona Prototype teams up their pace while pulling the reins on the ALMS based P2 cars.

There is no question that the DP teams have borne the brunt of increased costs. New bodywork, aerodynamic bits and the addition of paddle shifters and ceramic brakes have reportedly added approximately $400,000 to their budgets.

The season opener at the Rolex 24 at Daytona saw the DP cars, led by the Action Express team, holding the edge in qualifying and sweeping the top four spots in the race on a circuit for which they were specifically designed.

The lap times were much closer at the recent Twelve Hours of Sebring and some of the P2 cars actually led the race at various stages, with the DP based cars still appearing to enjoy a slight advantage on restarts and in traffic as Chip Ganassi Racing took the win with P2 cars finishing second, fourth and fifth.

Arriving in Long Beach for Round 3 of the TUDOR Championship, the tight street circuit may well see a slight shift in favor of the former P2 cars.

The former ALMS entrants should also enjoy a bit of a home court advantage. Revenge, like the race sponsor’s favorite beverage, is best served cold, so after the first two races of the 2014 TUDOR Championship, the Scott Sharp led P2 based

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be winners Extreme Speed Motorsports Honda entries are anxious to put a win on the board for their sponsor as a follow up to their class victory here in 2013. Sharp will co-drive the #1 with Ryan Dalziel. Teammates Johannes van Overbeek of Oakland and sponsor boss Ed Brown wheel the #2 car.

While the Muscle Milk Nissan/Oreca squad are sitting out the next two races preferring to test and develop their new package, the Nissan camp will be represented by the potent European-based Oak Racing with Olivier Pla and Columbia’s Gustavo Yacaman.

Mazda counters with a promising new SkyActive Diesel package for Sylvain Tremblay and Tom Long with a sister car for Tristan Nunez and Joel Miller. After concentrating on systems and reliability at the two long races that opened the season, expect Mazda to begin the transition to the speed game as the series turns west for the two shorter California rounds.

From the DP side of the house Ford joins the fray with its EcoBoost power for Michael Shank Racing with co-drivers John Pew and Oswaldo Negri.

Fresh from its milestone Ford victory at Sebring, Chip Ganassi Racing is always a pre-race favorite with California’s Scott Pruett teamed with Mexico’s Memo Rojas. Pruett, the most successful

driver in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series history, would like nothing better than to add a Long Beach win to his exhaustive resume.

Chevrolet has speed and the numbers in its favor with five Corvette DP entries, including the Rolex 24 at Daytona winning Action Express Racing. Former NASCAR tech ace Gary Nelson is the team tech boss. Co-drivers Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi have become a major force in the series. They are teamed at Action Express with Brian and Burt Frisselle.

Youth is the name of the game at Wayne Taylor Racing where young Jordan and Ricky Taylor are ultra-competitive as proven by their runners-up finish at Daytona.

The Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP features Corvette factory driver Richard Westbrook with Vancouver’s Michael Valiante.

Making the big step up to Prototypes for 2014 is the Marsh Racing Corvette DP of Escondido’s Boris Said co-driving with Eric Curran.

Balancing six different chassis and five different manufacturers as the new TUDOR Championship takes to the streets for the first time is a difficult and thankless task. But, if the GT balance is any indication, the streets of Long Beach will show just how well the series and the teams have done their homework and that means the fans will win.

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FAST FACT Watch us now on Fox The Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach can be seen from flag to flag on the Fox Sports 1 network. International fans will also be able to see the race live on IMSA.com.

Saturday, April 12 Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach 6pm-8pm (EDT): FOX Sports 1

Where’s my car?

You can understand if Risi Competizione Ferrari star, Giancarlo Fisichella, has been asking the Italian version of “dude, where’s my car?” after being left without a single race lap when his #62 Ferrari 458 Italia was taken out in crashes before his first stint at both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Ferrari fans are hoping Fisi finally gets in the race here at Long Beach.

2014 Schedule January 25-26

Rolex 24 at Daytona

March 15

Twelve Hours of Sebring

April 12

Long Beach (P and GTLM only)

May 4

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

May 31

The Raceway At Belle Isle Park (P, PC & GTD only)

June 7

Kansas Speedway (PC only)

June 29

Six Hours of The Glen

July 13

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

July 25

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

August 10

Road America

August 24

VIR (GTLM/GTD race; PC race)

September 20

Circuit of The Americas

October 4

Petit Le Mans

Cali Homeboys Californians will have plenty of drivers to cheer on in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race here at Long Beach. Sebring winner Scott Pruett of Auburn will be aboard the Ganassi Ford EcoBoost Prototype while defending Long Beach GT champ Bill Auberlen hails from Redondo Beach. SRT Viper’s Jonathan Bomarito calls Monterey home, while Extreme Speed Motorsports’ Johannes van Overbeek is from Oakland, Porsche North America’s Patrick Long is from Thousand Oaks and Marsh Racing’s Boris Said is from Escondido.

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“Now I’d like to introduce Corvette Racing’s 2013 GT champion Jan Magnussen, the second fastest Magnussen in the world”

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‘VETTE BOSS DOUG FEHAN INTRODUCES HIS DRIVER AT SEBRING WHILE JAN’s SON KEVIN MADE HIS F1 DEBUT IN AUSTRALIA

Doin the double

Friday, April 11, 2014

Chip Ganassi and BMW Team RLL’s Bobby Rahal will pull double duty this weekend racing in both the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and with their IndyCar teams in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Racer explodes If you didn’t snag an invite to their hottest party in town, you can still catch RACER magazine and www.racer.com where the traffic is exploding.

Marshall Pruett sees the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship manufacturers, teams, drivers and technology as a year-long all you can eat content buffet.

Time to tweet away Keep up with the latest news - here are some of the most popular Twitter accounts to follow: @michelinalley @michelin_sport @UnitedSportsCar @IMSA @IMSAlive @CorvetteRacing @TeamChevy @Porsche @PorscheNARacing

@RLLracing @BMWUSARacing @DriveSRT @TeamSRT @FerrariUSA @Risicomp @KrohnRacing @FIAWEC @24hoursoflemans

7:40 am - 9:40 am

Practice #1 - TUDOR (All Classes)

10:00 am - 10:45 am

Practice #1 - IndyCar

11:30 am - 12:00 pm

Practice - Pro/Celebrity

12:15 pm - 1:00 pm

Practice #1 – Indy Lights

2:00 pm - 2:45 pm

Practice #2 - IndyCar

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Qualifying - Pro/Celebrity

4:00 pm - 4:45 pm

Practice #1 – World Challenge

5:05 pm - 5:35 pm

Practice #2 - TUDOR (All Classes)

5:45 pm - 6:00 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (GTLM)

6:05 pm - 6:20 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR Championship (P)

7:00 pm - 7:45 pm

Practice - Super Drift

7:45 pm - 9:00 pm

Qualifying - Super Drift

Saturday, April 12, 2014 7:45 am - 8:15 am

Practice #2 – Indy Lights

10:00 am - 10:45 am

Practice #3 - IndyCar

11:00 am - 11:40 am

Qualifying – Indy Lights

11:05 am -11:50 am

TUDOR Autograph Session

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Race - Pro/Celebrity

1:15 pm - 2:25 pm

Qualifying - IndyCar (& Fast 6)

3:10 pm - 4:50 pm

Race - TUDOR United SportsCar Championship at Long Beach – 100 Minutes (Round 3)

5:15 pm - 5:45 pm

Qualifying – World Challenge

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Competition - Super Drift

Sunday, April 13, 2014 7:20 am - 7:40 am

Practice & Qualifying – Stadium Super Trucks

8:00 am - 8:15 am

Warm Up – World Challenge

9:00 am - 9:30 am

Warm Up - IndyCar

10:15 am - 11:15 am

Race – Indy Lights

12:00 pm - 12:20 pm

Race – Stadium Super Trucks

1:50 pm - 3:30 pm

IndyCar Race - Toyota GP of Long Beach

3:55 pm - 4:05 pm

Demonstration - Super Drift

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Race – World Challenge

PORSCHE

FAN FAVORITES

912

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Long/Christensen

Porsche North America • Porsche 911 RSR GT Le Mans Michelin

Smartphone scan code here

Take a look back at the Sebring victory by the No.912 Porsche North America entry.

HPD - HONDA

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Sharp/Dalziel Extreme Speed Motorsports • HPD ARX-03b Prototype Continental

MORGAN - NISSAN

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Pla/Yacaman Oak Racing • Morgan - Nissan Prototype Continental

RILEY - FORD

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Pew/Negri Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb/Agajanian • Riley Ford Prototype Continental

RILEY - FORD

Pruett/Rojas Chip Ganassi Racing • Riley Ford Prototype

CORVETTE

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Continental

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Magnussen/Garcia Corvette Racing • Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GT Le Mans Michelin

PORSCHE

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Henzler/Sellers Team Falken • Porsche 911 RSR GT Le Mans Falken

BMW

Auberlen/Priaulx BMW Team RLL • BMW Z4 GTE GT Le Mans

FERRARI

Fisichella/TBA Risi Competizione • Ferrari F458 Italia GT Le Mans

SRT - VIPER

Wittmer/Bomarito SRT Motorsports • SRT Viper GTS-R GT Le Mans

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Michelin

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Michelin

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Michelin

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