ALMS - Petit Le Mans

Highlights From the State Of The Series Address

Series to go back in line with the ACO with separate LMP1 and LMP2 classes.

Cars that ran in 2010 will be grandfathered in for 2011

LMPC will remain mostly as is.  Most components were mentioned as the same, but no mention was made on the powerplant.  IMSA is seeking improvements on operating costs for the entrants in this class.

GTC will be for only 2010 and 2011 Porsche GT3 Cup cars and the field will be capped at 10 entrants.

A new entrant was announced for GT.  West Racing will field a pair of Lamborghini LP-560 GT in the 2011 season, with sponsorship from Yokahama Tires.

Bob and Bill Riley were on hand to unveil their new LMP2 chassis concept.  No orders are in the books as of yet.  The car will be built in the Riley shops in North Carolina, utilizing components from already established partners that Riley has worked with.  The car will utilize existing concepts, pushed, in order to produce a car that should be quick out of the box.

The gap in the schedule – Long Beach (mid April) to Lime Rock (July) is due to the Le Mans test, which according to sources is scheduled to be the weekend of April 24, just one week after Long Beach.  According to Scott Atherton, the LM test is only a one off – it is only intended for the 2011 season.  The ALMS will announce later an event to fill the gap in the schedule – consider it tba, but it will not be a race.

No television package was announced.  This is a contract negotiation time.  The announcement will also come later.  Web based content will be an important part of the future broadcasting for the series though.  Social networking (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube…) will continue to be priorities.

According to surveys, the series has made significant in-roads with the younger demographic, specifically the 18-34 age group, which has grown by 100% over the last 2 years.

Other important measurements have either held the same or improved – this data indicates the strength of the series, just 1 year after many had all but written it off.

Overall attendance has been up, but two races were down – Laguna and Miller.  Miller is now gone and Laguna was likely due to schedule change.

Not a single "If you only knew what I knew" was heard...