The Alley :: Petit Le Mans 2014

News From the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship - Petit Le Mans 2014

michelinalley.com

10 hours to glory at Petit

Who is taking the trophies?

CHAMPIONSHIP SHOWDOWNS AT PETIT LE MANS

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GT LE MANS

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he ultimate race clock strikes 12 at the 11th and final race of the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship as the GTLM manufacturers, teams and drivers fight for wins and season long titles here at the 10 Hours of Petit Le Mans.

The big factory teams from BMW Team RLL, Corvette Racing, Dodge Viper SRT, Porsche North America and premier independents; Risi Competizione Ferrari and Falken Porsche, all began the season with high expectations.

The world’s premier manufacturers put their brands, engineering and investments into developing technology and showcasing their performance to an enthusiastic target audience in the fierce GTLM competition.

Where the car manufacturers roam with top teams, engineers, drivers and support staffs, TUDOR Championship race wins and titles are expected, if not demanded and, unlike pre-school soccer teams, not everyone gets ice cream.

That explains in part why the GTLM season has been a wild roller coaster ride as four different teams have scored multiple wins with the championships still in hot dispute here at Road Atlanta.

The shiny new Porsche North America factory squad opened the season with victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona (Nick Tandy, Richard Lietz) and the Twelve Hours of Sebring (Patrick Long, Michael Christensen).

Next came a powerful run as the factory #3 Corvette C7.R of Corvette Racing and 2013 GT Champions Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia rolled off four consecutive victories to surge to the top of the standings.

Act III saw the emergence of Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer as they took their first big GT win aboard the #93 Dodge Viper SRT at Indianapolis.

Then, after a disastrous start to the season, the fabled Risi Competizione Ferrari, now with Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer, turned in an impressive win at Road America and backed it up with a dramatic last lap pass to win at VIR. It was at VIR that the driver championship hopes of Lietz and Magnussen took a devastating hit in practice when both spun on fluid on the track.

Lietz fractured his left arm causing him to miss both VIR and Circuit of The Americas (COTA). Magnussen suffered a concussion and sat out the VIR race, dropping out of his share of the championship lead.

Despite a dominant early performance by Porsche, with a third car added to bolster its manufacturer championship bid, it was Wittmer and Bomarito leading a Dodge Viper SRT 1-2 at COTA to further scramble the points.

Arriving at Road Atlanta for the final clicks of the clock, Bomarito and Wittmer, a pair of drivers who entered the season still seeking their first major GT class win, lead the driver championship by seven points over Garcia with their Dodge Viper SRT teammates Marc Goossens and Dominik Farnbacher another ten points back.

In the GTLM Manufacturer war, Porsche and Dodge Viper SRT are tied at 308 points while Chevrolet and BMW are also tied at 300 markers and still well within striking distance.

A possible spoiler is BMW Team RLL which has been quick, clean, consistent, well prepared, well driven and wholly unrewarded in 2014. The team has six podium finishes.

Actually, one GTLM championship has already been decided. With 10 victories in the first 10 races and 29 of 30 podium positions, Michelin has already claimed the GTLM Tire Manufacturer title in the only class offering open tire competition.

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he competition is equally close in the GT Daytona (GTD) class featuring combinations of Pro and Amateur drivers.

Dane Cameron driving the Turner Motorsport BMW broke a five way tie for the driver championship lead with a podium finish at COTA. Cameron now carries a slim four point lead over Porsche’s Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil of Alex Job Racing. Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler in the AIM Autosport Ferrari lurk just an additional three points back.

The GTD Team Championships are also wide open as Turner Motorsport mirrors the four point edge over Alex Job Racing and the seven point gap to AIM Autosport.

There is a different story in the GTD Manufacturer fight with Porsche carrying a one point lead over BMW with Ferrari just one point further back. With 56 cars entered, a number of teams adding third drivers, the chess moves matching Pro and Am drivers and the dynamics of a 10 Hour race, the excitement will continue all the way to the final ticks of the 2014 TUDOR Championship clock.

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journey that began in early January will conclude here on Saturday evening, leaving some team owners, drivers and sponsors very happy and others anxious for the start of the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

But first there are the rather significant matters of the race victory at Petit Le Mans and determining the 2014 TUDOR Champions for drivers, teams and manufacturers to resolve.

Based in Mooresville, NC, Bob Johnson’s Action Express Corvette DP team with drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa blasted out of the gate in January with an impressive victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Led by technical director Gary Nelson, the AXmen scored again at Indianapolis

and followed that with a victory at Road America to retake the upper hand in the Prototype championship fight. They arrive here with a sweet 22 point lead in the team and driver championship over rivals Ricky and Jordan Taylor of Wayne Taylor Racing.

The Taylors took the race win in Detroit and have been podium regulars for much of the season.

Currently standing third are the popular visitflorida.com Racing squad and drivers Michael Valiente and Richard Westbrook who are poised just one additional point back. All three teams are Chevrolet powered.

Debuting their new Ford EcoBoost power for 2014, Chip Ganassi Racing’s ageless Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas remain a considerable force with back-to-back victories at Sebring and Long Beach. But, despite their recent

victory at Circuit of The Americas, they find themselves on the far edge of the championship cage match.

Rounding out the top five after delivering a first victory for Nissan with a stellar performance by drivers Gustavo Yacaman and Olivier Pla at the Canadian stop is the OAK Racing team.

Meanwhile, the TUDOR Championship Prototype Manufacturer sees a classic Chevrolet vs. Ford battle as the bowtie brigade led by Action Express, Wayne Taylor Racing and visitflorida.com holds a 14 point lead over Ford.

Four of the five manufacturers have scored Prototype wins in 2014 including Chevrolet (5), Ford (3), Honda (1) and Nissan (1). In addition, the Mazda SkyActiv diesel team continues to develop and build momentum in its first year of Prototype competition.

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hey are already making room on the trophy shelves at CORE autosport in Rock Hill, SC as team owner Jon Bennett and co-driver Colin Braun have locked up their first driver title on the strength of seven podium finishes, including four PC class wins.

Racing identical single specification Oreca prototypes, the well matched competition in PC class puts a heavy premium on consistency, driver performance and race strategies. Teams match their Amateur driver with a top Pro and work diligently to improve the pace and consistency on the amateur side as the Pros tend be quite evenly matched.

CORE has claimed the PC class Team Championship in each of the past three seasons and will look to secure a fourth here at Petit Le Mans. They hold a narrow 11 point edge on the fast closing 8Star Motorsports team with drivers Luis Diaz and Sean Rayhall who have taken the PC wins in the last two races.

Drivers Renger van der Zande and Mirco Shultis of Starworks Motorsport have also delivered a pair of wins to place them third in the Team championship with a shot to catch the 8Star squad for second place.

Currently fourth in the Driver and Team standings with a podium at Watkins Glen and four fourth place finishes are drivers Gunnar Jeannette and Frankie Montecalvo of PR1/ Mathiesen Motorsports.

RSR Racing stands fifth with a win at Indianapolis for Chris Cumming and Jack Hawksworth and a pair of second place finishes for Bruno Junqueira and Duncan Ende.

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FAST FACT Watch us now on FOX Don’t miss the season finale for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship as the series heads to Road Atlanta for Petit Le Mans. Catch live flag to flag coverage across IMSA.com and FOX Sports 2 and a two hour highlight show of FOX the following day.

October 3 Qualifying: 4:20 p.m. (EDT) IMSA.com (Live) October 4 11:00 a.m. (EDT) IMSA.com (Live) 3:00 p.m. (EDT) FOX Sports 2 (Live) October 5 Check local guide – highlights on FOX

Go Dads go!

Apparently the old saying that having a child slows a racing driver does not apply to the GTLM class. Two of the three main protagonists for the GTLM driver’s title; Dodge Viper SRT’s Kuno Wittmer and Corvette’s Antonio Garcia both became dads during the 2014 season. The third contender, Wittmer’s co-driver Jonathan Bomarito, is reportedly happy being an “uncle”.

On the GTLM Manufacturer side, Dodge Viper SRT and Porsche are currently tied in points. Porsche’s Nick Tandy also has a newborn, but Viper may have the edge as Marc Goossens has new twins.

Perhaps IMSA can add a 2015 class for racing strollers?

2015 Schedule Jan. 24-25:

Daytona International Speedway – All classes

March 21:

Sebring International Raceway – All classes

April 18:

Long Beach Street Circuit – P/GTLM

May 3:

Mazda Raceway – P/GTLM and PC/GTD

May 30:

Detroit Belle Isle – P/GTD

June 28:

Watkins Glen International – All classes

July 12:

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – P/PC/GTLM

July 25:

Lime Rock Park – PC/GTD

Aug. 9:

Road America – All classes

Aug. 23:

Virginia International Raceway – PC/GTLM/GTD

Sept. 19:

Circuit of The Americas – All classes

Oct. 3:

Road Atlanta – All classes

Goodbye & hello After seven years as motorsports marketing manager for Michelin N.A., this will be the final official race for Silvia Mammone who steps into a new role with the company. A native of Montreal, Mammone oversaw creation of The Alley, the www.michelinalley.com site, “Motorsports on Main” in downtown Greenville, SC, and was chief of the Michelin project to support the original DeltaWing.

She will be succeeded in the motorsports role by Sarah Robinson, an engineer whose Michelin career includes stints as a test driver and product marketing manager. Sarah is also a weekend racer and, until recently, an IMSA GT3 series official.

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“We have to focus and do what we can to move Antonio and Chevrolet back into the championship lead.”

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Corvette Racing driver Jan Magnussen on helping his team and co-driver Antonio Garcia repeat as champions.

It’s a busy lap at Road Atlanta The merger of the American Le Mans Series and the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series into the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship has produced a stunning 56 entries here with over 150 drivers, many of them racing in Petit Le Mans for the first time.

To illustrate just how much race traffic drivers can expect, consider that at 2.54 miles per lap, Road Atlanta is less than one-third the lap distance of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at 8.469 miles. Both races have 56 entries.

Or try this; there is 239 feet of track length per car here compared to 798 feet per car at Le Mans. Teams will complete approximately three laps of Road Atlanta in the time it takes for just one lap at Le Mans.

Thursday, October 2, 2014 8:00 am - 8:20 am

Qualifying - Lites

8:35 am - 8:55 am

Qualifying - GT3 Cup

9:10 am - 9:55 am

Practice #2 - CTSC

10:10 am -11:10 am

Practice #1 - TUDOR (All Classes)

11:25 am - 12:15 pm

Race #1 - LBST

1:25 pm - 1:55 pm

Race #1 - Lites

2:10 pm - 3:10 pm

Practice #2 - TUDOR (All Classes)

3:35 pm - 4:20 pm

Race #1 - GT3 Cup

4:35 pm - 4:50 pm

Qualifying - CTSC ST

5:05 pm - 5:20 pm

Qualifying - CTSC GS

5:30 pm - 6:15 pm

Race #1 - MX-5

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Practice #3 - TUDOR (All Classes)

Friday, October 3, 2014 8:00 am - 8:45 am

Race #2 - MX-5

9:10 am - 9:55 am

Race #2 - Lites

10:10 am -11:10 am

Practice #4 - TUDOR (All Classes)

11:30 am - 12:15 pm

TUDOR Autograph Session

11:35 am - 12:10 pm

Race #2 - GT3 Cup

Here comes 2015

1:15 pm - 3:45 pm

Race - CTSC

4:20 pm - 4:35 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (GTD)

4:40 pm - 4:55 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (GTLM)

When the race ends here at Petit Le Mans, TUDOR Championship teams begin preparing for the Rolex 24 at Daytona (January 24-25), the opening round of the 2015 season. Factor in testing, R&D, vacations, inventory, rebuilds, new car prep, training of new team members, painting and maintenance of cars, transporters and support equipment, sponsor appearances and media events and the “Roar Before the 24” test at Daytona on January 9-11 is just around the corner.

5:05 pm - 5:20 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (PC)

5:25 pm - 5:40 pm

Qualifying - TUDOR (P)

5:55 pm - 6:45 pm

Race #2 - LBST

Saturday, October 4, 2014 9:00 am - 9:25 am

Warm Up - TUDOR (All Classes)

11:15 am - 9:15 pm

Race - Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda for the TUDOR - 10 Hours

DODGE

FAN FAVORITES

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

Smartphone scan code here

Check out this Dodge Viper video on the secret to tire management in the TUDOR Championship.

CORVETTE DP

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Fittipaldi/Barbosa/Bourdais Action Express Racing • Corvette DP Prototype Continental

HONDA – LIGIER

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Brundle/Yacaman/Tung Oak Racing • HPD - Ligier Prototype Continental

CORVETTE DP

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Westbrook/Valiante/Rockenfeller Spirit of Daytona Racing • Corvette DP Prototype Continental

FORD RILEY DP

Pruett/Rojas/Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing • Ford Riley DP Prototype

CORVETTE

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Continental

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

BMW

Müller/Edwards/Werner BMW Team RLL • BMW Z4 GTE GT Le Mans

56 06 Michelin

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FERRARI

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

PORSCHE

Michelin

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Long/Christensen

Porsche North America • Porsche 911 RSR GT Le Mans Michelin

PORSCHE

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Dempsey/Davis/TBA 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, October 1, 2014 • Volume 8, Issue 11 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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