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European and North American teams raced together at the 2012 Sebring 12 Hours. Many of these same teams could return for Petit Le Mans in October. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)
After cancelling its Zolder round for poor turnout and racing at Donington with only 13 cars, the European Le Mans Series has dropped the final two races of its 2012 season.
In conjunction with parent body Automobile Club de l’Ouest and sister series American Le Mans Series, ELMS will instead invite its entrants to participate in the ALMS season finale, the ten-hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on October 20.
Both series have been hurt by the ACO/FIA World Endurance Championship, which siphoned off some of the best entries of both series. ELMS has no P1 cars, a strong P2 field and a very weak GT entry. ALMS has feeble P1 and P2 fields, but an excellent GT grid.
Organizers hope that combining the two series for one race will provide the kind of entry which made Petit Le Mans the third most important sports car endurance race after Le Mans and Sebring. The combined grid could easily top forty cars, which is close to optimal for the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta course.
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