NEWS & NOTES: ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE OF ST. PETERSBURG
The Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg marks the second round of the 2007 American Le Mans Series season and the Series' first appearance at the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit on the Florida waterfront. St. Petersburg will become the 24th different circuit and sixth different street course to hold an American Le Mans Series event. Two other new venues for 2007 are street courses: Long Beach on April 14 and Belle Isle in Detroit on September 1 with the Series returning to Houston on April 21.
The 2007 Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg marks the first "home" race for the three new Acura-powered LMP2 entries. Acura, the luxury brand of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced in April 2006 its first factory motorsports program in its 20-year history. Acura's race program features normally aspirated V8 engines designed and developed by Honda Performance Development.
Andretti Green Racing made history at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with an LMP2 class win for drivers Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan. The team's Acura ARX prototype finished second overall to only the winning Audi R10 TDI P1 entry.
The Lowe's Fernandez Racing Acura-powered Lola of Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz finished second in class and third overall at Sebring. Acura also took fourth in class behind the Highcroft Racing prototype of David Brabham, Stefan Johansson and team owner Duncan Dayton. Acura laid down an early-season challenge to fellow P2 manufacturers Porsche, Mazda and Radical in what is the strongest P2 field in Series history.
St. Petersburg also will see the renewal of what is expected to be a season-long battle between Ferrari and Porsche. At Sebring, Jaime Melo from Risi Competizione drove his Ferrari F430 GT to a 0.202-second, last-lap victory over Porsche's Jörg Bergmeister of Flying Lizard Motorsports. St. Petersburg is the second race for the new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (Type 997).
Two teams each will field two next-generation Porsche RS Spyders in LMP2 at St. Petersburg. Penske Motorsports recorded a third-place class finish at Sebring with its No. 7 entry of Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard and Helio Castroneves. Poughkeepsie, NY-based Dyson Racing debuted its new Porsches at Sebring with a fifth-place class finish for Butch Leitzinger, Andy Wallace and Andy Lally. Two addition RS Spyders are set to debut this summer from Jacksonville, FL-based CET/Solaroli Motorsports, which also will field a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in GT2.
Prior to the start of the 2007 American Le Mans Series Season, the new GT2 factory-supported Rahal Letterman Racing squad and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) announced expansion of the Team Ethanol program to include RLR's new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (Type 997) operation. The team announcement was made in conjunction with the Series' announcement that Ethanol-enhanced fuel (E10) would become one of the official fuel selections for its competition season.
Rahal Letterman Racing will make its first St. Petersburg start as part of the American Le Mans Series.
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A total of 119 drivers have scored Series victories in the nine-year history of the American Le Mans Series to date (1999-2007), the latest being Andretti Green Racing's Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan at Sebring in an Acura ARX. In the history of the Series, 705 drivers have competed in at least one race including 26 first-time starters at Sebring.
No American Le Mans Series driver has captured a pole in each of the nine seasons of the Series. Ron Fellows (2000-02, 2004-2006) holds the current mark with a pole position start in seven of the eight seasons.
Jan Magnussen (Panoz, Ferrari and Corvette) and David Brabham (Panoz, Ferrari and Aston Martin) are the only drivers in Series history to win races for three marques. Twenty-eight (28) drivers have won for two different marques.
Jon Field, Jan Magnussen, Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen, David Brabham, Timo Bernhard and Emmanuel Collard have won in different race car or chassis/engine combinations.
Olivier Beretta, GT1 co-champion, holds the all-time American Le Mans Series record for career victories (29) thanks to a third career GT1 win at Sebring. He is three ahead of Penske Motorsports' Sascha Maassen (26), who shared the 2006 P2 championship with Lucas Luhr, and four ahead of Corvette mates Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell (25) with JJ Lehto next (23). Maassen's former teammate Lucas Luhr stands sixth all-time with 23, one ahead of 2006 LMP1 co-champion Rinaldo Capello and Frank Biela (22). Next are Beretta's teammate Oliver Gavin (20), Timo Bernhard (18), Jorg Bergmeister and Emanuele Pirro (16), and Clint Field and Audi mates Allan McNish and Marco Werner (15).
The Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg marks the second round of the 2007 American Le Mans Series season and the Series' first appearance at the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit on the Florida waterfront. St. Petersburg will become the 24th different circuit and sixth different street course to hold an American Le Mans Series event. Two other new venues for 2007 are street courses: Long Beach on April 14 and Belle Isle in Detroit on September 1 with the Series returning to Houston on April 21.
The 2007 Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg marks the first "home" race for the three new Acura-powered LMP2 entries. Acura, the luxury brand of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced in April 2006 its first factory motorsports program in its 20-year history. Acura's race program features normally aspirated V8 engines designed and developed by Honda Performance Development.
Andretti Green Racing made history at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with an LMP2 class win for drivers Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan. The team's Acura ARX prototype finished second overall to only the winning Audi R10 TDI P1 entry.
The Lowe's Fernandez Racing Acura-powered Lola of Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz finished second in class and third overall at Sebring. Acura also took fourth in class behind the Highcroft Racing prototype of David Brabham, Stefan Johansson and team owner Duncan Dayton. Acura laid down an early-season challenge to fellow P2 manufacturers Porsche, Mazda and Radical in what is the strongest P2 field in Series history.
St. Petersburg also will see the renewal of what is expected to be a season-long battle between Ferrari and Porsche. At Sebring, Jaime Melo from Risi Competizione drove his Ferrari F430 GT to a 0.202-second, last-lap victory over Porsche's Jörg Bergmeister of Flying Lizard Motorsports. St. Petersburg is the second race for the new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (Type 997).
Two teams each will field two next-generation Porsche RS Spyders in LMP2 at St. Petersburg. Penske Motorsports recorded a third-place class finish at Sebring with its No. 7 entry of Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard and Helio Castroneves. Poughkeepsie, NY-based Dyson Racing debuted its new Porsches at Sebring with a fifth-place class finish for Butch Leitzinger, Andy Wallace and Andy Lally. Two addition RS Spyders are set to debut this summer from Jacksonville, FL-based CET/Solaroli Motorsports, which also will field a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in GT2.
Prior to the start of the 2007 American Le Mans Series Season, the new GT2 factory-supported Rahal Letterman Racing squad and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) announced expansion of the Team Ethanol program to include RLR's new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (Type 997) operation. The team announcement was made in conjunction with the Series' announcement that Ethanol-enhanced fuel (E10) would become one of the official fuel selections for its competition season.
Rahal Letterman Racing will make its first St. Petersburg start as part of the American Le Mans Series.
Click here for Hi-Res
A total of 119 drivers have scored Series victories in the nine-year history of the American Le Mans Series to date (1999-2007), the latest being Andretti Green Racing's Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan at Sebring in an Acura ARX. In the history of the Series, 705 drivers have competed in at least one race including 26 first-time starters at Sebring.
No American Le Mans Series driver has captured a pole in each of the nine seasons of the Series. Ron Fellows (2000-02, 2004-2006) holds the current mark with a pole position start in seven of the eight seasons.
Jan Magnussen (Panoz, Ferrari and Corvette) and David Brabham (Panoz, Ferrari and Aston Martin) are the only drivers in Series history to win races for three marques. Twenty-eight (28) drivers have won for two different marques.
Jon Field, Jan Magnussen, Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen, David Brabham, Timo Bernhard and Emmanuel Collard have won in different race car or chassis/engine combinations.
Olivier Beretta, GT1 co-champion, holds the all-time American Le Mans Series record for career victories (29) thanks to a third career GT1 win at Sebring. He is three ahead of Penske Motorsports' Sascha Maassen (26), who shared the 2006 P2 championship with Lucas Luhr, and four ahead of Corvette mates Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell (25) with JJ Lehto next (23). Maassen's former teammate Lucas Luhr stands sixth all-time with 23, one ahead of 2006 LMP1 co-champion Rinaldo Capello and Frank Biela (22). Next are Beretta's teammate Oliver Gavin (20), Timo Bernhard (18), Jorg Bergmeister and Emanuele Pirro (16), and Clint Field and Audi mates Allan McNish and Marco Werner (15).
