IN THEIR OWN WORDS: LIME ROCK PARK
Small, fast and tight. Those are the three words that best describe Lime Rock Park, site of this weekend's American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix. At least Series drivers think so. Despite its size, the 1.54-mile, eight-turn circuit has plenty to offer the four classes of sports cars over the course of two hours and 45 minutes. What are some of the examples? Allow a collection of Series drivers to explain.
Scott Maxwell, Panoz Team PTG
Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2)
"Lime Rock is a tight, smaller track with a lot of bumps. You're going with a totally different setup (than at Miller Motorsports Park). It's so tight that you'll go with a lot of aerodynamic aides and whatnot. It's a very physical track; whereas Salt Lake City is more physical because of the heat, Lime Rock just pounds away at you, the machinery and the drivers."
Allan McNish, Audi Sport North America
Audi R10 TDI (LMP1)
"I raced at Lime Rock for the first time last year and had heard a lot about it. Obviously it's a very historic venue. I was surprised at how quick it is. When you get there and you see it, you think 'OK this is a second-gear corner, a third-gear corner.' Then when you drive around it, you realize it's like a roller-coaster. It's up and down and fast. The last diving corner is a real man's corner. That's the one in qualifying where you take one sharp intake of breath, close one eye and get in there on the throttle.
"From Dindo's and my point of view, we were successful in the last race for the Audi R8. It was a proud moment when we crossed the line victorious. Looking at this year's event, the competition is going to be keen for revenge and we're very keen to make sure they don't get it."
Timo Bernhard, Penske Motorsports
Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)
"It's very small but also very challenging. You have a lap time that is about 46 seconds. To play the strategy right is not easy. Last year we had a really good race. We were fighting for the overall victory and we won the class, Romain (Dumas) and myself. It was a really good race.
"There it's totally different. You do not have a lot of runoffs. The track is quite bumpy and not smooth. The setup has to be much more of a compromise. You have traffic every lap and will nearly never get a clear lap. You are facing different things there and it will be a challenging race. That's what I like about the American Le Mans Series. You have different kinds of tracks all the time. At the end of the year it will be best driver on all kinds of tracks that will win the championship."
Darren Law, Flying Lizard Motorsports
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2)
"Lime Rock is a great place to race. I love going there, I love the fans. We always get a great turnout. It's a tough track to race on for us because we have such a mix of classes between prototypes and GTs. There's not a lot of room to pass. So that makes it a very tough race to do but it's a lot of fun."
Johannes van Overbeek, Flying Lizard Motorsports
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2)
"Lime Rock is a unique place. It's a beautiful part of the country in the Northeast. I've been racing there since the late 90s just about every year. It's really an enthusiastic fan base there. It's a fun event. The track is a unique challenge. They don't build tracks like that anymore and it's sort of a throwback to the old days."
Robin Liddell, Tafel Racing
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2)
"It's obviously one of the more established parts of the country. It's a nice part of the world to go and it's one of the classic sports car venues of North America. In some ways it's not ideally suited to prototype cars, especially the faster cars. But in another way everyone is happy to go there because it is a great event and has a lot of history. It usually throws up some interesting races. Because it isn't an easy track to overtake on and there is quite a bit of undulation and gradient change, it makes for an entertaining race."
David Brabham, Highcroft Racing
Acura ARX (LMP2)
"Lime Rock is always a busy little track. We go from the longest one to the shortest one, and the setups will be completely different from a car perspective. There is always very good, close racing. There are a couple of corners which have concrete strips and you lose front-end grip. To try to find grip on that surface is difficult for the team. But it's another great track for us."
Round Six of the American Le Mans Series is the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix, set for 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 7 at Lime Rock Park. CBS Sports will televise the race at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 8. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA Live Timing & Scoring.
Small, fast and tight. Those are the three words that best describe Lime Rock Park, site of this weekend's American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix. At least Series drivers think so. Despite its size, the 1.54-mile, eight-turn circuit has plenty to offer the four classes of sports cars over the course of two hours and 45 minutes. What are some of the examples? Allow a collection of Series drivers to explain.
Scott Maxwell, Panoz Team PTG
Panoz Esperante GTLM (GT2)
"Lime Rock is a tight, smaller track with a lot of bumps. You're going with a totally different setup (than at Miller Motorsports Park). It's so tight that you'll go with a lot of aerodynamic aides and whatnot. It's a very physical track; whereas Salt Lake City is more physical because of the heat, Lime Rock just pounds away at you, the machinery and the drivers."
Allan McNish, Audi Sport North America
Audi R10 TDI (LMP1)
"I raced at Lime Rock for the first time last year and had heard a lot about it. Obviously it's a very historic venue. I was surprised at how quick it is. When you get there and you see it, you think 'OK this is a second-gear corner, a third-gear corner.' Then when you drive around it, you realize it's like a roller-coaster. It's up and down and fast. The last diving corner is a real man's corner. That's the one in qualifying where you take one sharp intake of breath, close one eye and get in there on the throttle.
"From Dindo's and my point of view, we were successful in the last race for the Audi R8. It was a proud moment when we crossed the line victorious. Looking at this year's event, the competition is going to be keen for revenge and we're very keen to make sure they don't get it."
Timo Bernhard, Penske Motorsports
Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)
"It's very small but also very challenging. You have a lap time that is about 46 seconds. To play the strategy right is not easy. Last year we had a really good race. We were fighting for the overall victory and we won the class, Romain (Dumas) and myself. It was a really good race.
"There it's totally different. You do not have a lot of runoffs. The track is quite bumpy and not smooth. The setup has to be much more of a compromise. You have traffic every lap and will nearly never get a clear lap. You are facing different things there and it will be a challenging race. That's what I like about the American Le Mans Series. You have different kinds of tracks all the time. At the end of the year it will be best driver on all kinds of tracks that will win the championship."
Darren Law, Flying Lizard Motorsports
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2)
"Lime Rock is a great place to race. I love going there, I love the fans. We always get a great turnout. It's a tough track to race on for us because we have such a mix of classes between prototypes and GTs. There's not a lot of room to pass. So that makes it a very tough race to do but it's a lot of fun."
Johannes van Overbeek, Flying Lizard Motorsports
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2)
"Lime Rock is a unique place. It's a beautiful part of the country in the Northeast. I've been racing there since the late 90s just about every year. It's really an enthusiastic fan base there. It's a fun event. The track is a unique challenge. They don't build tracks like that anymore and it's sort of a throwback to the old days."
Robin Liddell, Tafel Racing
Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2)
"It's obviously one of the more established parts of the country. It's a nice part of the world to go and it's one of the classic sports car venues of North America. In some ways it's not ideally suited to prototype cars, especially the faster cars. But in another way everyone is happy to go there because it is a great event and has a lot of history. It usually throws up some interesting races. Because it isn't an easy track to overtake on and there is quite a bit of undulation and gradient change, it makes for an entertaining race."
David Brabham, Highcroft Racing
Acura ARX (LMP2)
"Lime Rock is always a busy little track. We go from the longest one to the shortest one, and the setups will be completely different from a car perspective. There is always very good, close racing. There are a couple of corners which have concrete strips and you lose front-end grip. To try to find grip on that surface is difficult for the team. But it's another great track for us."
Round Six of the American Le Mans Series is the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix, set for 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 7 at Lime Rock Park. CBS Sports will televise the race at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 8. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA Live Timing & Scoring.
