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Filed under: Motorsports , Sports/GTs , Chevrolet click for a high-res gallery from the 2008 Detroit Sports Car Challenge 2009 will be a transition year for the American Le Mans Series as the GT1 class all but disappears after the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Corvette Racing team announced a few weeks ago that it will switch from GT1 to the GT2 class. In an ALMS conference call, program manager Dough Fehan revealed that the engineering work on the new car is done and assembly of the first car will start in the next 7-10 days. Visually, the new car will be almost indistinguishable from the GT1 racer, with the biggest difference being a smaller rear wing. Underneath the skin, the carbon brakes will have to go as they aren't allowed in GT2 so steel rotors will have to dissipate the kinetic energy. Creating kinetic energy will be a new, smaller, 6.0L version of the engine currently used. The GT2 engine will continue to run on cellulosic E85. The GT2 cars will likely make their competition debut...
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Filed under: Motorsports Click above for a high resolution gallery of the ALMS race at Laguna Seca Many of the championships had already been wrapped up by the time the ALMS arrived at Laguna Seca for the last season of the race, but there were still a few battles to be won and you can always bet that none of the teams were about to back down in the name of competition. We were at the race as part of the Audi Mileage Marathon and were able to bring you a huge gallery of high resolution images that can be found in the gallery below. The race airs on NBC today at 2:00 p.m. EST, so you can still watch the race on television. However, If you want to know what happened, go ahead and follow the jump to read about the results of the race. Gallery: 2008 ALMS at Laguna Seca All photos Copyright (C)2008 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc. [Source: AmericanLeMans.com ] Continue reading ALMS finishes off season at Laguna Seca (Spoiler Alert) Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Motorsports Click above for a high resolution image As part of the final leg of the Audi Mileage Marathon, we made a stop today at Laguna Seca in Monterey for the final ALMS race of the season. Acura was the top story yesterday, taking the two overall top spots with David Brabham capturing pole followed by Luiz Diaz in the Lowe's Fernandez Racing entry. Audi was the fastest of the LMP1 cars, although qualifying a disappointing 9th overall. In GT2, Dirk Werner took the top spot in the Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 RSR, making Porsche the favorite to win the overall manufacturers' championship for the season. The Ferraris will have to win the race and have Porsche finish no better than sixth to take the points lead. Finally, in GT1 it was only the two sister Corvettes battling for position, with Jan Magnussen claiming the faster time. The race is scheduled to run today from 2:45 to 6:45 PM PST, and you can watch the race tomorrow on NBC from 2:00 PM to 4 PM EST...
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Filed under: Motorsports Click above for a high resolution image As part of the final leg of the Audi Mileage Marathon, we made a stop today at Laguna Seca in Monterey for the final ALMS race of the season. Acura was the top story yesterday, taking the two overall top spots with David Brabham capturing pole followed by Luiz Diaz in the Lowe's Fernandez Racing entry. Audi was the fastest of the LMP1 cars, although qualifying a disappointing 9th overall. In GT2, Dirk Werner took the top spot in the Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 RSR, making Porsche the favorite to win the overall manufacturers' championship for the season. The Ferraris will have to win the race and have Porsche finish no better than sixth to take the points lead. Finally, in GT1 it was only the two sister Corvettes battling for position, with Jan Magnussen claiming the faster time. The race is scheduled to run today from 2:45 to 6:45 PM PST, and you can watch the race tomorrow on NBC from 2:00 PM to 4 PM EST...
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Filed under: Motorsports Click above for high-res gallery of Audi at the 2008 Petit Le Mans The 10th anniversary of the Petit Le Mans occurred this weekend at Road Atlanta, and the annual endurance event that occurs before the season-ending race of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca did not disappoint. Peugeot arrived ready to take up its diesel-powered feud with Audi in the LMP1 class that recently concluded overseas in the European Le Mans Series with the German brand on top. The LMP2, GT1 and GT2 classes were also hotly contested, and the most drama came from Helio Castroneves, who arrived at the track to drive an LMP2 Porsche for Penske after having been in handcuffs the day before facing tax evasion charges . Follow the jump for a quick rundown of a truly exceptional Petit Le Mans. Gallery: Audi at the 2008 Petit Le Mans [Source: AmericanLeMans.com ] Continue reading [SPOILER ALERT] Late night winner at 2008 Petit Le Mans Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Motorsports , Peugeot It was a record setting day yesterday at Road Atlanta, with all four classes setting qualifying records including a blistering 1:06.242 by Stephane Sarrazin in his Peugeot 908 HDi to take the top overall spot. Peugeot has continually proved that it has a fast car, taking the last two pole positions at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it was Audi on top at the end of that race. Allan McNish will be putting plenty of pressure on the Peugeot team, who qualified just .085 seconds behind the Peugeot in his Audi R10 TDI. In P2, Penske racing not only captured pole with a record qualifying time of 1:07.061, but also grabbed the top three spots. It was all Corvette Racing in GT1, but it will be a close race between the two Corvette who were separated by only .047 seconds. Finally, Risi Competizione qualified first in GT2 for the second straight year. Coverage of the event starts today at 11:00 AM EST on SPEED TV today, with the green flag waving at 11:15. A NASCAR...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Sports/GTs , Aston Martin , Chevrolet GT1-class racing is one of the most hotly contested in Europe, with cars like the Aston Martin DBR9 and Maserati MC12 competing among others for top honors in the Le Mans Series and FIA GT Championship. Here in the American Le Mans Series, however, officials are considering the possibility that they'll have to shut down the class altogether. This season, the Corvettes have had the category all to themselves, which has made the class uninteresting, with predictable outcomes. Bell Motorsports announced their intention to run Aston Martins to compete with the Corvettes for GT1 victory , but that may be another case of too little too late. Itching for a good fight, GM is reportedly dropping down to the paradoxically more competitive GT2 series. Not anxious to run another season of an empty GT1 roster, ALMS could very well cut the class out altogether. [Source: AutoWeek ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Motorsports , Chevrolet Click the Corvette for a high res gallery from the Detroit Sports Car Challenge As the 2008 American Le Mans Series season winds down with only two races left, teams are starting to make announcements about the 2009 season. One of the question marks over the last several years has been the future of the Corvette Racing program. With no really competition to speak of, one has to wonder why GM stays in the GT1 ranks. This year, they switched fuels and now run on cellulosic ethanol. Today, the team announced that 2009 will be a transition season as the GT1 C6Rs continue in limited competition. The GT1 cars will run at Sebring and Long Beach before going for a sixth class victory at Le Mans. After Le Mans, a new GT2 Corvette will debut running the rest of the season in preparation for 2010. New international GT class rules take effect in 2010 and are closer to current GT2 rules. The new C6R will be based on the body and chassis of the ZR1 and cars will be...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Audi click the R10 for a high res gallery from the Detroit race The only real question in the P1 class of the American Le Mans Series this year was which Audi driver pairing would capture the championship. Audi only faced one actual challenger all season long in the LMP1 class from the Intersport Racing team, and they weren't really in the same class, if you know what we mean. Going into this past weekend's Detroit Sports Car Challenge, the pairing of Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner were leading their teammates Marcel Fässler and Emanuele Pirro with an opportunity to clinch the drivers' championship. Some mishaps for the Luhr/Werner team early on, however, suggested the battle would go on until at least the Petit Le Mans next month. Luhr hit a tire wall hard on lap 13 and Fässler went on to cross the finish line third behind a pair of Acuras in the LMP2 class. But the Fässler/Pirro car was disqualified after the race for being underweight...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Acura , Aston Martin , Audi , Chevrolet Click the C6.R for a high-res gallery from the race As part of the revival of the Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle last year, the Detroit Sports Car Challenge was added as the highlight of Saturday's activities. The sports car race is back this year as the ninth round of the American Le Mans Series. For those who have never checked out an ALMS race, it's one of the best and most exciting forms of motorsport anywhere. Highcroft Racing's Acura ARX-01B captured the pole and led much of the first half of the race ahead of the De Ferran Racing Acura. If you TiVoed the race and don't want to ruin the surprise, you can just check out the gallery and come back later to see the full results after the jump. Otherwise, you know what to do. Gallery: Detroit Sports Car Challenge 08 Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc. Continue reading Detroit Grand Prix 08: The Detroit Sports Car Challenge (Spoiler...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Acura Acura has announced at the Detroit Grand Prix that they will enter the LMP1 class in the American Le Mans Series in 2009, adding to its existing LMP2 effort. Honda's premium brand entered ALMS in the lighter LMP2 class at the beginning of 2007 with the Highcroft, Fernandez and Andretti-Green teams and won a single race that year. This year De Ferran motorsports has joined the lineup and Acura has four victories, including an overall win at Lime Rock in early July. For 2009, De Ferran and Highcroft will run the all new ARX-02A LMP1 car, while Fernandez and possibly one other team will continue with the LMP2 program. No mention was made of AGR. The new car is being developed in cooperation with existing partner Wirth Research in the UK. Honda Performance Development president Erik Berkman declined to reveal any other details about the new car. However, with the currently dominant P1 cars in North America and Europe being the diesel powered Audis and Peugeots...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Videos , BMW Click above to watch the E92 M3 race car in action The previous generation M3 had a short but dominant history in the American Le Mans Series. Competing in the 2001 season with a 4.0-liter V8, the M3 GTR decimated the GT (now GT2) class. Porsche cried foul, citing a lack of an "authentic" V8-powered M3 production car. Despite a small run of V8 M3s to satisfy regulations, the ALMS changed the rules so that BMW had to either produce 1000 road cars or face weight and intake restrictions. BMW decided it wasn't worth it and didn't return for the 2002 season. But with introduction of the E92 M3, BMW is free to race with a V8 unrestricted and announced their racing program in cooperation with Rahal Letterman Racing, as well as unveiling a new racecar at the Chicago Auto Show this year . We haven't heard much about the car since then, but BMW Motorsport released a video showing some pretty awesome footage of the car on track. It's...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Etc. The first race after the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the Northeast Grand Prix at beautiful Lime Rock Park. A recent resurfacing and reconfiguration of the track presented a new challenge for the teams, who were taking on the new layout without any pre-race testing. Also the shortest track, Lime Rock presents a much different challenge than Le Mans and requires a different mindset. This has made for exciting and aggressive races the past few seasons, and this year was no different. Follow the jump to see the race results and find how who was the last minute winner. [Source: American Le Mans Series ] Continue reading [Spoiler Alert] ALMS: Late winner at Lime Rock Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Chicago Auto Show , Motorsports , Coupes , Marketing/Advertising , BMW click above to view more high-res live shots of BMW M3 ALMS race car The American Le Mans Series is going to get a dose of Bavarian brilliance in 2009, as Bobby Rahal and David Letterman are teaming up to bring the fourth-generation M3 to the racing series. To properly battle the best competition in ALMS, BMW bumps the power quotient of its high-revving 4.0L V8 from 414 to 485 ponies, but brute force is just one facet of the M3's attack plan. The already outstanding chassis of the M3 has been further enhanced for the track, and weight has been reduced to make the deadly M even more nimble. BMW also employed its extensive F1 knowledge into the M-racer, including computational fluid dynamics and wind tunnel analyses to make the carbon fiber-winged M3 slip freely through the air. BMW Motorsport is still tweaking the M3 racer in advance of the 2009 season, and the car will be taken through its paces by Andy...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Hirings/Firings , Acura Gil de Ferran hasn't had quite enough of winning just yet. The accomplished former racing driver and team manager announced today that he's coming out of retirement to contest the American Le Mans Series. With Team Penske, de Ferran won back-to-back CART titles in 2000 and 2001, the Indy 500 in 2003 and set the record for the fastest qualifying lap on a closed circuit with a 241.43mph average speed at the California Speedway in 2001. Having retired at the end of 2003, Gil served as sporting director for Honda's F1 team from 2005 until this past season. To contest the ALMS this season, de Ferran will be driving for his own team in a fourth factory-backed LMP2-class Acura ARX-01b. Although he hasn't yet announced his second driver, he has signed on John Anderson, a veteran crew chief, as general manager. [Source: gildeferran.com and Autosport , Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty] Continue reading Gil de Ferran coming to ALMS with...
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