The Alley :: Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2014

News From the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship - Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2014

michelinalley.com

Wide open battle in Indy

Portrait of a Porsche Pro

FROM PORSCHE JUNIOR TO PORSCHE VETERAN

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atrick Long joined the Porsche Junior program in 2003 as a freckle faced youngster, so it seems impossible that Long, now 32, has been with Porsche for a dozen years and is the senior Porsche factory American driver in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Beginning his racing career in karts at age eight, Long became a big winner in karting and embarked on a plan that took him to Europe in 1999 at the age of 18. He progressed through the single-seater ranks from the British Formula Ford Zetec series and was one of six finalists in the Red Bull F1 driver search.

That caught the attention of Porsche and he officially joined the factory Junior program in 2003.

Since joining Porsche, Long has grown from youngster to distinguished champion. Along the way, his path has included GT victories in the four major endurance events worldwide; the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Twelve Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans.

He also has three American Le Mans Series GT driver championships (all co-driving with Joerg Bergmeister), a pair of wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and two wins at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, the most recent coming this spring.

Now, just as he learned the Porsche way by watching and listening to factory stars like Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr, Timo Bernhard and Joerg Bergmeister, Long helps school young Michael Christensen, 23, of Denmark, in all things Porsche.

Being a Porsche factory driver requires far more than just jumping into the seat of a race car and being quick. Speed is a given. Technical feedback, the ability to work with co-drivers, engineers and crews, and facing the ever changing demands of competition in races that range from two to 24 hours is demanding. So are the appearances for media, sponsors and team activities as drivers become ambassadors for their respective marques.

“My first year I was under Joerg and Sascha and then the second year I was full time with Joerg,”said Long. “The jump

is not as extreme now. The Juniors graduate through a welldesigned program. Michael has already been to Sebring and Daytona, so the learning curve now is more about learning to work with a bigger team and all the resources.”

The debut in 2014 of an official Porsche North America factory team in the TUDOR Championship is evidence of the fierce competition in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, where Porsche takes on the factory squads from Corvette Racing, BMW Team RLL, SRT Dodge Viper and the lead Risi Competizione Ferrari team.

“Ten years ago, Porsche was less aggressive,” said Long. “The Porsche GT program was mostly customer teams. Now it is full on factory racing.”

And Porsche wasted no time in making its mark as the Porsche 911 RSR factory team debuted with victories at both the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona for Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, where Long and co-driver Michael Christensen took the victory.

Long is not surprised by the early success of the new Porsche North America factory team.

“The cars had a full season of development in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and finished 1-2 at Le Mans in 2013, so we knew the cars were good. The bigger challenge was in how quickly the Porsche group and the CORE autosport team came together,” said Long, who drove with the Rock Hill, SC based CORE team in 2013.

Racing sports cars in endurance competition means a new mind set for Christensen after driving single-seater cars in shorter races.

“It is a completely new environment,” said Christensen, 23, who is visiting most tracks for the first time. “For me, everything is new. New team. New races. New tracks and a new championship. The biggest adjustment is learning how to work here, working with the team and the engineers.”

“The feeling is very relaxed compared to Europe,” said Christensen ‘but the races are intense.” And so is Patrick.

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eading to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard Grand Prix , the only thing certain is that it is anyone’s race.

In the first seven races of the inaugural TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season there have been six different teams and four manufacturers claiming overall race victories.

The 2014 season opening Rolex 24 at Daytona saw the Action Express Corvette DP with Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa as the combination to beat with Sebastian Bourdais.

Chip Ganassi Racing and Ford EcoBoost power struck back at the Twelve Hours of Sebring as Scott

Pruett and Memo Rojas (with Marino Franchitti) delivered the first win for Ford and then immediately backed that up with a win at Long Beach.

But, just when it seemed that the DP based cars from the former GRAND-AM Series had everyone covered, Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown proved the P2 cars from the former American Le Mans Series were not going down without a fight, taking the pole and victory for Extreme Speed Motorsports and Honda at Monterey.

The next stop, Detroit’s Belle Isle Park saw Wayne Taylor Racing’s Jordan and Ricky Taylor deliver the hometown victory for Chevrolet at Detroit.

That was soon followed by another Chevrolet win, this time at Watkins Glen

where Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante came through to victory for the Spirit of Daytona team. Having taken the pole and led much of the race at WGI, the Oak Racing Nissan P2 was not be denied in Canada, winning from the pole as Gustavo Yacaman and Olivier Pla took a first win for Nissan at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

In just seven races, six different teams and four manufacturers have been atop the podium. A victory here would be the perfect reward for 2013 winner Ryan Dalziel, now with Scott Sharp at ESMHonda, Michael Shank’s Ford EcoBoost team or the new Mazda Prototype, all of whom would be only too happy to celebrate their first wins of the season with a kiss of the bricks.

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eanwhile in the fiercely contested GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, it has been a surprisingly different story.

The big factory teams from Corvette Racing, BMW Team RLL, Porsche North America and SRT Dodge Viper and top independents Risi Competizione Ferrari and Falken Porsche have all been extremely well matched, but just Porsche and Corvette have led the champagne spraying.

The new Porsche North America factory team prevailed in the opening acts at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz (with Patrick Pilet) taking the honors while teammates Patrick Long and Michael Christensen (with Joerg Bergmeister) prevailed at Sebring.

At that point, the 2013 ALMS GT champions Corvette Racing and Antonio Garcia and “the world’s second fastest Magnussen,” Jan (father of McLaren F1 rookie Kevin)

T took over, reeling off four consecutive victories at Long Beach, Monterey, Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with the new Corvette C7.R. BMW Team RLL took podiums early in the season and looks to leverage the Bobby Rahal led team’s experience at Indianapolis to good advantage for Bill Auberlen with Andy Priaulx and Dirk Mueller with John Edwards.

The Dodge Vipers from SRT have been very quick, finishing second and third at both Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Marc “the Goose” Goossens and Dominik Farnbacher delivered the first win for Viper at Road America last August.

Teammates Kuno Wittmer and Jonathan Bomarito combined to win the GTLM pole and and set fastest lap in Canada.

Ferrari claimed the GT victory at Le Mans and Giancarlo Fisichella is a veteran of the IMS F1 battles.

he recent string of four consecutive wins by Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia has taken the team to a high water mark.

Since Long Beach 2012, Corvette Racing has taken literally half of the North American GT class wins with 13 scores in the past 26 races.

In 2012, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner rolled to four wins and a sweep of the ALMS GT championships while their teammates were winless, ending Magnussen’s personal win streak at 11 consecutive years with at least one win.

“We finished second five times in 2012,” said Garcia.

As development of the new seventh generation Corvette C7.R was underway during the season, the Corvette Racing team remained surprisingly competitive with its old C6.Rs through 2013.

Milner and Gavin won at Sebring, but Magnussen and Garcia finally broke through in Monterey and scored an additional pair of wins to claim the title in 2013 as the two cars combined to win five races and the championship.

With the debut of the new, seventh generation Corvette C7.R in 2014 it has been all Magnussen and Garcia while Gavin and Milner look to break their now year-long winless streak.

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FAST FACT Watch us now on Fox All the action of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship races from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can be seen flag to flag on the Fox Sports 1 network. International fans will also be able to see the race live on IMSA.com.

July 25 Indianapolis Motor Speedway 7:00 – 10:00 pm (EDT) on FOXSports1 (Same Day Delayed)

CORE’s 46 entries!

CORE autosport know how to win. Three PC team championships led to being selected as the competition partner for Porsche North America. More wins followed at Daytona and Sebring in the GTLM class. But did you know they are also undefeated in this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship this year? CORE’s parent company Composite Resources supplies the deck lid and spoiler for every car in the field. In being selected for the job, Composite Resources met NASCAR’s stiffness goals while also offering an impressive 46 percent weight reduction.

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

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

The brickyard While teams from the Rolex Grand-Am Championship are familiar with racing on the Indianapolis Road Course, everyone will be facing something new this week. The brickyard will of course be new to the former American Le Mans Series teams, but everyone will be greeted with a new track layout.

First used for the IndyCar road course race which kicked off the month of May, this will be the first chance for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship to use the layout. At least Indy 500 veterans Christian Fittipaldi, Scott Sharp, Scott Pruett, Townsend Bell and this year’s rookie James Davison should know how to find the venue - even if the road course tracks goes in the opposite direction.

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“Maybe the maple syrup in the morning? It’s great feeling to come here to Canada. It’s been very nice to me.”

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GUSTAVO YACAMAN ON HIS SUCCESS IN CANADA AT CANADIAN TIRE MOTORSPORT PARK AND PREVIOUS INDY LIGHTS OUTINGS

Rain or shine Michelin made NASCAR history recently as the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series cars were able to race on the oval at Tours, France using Michelin wet racing tires. Racing on an oval in the rain is something NASCAR has not previously done. The race was won by Mathias Lauda, son of F1 great Niki Lauda.

Electrifying The new FIA Formula E series recently conducted its first major test in preparation for the Formula E inaugural event in Beijing.

A number of sportscar regulars are on the qualified driver list for the series, including Toyota WEC stars Stephane Sarrazin and Sebastien Buemi, Audi driver Lucas di Grassi, Aston Martin’s Bruno Senna (pictured above) and DeltaWing racer, Katherine Legge.

Next up is a fully simulated race day with practice, qualifying and a full race in preparation for the first event, in Beijing, China on September 13, 2014. The Formula E cars will race in Miami on March 14 and at Long Beach on April 4, 2015.

Thursday, July 24, 2014 9:00 am - 10:30 am

Practice #1 - CTSC

10:45 am -12:15 pm

Practice #1 - TUDOR (All Classes)

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Practice #2 - CTSC

1:45 pm - 2:45 pm

Practice #2 - TUDOR (All Classes)

3:00 pm - 3:15 pm

Qualifying - CTSC ST

3:30 pm - 3:45 pm

Qualifying - CTSC GS

4:00 pm - 4:15 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (GTD)

4:20 pm - 4:35 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (GTLM)

4:45 pm - 5:00 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (PC)

5:05 pm - 5:20 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (P)

Friday, July 25, 2014 8:30 am - 10:00 am

Nationwide Practice

10:30 am - 11:00 am

Nationwide Final Practice

11:35 am - 1:00 pm

Sprint Cup Practice

11:45 am - 12:30 pm

TUDOR Autograph Session

2:00 pm - 2:15 pm

Warm Up - TUDOR (All Classes)

2:35 pm - 5:05 pm

Race - CTSC - 150 MINUTES

5:45 pm - 8:30 pm

Race - Brickyard Grand Prix for the TUDOR Championship - 2 Hours & 45 Minutes

NISSAN MORGAN

FAN FAVORITES

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Pla/Yacaman Oak Racing • Nissan Morgan Prototype Continental

Smartphone scan code here

See the video highlights from Oak Racing’s victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

HPD - HONDA

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Brown/van Overbeek Extreme Speed Motorsports • HPD ARX-03b Prototype Continental

CORVETTE DP

Fittipaldi/Barbosa Action Express Racing • Corvette DP Prototype

CORVETTE DP

J.Taylor/R.Taylor Wayne Taylor Racing • Corvette DP Prototype

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Continental

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Continental

CORVETTE

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

BMW

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

FERRARI

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

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Michelin

DODGE

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

PORSCHE

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Long/Christensen

Porsche North America • Porsche 911 RSR GT Le Mans Michelin

PORSCHE

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Dempsey/Davis Dempsey Racing • Porsche 911 GT America GT Daytona Continental

Michelin North America, Inc • One Parkway South, • Greenville, SC 29615 • TEL: 1-800-458-5000 • www.michelin.com • Printed in USA, July 23, 2014 • Volume 8, Issue 7 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. • Copyright © 2014 Michelin North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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