ALMS 2012: Long Beach Preview

Klaus Graf leads Dyson's Lola B12/60 at Sebring (Photo: John Dagys)

After an exciting opening round at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the American Le Mans Series heads west this weekend, for round two of the championship at the famed Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Known for its unique atmosphere and cramped racing, it is definitely a unique stop on the series calendar.

News: Toyota LMP1 breaks cover

Ironically, on the same morning Peugeot's withdrawal from international sports car racing was announced, images of Toyota's Hybrid LMP1 machine were leaked. The car looks to borrow heavily from techniques used by both Audi and Peugeot.

(Photo: Racer Magazine)

Audi's R18 (Photo: John Dagys)

Qualifying: ALMS at Mid Ohio

Guy Smith and Chris Dyson will start from pole (Photo: John Dagys)

Guy Smith and Dyson Racing will start on the overall (LMP1) pole for Saturday’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge after narrowly beating out Klaus Graf’s Muscle Milk Aston Martin by one tenth of a second during qualifying with a 1:12.729 lap time. Things were far from easy for Smith though, as his car was far from compliant and he was visibly fighting the car through the corners.

“We struggled quite badly with the setup,” Smith stated, “and we pretty much threw everything at it but the kitchen sink. Qualifying was a wild ride with the car sideways a lot of the time. It was a god lap and I’m very happy with it.”

Steven Kane continued his excellent start to his ALMS career by slotting the second Dyson entry into third place with a very respectable 1:13.607. Dyson scored a dramatic win last year and will hope for a repeat of last year’s victory come race day.

read the rest of the article on motorsport.com http://www.motorsport.com/#/all/article/?id=409505

News: Tagliani on Pole for 100th Indy 500

Photo: Shawn Gritzmacher

 Excitement is back at Indy again. Not that it really ever left, the Indy 500 has always been one of the world's most exciting racing events, but in  years past it has seemed to lack a real "buzz." Its hard to put a finger on it, but that buzz seems to be back. People are noticing the exciting things going on in IndyCar and finally open wheel racing in America looks to be heading in a positive direction.

News: Rolex 24 Qualifying Results

Photo: John Dagys

 Good results in racing are usually hard to come by for rookies to a new car, but apparently Flying Lizard didn't get that memo. In the team's first outing in a Daytona Prototype, Porsche factory driver, Joerg Bergmeister, grabbed on the pole for Saturday's twice around the clock enduro with a record setting 1:40.099 laptime.

Before setting the pole time, Bergmeister and the team were ready to call it a day, but the veteran German racer decided to take one more lap. "I went for it. I risked everything,and it worked out perfectly" Bergmeister said." I knew we have a great car and a great engine, but I was really surprised to win the pole - with the team running the DP for the first time. I was hoping to qualify in the top five."

In GT, Dominik Farnbacher set the pace with a 1:48.781 laptime in the #67 TRG Porsche 911

Full Results

Catch the race Saturday at 3:30 on SPEED

Photo: GrandAm.com

News: Aston Lola for Cytosport

Photo: John Dagys

   After many rumors of a possible candidate for Cytosport's next car, the California based squad has confirmed that they have placed an order for one of Aston Martin Racing's highly successful V12 powered Aston Martin DBR1-2's.

  The team considered a possible move to the ALMS' GT category with Porsche after enjoying a winning partnership with the German manufacturer in the RS Spyder. Team owner Greg Pickett felt strongly about staying put in the LMP category, however and is very pleased with the new partnership with Aston Martin.  

“Aston Martin offers us a great opportunity to continue to grow from a racing and performance perspective but they also provide us with a great platform to showcase our Muscle Milk brand in both the United States and Europe," Picket said.  "We look forward to working with Aston Martin North America in order to maximize marketing opportunities throughout the year as well as giving them the on-track results they deserve."

Klaus Graf returns with Greg Pickett (Photo: John Dagys)

 Klaus Graf will return as the team's primary driver and the 63 year old Pickett is optimistic about returning to the cockpit this season after his season ending crash at Mid-Ohio last year. Pickett hasn't ruled out bringing on Aston Martin factory drivers, Tomas Enge or Darren Turner for the endurance races. Porsche driver, Romain Dumas, is a possibility for the 3rd driver spot as well, after helping the team take an overall victory at Mosport last season.

 The team is also pleased to announce that they will be expanding into the Patron GT3 Cup with Porsche as a  driver development program for young, up and coming drivers.

West Racing's Gallardo

Photo:americanlemans.com

 West Racing has taken delivery of their first Lamborghini LP 560 GT with plans to run two Yokohoma-shod Lambos for the 2011 ALMS season. The team is set to test at Sebring in late January and attend the official series test at Sebring in early February. Driver announcements are expected before the first of the year.

West's car brings the grand total to eight manufacturers involved in the ALMS' GT category. 2011 is looking to be pretty exciting indeed.

Photo:americanlemans.com

News: Level 5 to LMP2 with Lola and HPD

Level 5 will trade their Oreca FLM's for a pair of Lola roadsters (Photo: John Dagys)

  2010 LMPC Champoions, Level 5 Motorsports, have announced that they will move up to LMP2 next season and campaign a pair of HPD powered Lola B11/40 open topped roadsters.

   Team owner and 2010 LMPC rookie of the year Scott Tucker is looking forward to the new partnership,  “We took our time to evaluate who the best partners would be,” Tucker said. “Both Lola and Honda are very strong, professional motorsports organizations that have proven winning traditions and goals that align very well with ours for the 2011 season.”

 Sharing the driving duties along with Tucker will be Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz. A fourth driver for the endurance races has yet to be named.

(Photo: www.lola-group.com)

News: Audi R18 unveiled

Nervous Peugeout? (Photo: Audi Motorsport)

    Audi has unveiled their replacement to the Audi R15+, with their latest Le Mans Prototype, the R18 and for the first time since the Audi R8C, in 1999, Audi will race a closed cockpit LMP.

    The R18 will be powered by a 3.7-liter V6 TDI with a possible hybrid system integrated into the power plant for 2012. The V6 engine has been worked on since early summer, with the car completing its first shake down at the end of November with Scottish ace, Allan McNish behind the wheel.

News: Ferrari 458 GT2 Spied!

Photo: AxisofOversteer (click image for full size)

 Pretty sinister looking, and the rival GT2 teams probably agree....

News: Toyota to Le Mans

Photo: John Dagys

    

     Toyota and Rebellion Racing have announced a partnership that will bring the Japanese auto manufacturer back to Le Mans. Toyota will supply engines to power Rebellion's two LMP1 Lola coupes for the 2011 LMS season and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
     The team has conducted successful test runs at Snetterton, Portimao and Monteblanco and all parties involved are thrilled with the new partnership.
    Rebellion has announced the drivers for its 2011 campaign will be Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost in one car and Andrea Belicchi and Jean-Christophe Boullion piloting the sister car.

Alexandre Pesci, Rebellion Racing Team Principal: "This agreement is the cornerstone of REBELLION's challenge for the forthcoming season. Toyota is an impressive and remarkable industrial giant, we are proud to have been selected by Toyota Motorsport as their partner in this project. It means a lot for our team to have secured their support in our efforts to target the victory."

Bart Hayden, Rebellion Racing Team Manager: "We are delighted to become a partner of Toyota Motorsport and are excited about working alongside a company with a Formula One background and a rich history at Le Mans. We look forward to establishing a strong and long term relationship with them."

Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Toyota Motorsport President: "Toyota Motorsport has recent experience of engine supply partnerships from our Formula One days so we are drawing on that to deliver a reliable and competitive engine. We are looking forward to working with REBELLION Racing on this exciting project and it was very pleasing to see this engine running in a car for the first time, particularly because the performance, as well as the reliability, was very encouraging."

Martin Birrane, Executive Chairman of Lola Group: "Lola is delighted to be the 2011 LMP constructor of choice for Toyota Motorsport and REBELLION Racing. Supporting our customers at the very highest level has always been and will continue to be very important to Lola. We once again look forward to taking the challenge to the factory works teams next year."

Quotes courtesy of Rebellion Racing's Press release

News: 2011 ILMC Schedule Released

2011 will hopefully bring more head to head races between Audi and Peugeot (Photo: John Dagys)

   The Automobile Club d l’Ouest has released the final schedule for the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Fans of the American Le Mans Series will be relieved to see that Petit Le Mans has indeed been included in the cup, after some speculation that the popular race at Road Atlanta would be left off the calendar.
  The cup starts on American soil with the first event being the 12 Hours of Sebring, followed by a six hour enduro at the famous Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the third event and is the first time in many years that the French classic is now a points paying race.The year is rounded out with events at Imola, Silverstone, Road Atlanta and a yet to be determined venue in China.

2011 ILMC Schedule

March 19 - Twelve Hours of Sebring (ALMS)
May 8 - Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours (LMS)
June 11-12 - Le Mans 24 Hours (Double Points)
July 3 - Imola 6 Hours (LMS)
Sept. 11 - Silverstone 6 Hours (LMS)
Oct. 1 - Petit Le Mans (ALMS)
Nov. 12 - China 6 Hour (Circuit TBA)

News: Flying Lizard Returns to Rolex 24

Our (rough) rendition of a flying lizard DP (Photo: John Dagys)

ALMS GT Champions, Flying Lizard Motorsports, have announced their intentions to run an Porsche powered Riley Daytona Prototype in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. 2010 Rolex 24 winners, Action Express Racing. will provide support for the effort. The driver lineup has not been announced yet, but the should be announced sometime in early December. Read the full press release here.

News: Lotus Joins IndyCar

Photo: John Dagys

   Renowed British carmaker, Lotus, has announed it will supply engines and an aero kit for IndyCar starting in 2012.With Chevrolet announcing their intentions of building an engine for the new IndyCar regulations in 2012 last week, the series will have representation from the United States, Japan and now a European link. Its very refreshing to see some much needed variety on the horizon for American open-wheel racing. One can only hope that more and more manufacturers join the fray and take IndyCar back to the levels of popularity it had in the 1990s. Read more about the new regulations and Lotus' entry here.

News: Vettel wins 2010 F1 World Championship

 Sebastian Vettel overcame the odds and beat out two time World Champion, Fernando Alonso to take the 2010 championship. Vettel becomes the sports youngest champion and helped seal the deal on a dream season for he and Red Bull Racing. Read the full results here.

News: Chevy to Supply IndyCar engines in 2012

Photo: John Dagys

   Honda powered Dallaras have been the norm lately in Indy Car racing, but recent developments look to bring some much needed diversity to the series. SPEED.com is reporting that a Chevy engine in 2012 is a done deal and that Roger Penske's team will be one of the teams running it. More exciting still are rumors that Fiat and Lotus may also construct engines for the new regulations. To catch the full video press release follow the link at 10 a.m. Friday morning.

News: Hulk Smash!

Nico Hulkenberg celebrates his pole. (Photo: Williams F1)

    Nico Hulkenberg stunned the entire F1 paddock by grabbing the pole for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix in his Cosworth powered Williams FW32. Hulkenberg's first pole position makes him the youngest pole sitter in Formula One history, a true "Hulk Smash" moment for the young German. Catch the race on SPEED at 10:30 a.m.

News: Peugeout 90X Spied

   Peugeot has released the first images of its new prototype, the 90X, which will serve as a replacement for the extremely quick, but often fragile 908. The car has been tested at Monza and several small differences (and one rather large one) can be seen.

Peugeout's new Audi Slayer: The 90X

News: Qualifying Results from Road Atlanta

   Peugeot continues to be the car to beat in LMP1, besting the two Audi R15s in qualifying by taking pole position and second. Anthony Davidson put his 908 on pole with a time of 1:07.187, beating out teammate Pedro Lamy. Saturday's thousand mile race will certainly test the French cars' reliability and the patience of the aggressive Davidson. Don't be surprised if the Audi of McNish, Kristen and Capello is challenging for the win, especially if rain is in the forecast. Full Results

 

 Photos: John Dagys

News: Dyson's Day

 Every racing team experiences high points and low points, especially when a squad has been competing in the sport's highest levels for twenty-seven years like Dyson Racing has. The family oriented team from Poughkeepsie, New York had been struggling through a heartbreaking 2010 campaign in the American Le Mans Series, marked by engine failure and other disappointments, until drivers Chris Dyson and Guy Smith broke through in their Mazda powered Lola for a win filled with firsts at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

 Photo: John Dagys