Winter Test, Sebring - Notes From The Press Conferences

Positivity

ALMS/IMSA

New corporate sponsor – Mikimoto, a high end jewelry brand has signed on as a corporate sponsor of the American Le Mans Series for the 2009 season.

According to Scott Atherton, the series is weathering the financial crisis as well as any series out there.  Yes, there have been some hits, but he feels like it is the best positioned racing series around. 

Green Racing continues to gain notoriety for the series.  The upcoming Washington DC Auto Show will take on increased importance, as the EPA/DOE will have 20,000 sq ft of room to promote their cause.  The ALMS has been invited to participate as well as bring cars to display.  Scott Atherton will be a speaker at the show, as will Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan.

The series is in serious talks with 3 manufacturers concerning possible entry into the series.  One is expected to be announced at the Sebring race in March, and should make the grid at sometime in the 2009 calendar.  Those that are rumored to be, or could be part of this are Jaguar (GT2), Toyota, Ford (LMP2 hybrid?) and Hyundai.

There is an opportunity for Audi to return to the series at a later date, possibly this season.  Certain criteria must be met for this to occur, but there is hope that it may still happen this season.

To address the car counts, the series is making a full effort to educate existing teams in other series about the opportunities here, with the hope of bringing them into the fold at some point.  Scott emphasized that this is not an attempt to steal teams from other series at all.

For quite some time, there has been a desire to simplify the series, and with the transition of Corvette Racing to the GT2 class, the series has the opportunity to move to a single GT class format.  Scott clarified that GT1 was not completely dead, and would accept entries, but only if they were quality and serious efforts.  As of now, he has heard of no interest in GT1 competitors stepping into the fold, so for all practical intents, the class will be non-existent in the ALMS.   There would not be any way that any old or non-serious efforts allowed in to take advantage of the situation for points on monies.

BMW

At this time, it is a North American effort only.  There are no plans for any activity in the LMS or FIA series at this time. 

The chassis being tested today is indeed a new chassis that was finished at the Rahal-Letterman shop.  The car was inspected last week as part of the homologation process, and the results of the inspection should arrive to the team in the next few days.

The 4 announced drivers are the drivers that the team will be using all season long.  No additional drivers are expected for the endurance races.

Bobby Rahal did indicate that the team did enter the 2007 races with the intention of gaining experience to be in place for the BMW effort.

Acura

Le Mans is an aspiration or dream, but is not in the plans for this year.  The car is designed with the ALMS circuits in mind, and it is so early in the development cycle – there are so much that is not yet known about the car.  To go now would be too early to do so.  Also, to race competitively at Le Mans, a lower down force package would need to be developed.  Conceptually that has been started, but no actual work has taken place in that regard as of yet.

The P1 car is so far quite good on the Michelin tires.  They might be able to go to softer compounds and/or may be able to look at double stinting, triple stinting, or possibly even more.

Doug Fehan

“It’s been a busy winter – it’s good to be busy in Detroit right now!”

The GT2 car should be on track in early spring.  Still the same schedule as previously announced for Corvette – Sebring, Long Beach and Le Mans for GT1, with the GT2 coming on line later in the season.

Did confirm driver line-up changes for 2009, but the announcements will be announced at a later date, possibly as soon as today or could have to wait until next week.  GM policies have a bit of an influence on the timing and the way the announcements will be made.

Doug did confirm that the cars will be in the traditional yellow markings, but did add that there will likely be some surprises along the way, graphics wise.

Dyson – Mazda

There had been serious talks over the last 18 months concerning a partnership between the two groups.  With the addition of Dyson to the fold, there will be 6 prototypes running Mazda motors in Le Mans type racing.

For Dyson, it will be a homecoming of sorts, as they reunite with Lola and AER.  With the Mazda motor being a derivative of the AER V-8 that the team competed with earlier, the team is familiar with the package. 

The new 2009 spec car is due to arrive at the Dyson shops next month and will be here later in the month for testing.  The 2008 spec chassis (ex-BK) will be fully upgraded to 2009 spec later on.

Mention of Le Mans was positively received from both Chris Dyson and John Doonan.  This is something that really a strong possibility for the future, perhaps as early as 2010.

Chris did also mention that a team is in serious negotiation for the purchase of the team’s Porsche Spyder.  The deal has not yet been consummated, but is progressing along seriously.  The team discussing the purchase is serious about racing the car, although a Sebring debut is unlikely.

GH & RW