Back in the early 1990s, when the fantastic Group C sportscar category imploded thanks to a combination of spiralling costs and the 3.5 litre engine regulations which rendered many of the good, serious privateer entries obsolete overnight, there was much talk of how the future of sports car racing would revolve around racing versions of recognisable high performance road going sportscars from manufacturers like Ferrari, Porsche and Lotus.  read more »

On March 15th, the 56th running of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring will be held. And while Audi will be seeking to re-establish its dominance over the competition with its R10TDI turbo diesels, hopefully the Peugeot 908 and LMP2 class Porsche RS Spyders and ARC 01B Acuras can give the Audi juggernaut some competition. Instead of trying to give a overview of the various teams participating, which Ive previously done in Sebring redux, Id like to focus on something a little different instead. Many moons before I was introduced into the wonderful world of motor racing, an American heiress cracked the gender barrier by becoming the very first female to compete in the twelve hours of Sebring.  read more »

Chevy Factory Team Ready for First Race with Cellulosic E85R on Bayside CircuitA new era for Corvette Racing will begin on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on April 5 when Chevrolet's factory road racing team runs cellulosic E85 racing ethanol in the American Le Mans Series Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by XM. The twin Compuware Corvette C6.R race cars have been outfitted with new fuel cells that are compatible with the ethanol/gasoline blend and their LS7.R small-block V-8 racing engines have been recalibrated for the high-octane renewable alternative fuel.  read more »

The No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC earned its third-consecutive American Le Mans Series podium in dramatic fashion in today's Utah Grand Prix. The Cumming, Ga.-based team took-over third- place on the last lap of the two hour and 45-minute event at the 3.048-miles, the 15-turn Miller Motorsports Park (MMP). The No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GTC had a less satisfying return to the Series after a two race sabbatical finishing 16th in class. No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC Drivers: Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany), Dirk Mller (a native of Germany now living in Monaco) Coming off of two-straight American Le Mans Series GT2 class victories (St. Petersburg and Long Beach), all eyes were on the No.  read more »

The Penske Porsche RS Spyders of Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) maintained their LMP2 championship points lead over the American Le Mans Series with a second place finish at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach's Tequila Patron ALMS street race, while teammates Patrick Long (USA) and Sascha Maassen (Germany) finished third in class, equaling their best finish of the season.  read more »

Long Beach, Calif.: The #5 VICI Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR finished the Tequila Patrn American Le Mans Series at Long Beach Race this afternoon in a pleasing 8th place, the team delighted to see the chequered flag again after the issues encountered last time out at St. Petersburg. After 1 hour 40 minutes and 57.061 seconds of hard racing on the famous 1.968-mile temporary road course circuit Nathan Swartzbaugh crossed the finish line in the #5 VICI Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, after 64 incident-free laps.

The American Le Mans Series GT2 Championship-winning Risi Competizione team will extend its racing relationship with Krohn Racing for the final two rounds of the 2008 season.

The two teams have joined together for endurance races both in the United States and at Le Mans over the last two years with great success. The highlights have been wins for Risi at Le Mans this year and Sebring in 2007, with the Krohn green car taking a superb second place at Le Mans 14 months ago and an equally strong podium finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring at the start of the 2008 season in March.

Tafel Racing earned its first American Le Mans Series career pole position today in preparation for Saturday's Generac 500 at Road America. Dirk Mller's (a native of Germany now living in Monaco) lap of two minutes, 6.083-seconds in the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC bettered the previous GT2 class track record by over one second. Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) will start the Bell Micro machine in tomorrow's four hour race. Alex Figge (Denver) put the No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GTC, shared with Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.), seventh in class with a time of 2:08.385. Ferraris swept the front row for the second endurance event of the season.  read more »

No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Ferrari Looks for ALMS Hat Trick, No. 73 Returns to Tafel Racing After two GT2 class victories in the three American Le Mans Series races held thus far in 2008, Tafel Racing is enjoying a surge of momentum entering the Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park (MMP). The May 18, two hour and 45-minute feature comes after two straight wins in the Series for the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC driven by Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) and Dirk Mller (a native of Germany living in Monaco) and precedes a seven-week break on the schedule. A successful run at MMP can help carry early season momentum into the heart of the schedule for the Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.) owned effort. The Tooele, Utah-area track also marks the fulltime return of the No.  read more »

The return of BMW to American Le Mans Series competition with Rahal Letterman Racing will feature cutting-edge technology and the latest in performance and innovation, so it is only fitting that a company that embodies all of these ideals has become the first to sign on as a sponsor of the new racing program.

NEC Display Solutions of America and Rahal Letterman Racing today announced the signing of a multi-year partnership where NEC will join the Ohio-based team's Series program as an associate sponsor. One of the world's leaders in monitors, plasma displays, projection and integrated display solutions, NEC becomes the first company to join RLR and BMW as the German manufacturer makes its much-anticipated return to American sports car racing in 2009.