Fast Cars From Around the World Heading to Petit Le Mans

Lou Gigliotti's GT2 Corvette will return to racing at Petit Le Mans. (Jeff Yeh/The Epoch Times)

A thundering hoard of powerful automobiles is swooping down on Georgia, planning to do battle at Road Atlanta in the 12^th annual Petit Le Mans endurance race.

The four-day Petit Le Mans event, September 23-26, features twelve races in eight different series, culminating in the Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda6 endurance classic. Sports cars, sports racing cars, and open-wheel Formula Atlantic cars will be practicing and racing from 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday the 23^rd almost non-stop until 11:15 pm Saturday the 26^th (please see schedule below.)

The four days of Petit Le Mans is arguably the biggest sports car event of the year, and definitely not an event to miss. Visit the Road Atlanta Web site for Petit Le Mans ticket information.

The Big One

IMSA, the parent of governing body which International Motor Sports Association has released its provisional entry list for the 12^th annual Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda6 American Le Mans Series endurance race, which will start at 11:15 a.m. on September 26, at Road Atlanta Raceway in Braselton, Ga.

Petit Le Mans is a ten-hour, one-thousand mile test of endurance, speed and teamwork on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta circuit. Petit Le Mans is one of two North American races which attract European teams (the other being the Twelve hours of Sebring.)

This year, Le Mans winner Peugeot will send a pair of diesel 908’s, while Sebring winner Audi will bring two diesel R15 TDs to race in the Le Mans Prototype class (P1), the fastest and most technologically advanced class. The two European giants will face off against the ALMS-leading Acura ARX-02a’s of Patrón Highcroft and de Ferran Racing, plus the Lolas of Intersport and Autocon.

P1 will be further augmented by two more European teams. ECO Racing will bring its Radical SR9, powered by a diesel engine based on the 5-liter Volkswagen V10.

Also, Drayson Racing, the team of British science minister Lord Paul Drayson, will bring a Judd V10-powered Lola coupe in his team’s first foray into the P1 class. Drayson Racing is best known for successfully campaigning Aston Martins in GT2.

While the diesels are generally acknowledged to be the fastest cars on the track, it is possible that the Acuras, with their greater traction, will be able to make up time through Road Atlanta’s high-speed corners. The Intersport and Autocon Lolas are almost as fast as the diesels; reliability has been their weak pint so far this season. The Drayson Lola is an unknown, but similar Aston Martin-powered Lola couples did quite well at Le Mans in June, so the Drayson car should be in contention.

A Rich GT2 Field

GT2, often the most hotly contested class in ALMS racing, will see a field of thirteen (possibly fourteen) cars taking the green flag at road Atlanta. Aside from the regular ALMS entries, Team Falken Tire is bringing its Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, and Lou Gigliotti, whose car burst into flames at its last race, is back with a new Corvette CR6.

The Rocketsports Racing GT2 Jaguar XKR will probably only run test laps. The car is not yet sufficiently developed to warrant racing the entire thousand miles. No official announcement has been made, but insiders report that the car will probably not actually race until 2010.
 

Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda6 Provisional Entry List
P1
	Drivers		Team			Sponsors		Car	Engine
1	Lucas Luhr/ Marco Werner		Audi Sport North America					Audi R15 TDI	Audi
2	Rinaldo Capello/ Allan McNish		Audi Sport North America					Audi R15 TDI	Audi
7	Olivier Panis/ Nicolas Lapierre		Oreca Matmut AIM					Oreca 01	AIM
9	David Brabham/ Scott Sharp/ Dario Franchitti		Patrón Highcroft Racing			The Patrón Spirits Company/Acura/ Michelin/ Forbes		Acura ARX-02a9	Acura
10	Hideki Noda/ Jose Manuel Balbiani		ECO Racing					Radical SR9	AER
12	Tony Burgess/ Chris McMurry/ Bryan Willman		Autocon Motorsports			JeanRichard/ Redline/ Cyclo		Lola B06/10	AER
37	Jon Field/ Clint Field		Intersport Racing			Strategic Air/ Lenco Mobile		Lola B06/10	AER
48	Johnny Mowlem Stefan Johansson		Corsa Motorsports					Ginetta-Zytek 09HS	Zytek
66	Gil de Ferran/ Simon Pagenaud		de Ferran Motorsports			XM Radio/ Panasonic/ Acura/Michelin		Acura ARX-02a	Acura
88	Paul Drayson/ Jonny Cocker/ Rob Bell		Drayson Racing					Lola B09 60	Judd
07	TBA		Team Peugeot			Total		Peugeot 908 HDI FAP	Peugeot
08	TBA		Team Peugeot			Total		Peugeot 908 HDI FAP	Peugeot
P2
	Drivers			Team			Sponsors	Car	Engine
6	Greg Pickett/ Klaus Graf/ Sasha Maassen			Team Cytosport			Muscle Milk	Porsche RS Spyder	Porsche
15	Adrian Fernandez/ Luis Diaz			Lowe’s Fernandez Racing			Lowe’s	Acura ARX-01B	Acura
16	Chris Dyson/ Guy Smith			Dyson Racing Team, Inc			BP/ Mazda	Lola B09 86	Mazda
19	Gunnar van der Steur/ Adam Pecorari/ Robbie Pecorari			van der Steur Racing, Inc.			EFC Systems Inc./ Kumho Tires	Radical SR9	AER
20	Butch Leitzinger/ Marino Franchitti			Dyson Racing Team, Inc			BP/ Mazda	Lola B09 86	Mazda /
GT2
	Drivers				Team		Sponsors	Car	Engine
3	Jan Magnussen/ Johnny O'Connell/ Antonio Garcia				Corvette Racing		Compuware	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Chevrolet
4	Olivier Berretta/ Oliver Gavin/ Marcel Fassler				Corvette Racing		Compuware	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Chevrolet
11	Joel Feinberg/ Chris Hall				Primetime Race Group		Louis Moinet/ Aces Land and Sea/ Levinson Jewelers/ BryanMark Financial Group	Dodge Viper Competition Coupe	Dodge
17	Bryan Sellers/ Dominic Cicero				Team Falken Tire		Falken Tire	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Porsche
21	Dominik Farnbacher/ Ian James				Panoz Team PTG			Panoz Esperante GTLM	Ford
28	Lou Gigliotti/ TBA				LG Motorsports		Hot Shot/ Cutter	Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6	Chevrolet
33	TBA				Rocketsports Racing			Jaguar XKR	Jaguar
40	David Robertson/ Andrea Robertson/ David Murry				Robertson Racing, LLC		Roush-Yates Engines	GT MK 7Doran Designs, Inc.	Ford
44	Darren Law/ Seth Neiman/ Johannes van Overbeek				Flying Lizard Motorsports		ShoreTel/ eSilicon/ RedlineCoffee.com	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Porsche
45	Joerg Bergmeister Patrick Long Marc Lieb				Flying Lizard Motorsports		ShoreTel/ eSilicon/ RedlineCoffee.com	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Porsche
62	Jaime Melo/ Pierre Kaffer/ Mika Salo				Risi Competizione			Ferrari 430 GT	Ferrari
87	Dirk Werner Wolf Henzler				Farnbacher Loles Racing			Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Porsche
90	Bill Auberlen/ Joey Hand				BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team			BMW E92 M3	BMW
92	Dirk Mueller/ Tommy Milner				BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team			BMW E92 M3	BMW
P1—12		P2—5					GT2—14	Total—31

Schedule: Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda 6

Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA September 23–26, 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

8:00 a.m.–8:20 a.m.: Practice—SPEED World Challenge Touring

8:25 a.m.–8:45 a.m.: Practice—SPEED World Challenge GT

9:00 a.m.–9:30 a.m.: Practice—Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama

9:45 a.m.–10:15 a.m.: Practice—IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire

10:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.: Practice—Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda

11:15 a.m.–11:45 a.m.: Practice—BF Goodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda

11:45 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Lunch

12:30 p–1:00 p.m.: Practice—Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama

1:15 p–1:45 p.m.: Practice—Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear

2:00 p–2:30 p.m.: Test Session—American Le Mans Series (LM P1/ LM P2)

2:30 p–3:30 p.m.: Test Session—American Le Mans Series (All Classes)

3:30 p–4:00 p.m.: Test Session—American Le Mans Series (GT2)

4:15 p–4:45 p.m.: Practice—IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire

5:00 p–5:30 p.m.: Practice—Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda

5:45 p–6:05 p.m.: Practice—SPEED World Challenge Touring

6:10 p–6:30 p.m.: Practice—SPEED World Challenge GT

Thursday, September 24, 2009

8:00 a.m.–8:25 am Qualifying #1—BF Goodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda

8:35 a.m.–9:05 a.m.: Practice—Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear

9:20 a.m.–9:50 a.m.: Qualifying—Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama

10:05 a.m.–11:05 am Combined Practice—American Le Mans Series (All Classes)

11:20 a.m.–11:50 a.m.: Qualifying—IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tires

11:50 a.m.–12:35 p.m.: Lunch

12:35 p–12:55 p.m.: Qualifying—SPEED World Challenge Touring

1:00 p–1:20 p.m.: Qualifying—SPEED World Challenge GT

1:35 p–2:05 p.m.: Qualifying—Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda

2:20 p–3:05 p.m.: Qualifying—Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear

3:20 p–4:20 p.m.: Combined Practice—American Le Mans Series (All Classes)

4:35 p–5:05 p.m.: Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama Race Round 1—30 Minutes

5:20 p–5:50 p.m.: IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire Race #1—30 Minutes

5:45 p.m.: American Le Mans Series Driver Chat—location TBD

6:05 p–6:35 p.m.: BF Goodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda Race #1—30 Minutes

6:35 p–7:20 p.m.: Dinner/ Corral Laps

6:40 p–7:05 p.m.: IMSA-facilitated Corvette Corral Parade Laps (100 cars maximum)

7:20 p–9:05 p.m.: Combined Night Practice—American Le Mans Series (All Classes)

Friday, September 25, 2009

7:40 a.m.–8:05 am Qualifying #2—BF Goodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda

8:15 a.m.–8:45 a.m.: Practice—Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup

9:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.: Combined Practice—American Le Mans Series (All Classes)

10:10 a.m.–11:10 a.m.: SPEED World Challenge Touring Race—50 Minutes

11:00 a.m.: American Le Mans Series Tech Talk at TBD Team Transporter

11:25 a.m.–11:55 a.m.: BF Goodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda Race #2—30 Minutes

12:10 p–12:40 p.m.: IMSA Lites presented by Frisby Performance Tire Race #2—30 Minutes

12:30 p–1:30 p.m.: Mandatory driver autograph session for all American Le Mans Series drivers in the American Le Mans Series competitor paddock

12:40 p–1:25 p.m.: Lunch/ Corral Laps

12:45 p–1:10 p.m.: IMSA facilitated Porscheplatz (100 cars maximum)/ Audi (50 cars maximum) Corral Parade Laps

1:25 p–2:10 p.m.: Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda Race—45 Minutes

2:25 p–2:50 p.m.: Qualifying—American Le Mans Series (GT2)

2:55 p–3:20 p.m.: Qualifying—American Le Mans Series (LM P1/ LM P2)

3:35 p–4:05 p.m.: Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama Race Round 2—30 Minutes

4:15 p–5:15 p.m.: SPEED World Challenge GT Race—50 Minutes

5:30 p–6:15 p.m.: Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear Race—45 Minutes

6:15p.m.: Johnny O’Connell Auction at Main Paddock Podium

6:30 p–7:00 p.m.: Qualifying—Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup

7:10 p–7:30 p.m.: IMSA facilitated TBD Corral Parade Laps (50 cars maximum)

Saturday, September 26, 2009

7:15 am Motorsports Ministries Chapel Service at the American Le Mans Series Business Unit located in the main Competitor Paddock

8:15 a.m.–8:40 a.m.: Combined Warm Up—American Le Mans Series (All Classes)

9:00 a.m.–9:30 a.m.: Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Race—30 Minutes

10:15 a.m.–11:15 am Recon Laps/ Pre-Race Activities

11:15 a.m.: Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda 6 for the American Le Mans Series (Round 9)—1,000 miles or 10 hours maximum