Guide to American Le Mans Series

Spring is finally here and the racing season has begun. We would all be fooling ourselves if we admitted that we knew everything about all the racing series. In an effort to reduce confusion and hopefully bring some clarity, we will start a series of articles about the various road racing series in U.S. and the world. Feedback is always appreciated; let us know what you want to see or if we missed something. We start off with American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron.

History:

The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) is run under sanction by the International Motor Sports Association. With its first full season all the way back in 1999, the ALMS started a program for innovation in sports car racing. Basing their rulebook off of the rules required at the 24 hours of Le Mans, the ALMS takes a few liberties in the name of technology and “green” initiatives, dubbing themselves the “World Leader in Green Racing”. Racing predominately in the United States, they have been known to race overseas from time to time, the 2000 race in Adelaide, Australia for example, and there is usually at least one race per year in Canada.

Current Season:

The 2011 ALMS season consists of a 9 race schedule of multi-class endurance-style sports car races. Five classes contest at each event, each slightly faster than the last. This selection of classes adds another twist to each event with the faster cars having to pick their way through the slower cars, while the slower cars must watch their mirrors to avoid collision with a quicker car.

Classification:

There are five classes in the ALMS currently; LMP1, LMP2, LMPC, GTE, and GTC.

LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype 1)

This class for open and closed top prototype racers. Since the 2007 debut of the Audi R10, the class has been outright dominated by diesel powered cars from Audi and Peugeot. Recently, rules have been changed to allow petrol powered cars to close the gap to the oil burners, however that gap is still substantial, as the fastest of the gasoline cars were more than 3 seconds adrift of the pole time set by a Peugeot diesel at the 12 hours of Sebring late last month.

LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2)

Class that, until recently, was dominated by the Penske motorsports run Porsche RS Spyders. The car is no longer supported by Porsche, and without development, is now obsolete. Currently the class has reverted to the hands of privateers with minimal involvement from automotive manufacturers. Though they have less power than the “P1” cars, they are lighter and more nimble, therefore potentially quicker at shorter, tighter circuits. For that reason, this season the P2 class has been dramatically slowed as to keep a distance between the two classes.

LMPC (Le Mans Prototype Challenge)

Spec class for open topped chassis supplied by Oreca, powered by a spec Chevrolet V8 engine. This class was introduced last year, and has proven to be quite competitive, usually drawing at least 5 cars per race. Due to the relatively inexpensive cost of entry to the class, it is a very good way to get started in international endurance racing. This class, along with the GTC class has allowed for full grids, even in economically depressed times.

GTE (Grand Touring Endurance)

This is the class previously known as GT2. With the recent death of the GT1 class, the number has been rendered obsolete. GTE is now broken into amateur and professional classes to differentiate. The GTE Am class is limited to drivers who are not currently full time racers. This class is a street car based specification in which recognizable sports cars compete. This year the class will be contested by the Porsche GT3 RSR, the Ferrari 458 Italia, the BMW M3 GTR, the Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1, Doran’s Ford GT and the Panoz Abruzzi. BMW jumped to the lead quickly with a win at the 12 hours of Sebring, though Chevrolet was not far behind, and brand new cars from Porsche and Ferrari should not be counted out for wins throughout the season.

GTC (Grand Touring Challenge)

Similar to the LMPC class is a spec class that is less expensive to run, but with limited cars. This year, as last, is limited to Porsche’s GT3 Cup car. It is approximately 200 pounds heavier than the GT3 RSR in GTE. Where the GTE cars consistently reach speeds in excess of 180 miles per hour, the GTC cars struggle to touch 150 mph. Though the class is built to specification, you would be a fool to bet against Black Swan Racing, as they always seem to come out ahead.

How to watch:

In 2011, the ALMS moved its programming away from a standard format on television to a 100% live programming schedule broadcast over several venues. In 2010, the American Le Mans series had a contract with SPEED to broadcast the majority of its races live with ABC showing the remainder on a tape delayed basis. The programming schedule worked, for the most part, however the series was expanding and wanted to reach more viewers than SPEED channel would allow.

For this year, IMSA has struck a deal with the ABC network of channels to show completely live coverage through ESPN3.com, including qualifying. This level of access and coverage is unprecedented for the fan, while proving that the ALMS is a forward thinking brand. ESPN3.com also shows all of its programming on Microsoft’s X-Box Live network. In addition to the live coverage, ABC and ESPN are showing tape delayed “race recaps” on the day after the races for the casual fan. While the series took a lot of criticism for the move, the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring saw record levels of viewership, more than tripling the number of viewers in the event’s previous record year of 2009. The full 12 hours of Sebring remains available to view on ESPN3.com and AmericanLeMans.com. If you missed it, go watch it, it was a good one!

If the season opening race is any indication, the ALMS should be on an exploding wave of growth this year. The grid was a record 56 cars deep, while race attendance was at an all time high, and more people watched the race through various medium than ever have before. North American sports car racing is back with a vengeance and it doesn’t look like it will be stopping anytime soon!

Schedule:

Race 1 – Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sebring, FL. March 19th

Race 2 – American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, Long Beach, CA. April 16th

Race 3 – American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix, Lakeville, CT. July 9th

Race 4 – Mobil 1 presents Grand Prix of Mosport, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. July 24th

Race 5 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge, Lexington, OH. August 6th

Race 6 – Road Race Showcase, Elkhart Lake, WI. August 20th

Race 7 – Baltimore Grand Prix, Baltimore, MD. September 3rd

Race 8 – American Le Mans Series Monterey, Monterey, CA. September 17th

Race 9 – Petit Le Mans, Braselton, GA. October 1st

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