RFM Front Page News

Photos courtesy Dan BoydBOWMANVILLE, ON – (March 11, 2008) North America's most prestigious sports car racing championship, the American Le Mans Series, begins its historic 10th season this weekend with one of the most storied endurance races in the world - the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. This season will see some of the world's finest road racers pilot exotic prototypes and production-based GT cars from renowned marques such as Audi, Porsche, Acura, Corvette, Ferrari and Aston Martin at eleven of North America's most demanding road courses and street circuits. Mosport will once again host the only Canadian stop on the schedule: the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport, Aug. 21-24. The season will see two Canadians competing in a partial schedule. Ron Fellows, the Mississauga, Ontario-based racing legend and one of the all-time popular drivers in Series history, will once again take his familiar spot behind the wheel of the No. 3 Corvette Racing entry at Sebring, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June and the 10-hour Petit Le Mans in October. He is also hoping to secure a ride at his home track- Mosport- in late August. Toronto's Tony Burgess will also compete in the longer races, co-driving the No. 12 Autocon Motorsports Creation CA-007-02 LMP1 entry at Sebring, Petit Le Mans event at Road Atlanta and the four-hour season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in October. He is also confirmed to compete at Mosport. This season marks the beginning of a new era for the American Le Mans Series as it becomes the first major racing series in the world to have every car on its grid racing one of three alternative "street legal" fuels. Widely acclaimed as the global leader in green racing, every car in the Series will race a clean diesel, an E10 or an E85 ethanol blend that is virtually identical to what consumers put in their cars at the fuel station. In the top prototype class, LMP1, Audi Sport North America will field two R10 TDI prototypes in a bid to notch their sixth class championship. Class champions Dindo Capello and Allan McNish will pilot the No.1 car, while Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner in the No. 2 machine. Joining the Audi in LMP1 for 2008 are the Creation CA07-002 of Autocon Motorsports (with Canadian Burgess co-driving), the E85 ethanol-powered Lola B06/10 of Intersport Racing and the Radical R10 of ECO Racing. The second prototype division is called LMP2, and the Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyders will face some tough new competition as they attempt to win their third straight class championship and improve upon their incredible eight overall race wins in 2007. Looking to unseat defending champions Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard in the No. 7 Penske Porsche, are four Acura-powered teams, each with strong connections to open-wheel racing. Lowe's Fernandez Racing is led by former Champ Car and IndyCar driver Adrian Fernandez who serves and team owner and co-driver with Luis Diaz. Patrón Highcroft Racing features a new primary sponsor for 2008 and a new co-driver with Scott Sharp moving over from the IndyCar Series to co-pilot the No. 9 machine with David Brabham. Former Formula 1 and Champ Car driver Christian Fittipaldi will team with IndyCar Series veteran Bryan Herta to pilot the No. 26 XM car for Andretti Green Racing. The newest Acura entry to join the field will be led by former Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran, who will serve both as co-driver and owner. The team will begin racing later this season and will be on the Mosport grid in late August. The two Porsche RS Spyders of Dyson Racing and the Mazda-powered entry from B-K Motorsports will also be vying for the class title. The familiar yellow No. 3 and 4 Corvette Racing C6-R's will attempt to secure the legendary marque's eighth consecutive GT1 class title, but a familiar rival returns to challenge its dominance this season - Bell Motorsports will field an Aston Martin DBR9. In 2008 Corvette Racing will join a growing list of American Le Mans Series that will use an alternative fuel source with both of its cars will being powered by E85 ethanol. Of all the classes in the American Le Mans Series, 2008 brings the most change in the GT2 class with several new teams, drivers, cars and sponsors. Defending class champion Risi Competizione returns with a two-car Ferrari F430 GT team featuring 2007 champions Jaime Melo and Mika Salo in the No. 62 car and a new driver lineup for t he No. 61 machine- Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson. One of several new entries is a factory-supported, E85 bio-ethanol powered Aston Martin V8 Vantage team to be co-driven by Lord Paul Drayson who in addition to finishing second overall in the 2007 British GT championship, is also a former British government minister and member of the House of Lords. Three other prominent nameplates join the GT2 field this season- Corvette, Ford and Dodge. Lou Gigliotti will serve as team principal and co-drive (with Doug Peterson) the LG Motorsports C6 Corvette, while David and Andrea Robertson will get behind the wheel of the powerful Robertson Racing Ford GT-R. Another legendary performance marque will also enter the class this season with Primetime Race Group’s Dodge Viper joining the field. The start of the new season also brings about changes for Tafel Racing which has switched over to Ferrari F430 GTs for its two entries from the Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs it ran in 2007. Flying Lizard Motorsports is expanding its Porsche team to include three cars for the 2008 season, while Panoz Team PTG has confirmed the No.21 Esperante GTLM will return for another year. The 2008 American Le Mans Series season gets underway with the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 15. The race will start at 10 a.m. ET and will be broadcast live by SPEED, which will begin its coverage at 9:30 a.m., MotorsTV, Fox Latin America; 7TV in Russia and Greenlight Television will provide international coverage as well. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com. 2008 American Le Mans Series Schedule March 15- Mobil 1 presents the 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida April 5- Acura Sports Car Challenge of St.Petersburg April 19- Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach May 18- Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by Grand & Little Hotels July 12- American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix July 19- Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio August 9- Generac 500 at Road America August 24- Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport August 30- Detroit Sports Car Challenge presented by Bosch October 4- Petit Le Mans October 18- Monterey Sports Car Championships