Results tagged “American Le Mans Series” from Haddock in the Paddock

Patron Highcroft Racing gave Acura its first overall win in more than a year in an American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock Park in the Northeast Grand Prix.
Scott Sharp and David Brabham won the race at Lime Rock Park, the first overall win for an Acura team since the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring. The Andretti Green Racing team won that race with Valencia's Bryan Herta as one of the drivers.
Sharp and Brabham also won the LMP2 portion of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The win at Lime Rock Park was the second of the year for the Patron Highcroft Racing team.
"You couldn't have written a better story for our group at Acura and HPD," said Erik Berman, President of Santa Clarita-based Honda Performance Deveopment. "It was a wild weekend with the front row of the grid all Acura. It was an amazing race. I followed Robert Clarke in this position, and Robert did a massive amount of work to help make this win possible. I am proud of all of the Acura teams and I am sure he is, too. Winning overall is a new milestone for this young Acura program. But we have to continue to work hard and keep pushing."

Gil de Ferran spent his best days in the old CART series and Indy Racing League driving for Roger Penske, winning two CART championships and an Indianapolis 500 for Team Penske.
But now that de Ferran will be driving Acuras in the American Le Mans Series, he will be racing against his old boss, who has a team of Porsches in the LMP2 class.
De Ferran was asked if he’s thought about what it’s going to be like racing against Penske instead of for him.
“Let’s establish one thing here: Roger’s a personal friend. A lot of the guys that work at Penske are friends,” de Ferran said Friday at Long Beach. “Despite the fact that we’re going head-to-head, for my part that won’t change.
“You got to learn how to separate things. At the end of the day, I have a duty to my team. I have a duty to Acura. I have a duty to my sponsors, Panasonic, and to myself."
De Ferran won’t make his debut in the American Le Mans Series until next month’s race at Salt Lake City. That will be the fourth race of the year. He announced his team’s formation during the season opener at Sebring and hoped to be ready to race at Long Beach, but getting his team together is taking longer than he expected.
Even though his team won’t be ready to race until next month in Salt Lake City, de Ferran said he’d rather start racing midway through the season than wait until next season to start.
“There’s only so much you can learn testing,” de Ferran said. “Part of the learning comes through the school of hard knocks. You gotta be out there racing to really fully experience everything you need to experience to become a fully competitive team. It will be a year that we will have a lot of learning to do."
De Ferran will be joining what’s becoming a large contingent of former CART, Champ Car and IRL drivers who are racing in the American Le Mans Series. That list includes Adrian Fernandez, Christian Fittipaldi, Luis Diaz, Scott Sharp and Valencia’s Bryan Herta, all drivers for Acura-powered teams.
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with some of these guys and it is funny now that most of them are now driving Acuras,” de Ferran said. “We have been talking quite a bit about sports car racing, but mostly about generalities, rather than specifics. All the guys have been very supportive and wishing me the best of luck – probably not too much luck – you’ll have to ask them about that. I am looking forward to racing against some old friends again.”

Gil de Ferran was hoping to have his American Le Mans Series team ready to race at Long Beach. It turns out it won’t makes its debut until the race in Salt Lake City in May.
De Ferran, a two-time CART champion and winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500, made a few announcements Friday at Long Beach. Simon Pagenaud will be his co-driver once the team, de Ferran Motorsports, gets on the track and Panasonic will be the team’s title sponsor.
Pagenaud, the 2006 Atlantic Series champion and a driver for Walker Racing in the Champ Car World Series last year, became available when Derrick Walker, owner of Walker Racing, decided not to join the newly unified Indy Racing League. Champ Car merged with the IRL over the winter ending a 12-year split between the two racing series.
De Ferran said choosing a driver and deciding on Pagenaud was a difficult process.
“The program has attracted a lot of attention,” de Ferran said. “There were a lot of reputable guys interested in the ride.”
The de Ferran Motorsports entry will be the fourth Acura team in the American Le Mans Series LMP2 division. Andretti Green Racing, Patron Highcroft Racing and Lowe’s Fernandez Racing have Acura entries in the series and they will race today.
De Ferran said Pagenaud is a serious and intelligent driver and came to the team highly recommended from Walker Racing. De Ferran raced for Walker for three years between 1997 and 1999.
“I am really thrilled to be given this opportunity,” Pagenaud said. “It is not every day that a two-time CART champion and Indy 500 winner calls and says he wants you to be his co-driver. At this stage of my career, it is an outstanding opportunity and I can’t wait for the first race.”

Valencia's Bryan Herta is the lone remaining driver from the team from Andretti Green Racing that won the LMP2 portion of the 12 Hours of Sebring last year, the opening race of the American Le Mans Series.
He teamed with Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti to finish second overall, first in class, and give Acura its first win in its first race in the American Le Mans Series.
The 12 Hours of Sebring begins Saturday at Sebring International Raceway in Florida. Herta has a new car, new teammates and heightened expectations heading into his second season in the American Le Mans Series with Andretti Green Racing.
In an exclusive interview, Herta talked about his new teammates, the new car Acura put togther for all its teams in the American Le Mans Series, and the unification of the Champ Car World Series with the Indy Racing League.
Herta raced in both Champ Car, the old CART series, and the IRL before moving into the American Le Mans Series.
His teammates for the 12 Hours of Sebring are Christian Fittipaldi and Marco Andretti. Fittipaldi is the nephew of Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi and will be Herta's regular teammate for the majority of the American Le Mans Series season.
Andretti, son of Andretti Green Racing team co-owner Michael Andretti, drives for the team in the IRL.
On Christian Fittipaldi:
"We raced against each other in the old Champ Car Series for years, but we never worked together. We've never been on the same team before. I just know Christian as a fast, experienced driver when he came to the team.
"He's fit in really well, done a good job. He's got a lot of experience. He brings a lot of experience to the table and I think that's helped us. I think he's happy to be here and the car's a lot of fun. It's good to be in a competitive car like this -- good timing."

On Marco Andretti:
"Marco's surprised me and I don't know why. He's done a really, really good job this week. He's been fast and consistent so far in the car.
"The biggest thing I'm worried about with Marco being a young guy is just this race being so long and a lot of different types of cars out there, sometimes you have to be patient in traffic. Young guys aren't able to do that. So far he's shown that he can do that."

The new car:
"It's got some fairly substantial changes to it. There wasn't any one big thing we did over the winter to improve the car. Sort of like 50 little things. There wasn't any one big step; it was just a combination of things.
"I loved the car last year and I love it even more now. The car's got a lot of grip, a lot of downforce, handles really well in the corners. That's our strength: We're not necessarily the fastest car on the straightaways, but we're the fastest car in the corners and as a driver that's where you really want the speed to be."

On unification of Champ Car and the IRL:
Everybody's known from Day One that's what it needed. Unfortunately, it took 12 years. It's going to be a good thing for open-wheel racing and the sport. In the short term, the negative effect for us is we're going to lose a race, the Houston race in particular, a race where our car was very strong last year.
I'm happy for open-wheel racing. My first love was open-wheel racing and where I spent a bulk of my career.
I couldn't be happier."

On if he has any regrets that he's not racing in the IRL or Champ Car any longer:
"It's ironic, but no. I'm still really happy doing what I'm doing. I don't think it's a magic bullet. I don't think overnight the thing is going to be as big as NASCAR. It's going to take them years to build it back up. But at least now they have the potential to do that. Now they got great opportunity. It's going to be a gradual process."

Valencia’s Bryan Herta posted the fastest lap in the American Le Mans Series LMP2 class during the three-day test at Sebring International Raceway in Florida earlier this week
Herta, a driver for Andretti Green Racing, will be teamed with Christian Fittipaldi in the American Le Mans Series this year. Fittipaldi, a veteran open-wheel racer from the CART and the Champ Car World Series, is the nephew of Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi.
The American Le Mans Series season opens March 15 with the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Herta, teamed with Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti, won the 12 Hours of Sebring race last year.
“I think we have potential with this new car,” said Herta, a Hart High of Newhall graduate. “We had an uneven test this week as we had some trouble with the car at times. We will go back to the shop and do our homework.”
This will be Herta’s second season with Andretti Green Racing American Le Mans Series team. He drove in the Indy Racing League for Andretti Green for three years prior to moving to the American Le Mans Series.
“Bryan has been driving this car for a year and he knows in less than a lap what to change on the car,” Fittipaldi said. “It is still a learning process with me. But I’m ready for the Sebring race.”
Andretti Green will be one of four teams using Acura-powered cars in the LMP2 division. Lowe’s Fernandez Racing, Highcroft Racing and the newly formed de Ferran Motorsports will also race Acuras.
Even though Herta had the fastest lap during the test, he said the team had some difficulty finding any consistency at Sebring.
“This place changes a ridiculous amount from one session to the next,” Herta said. “And that makes it difficult to get a reading. Our issues this week were continuity and running consistently throughout the day. It was tough to get readings with our XM Acura when we had a few things to fix. But that is what testing is all about — getting the problems worked out. We’ll come back next month for another test and work on more items with the new car. Then it will be time to race.”

There are essentially two sports car racing series in America: The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series. With the number of manufacturers in each series, it makes both fun to follow. But each series has as many as four classes of cars that race together, and actually watching a race can be painful.
The American Le Mans Series races in Long Beach. It made its first appearance in the Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2007 and will be back in 2008. The closest the Grand Am Series comes to L.A. is Laguna Seca in Monterey and Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.
Here are the nominees.

Max Angelelli won two races in a Pontiac-Riley in the Daytona Prototype class of the Grand-Am Series and was third in the series standings. He teamed with Jan Magnussen to win the race in Montreal, Canada. His teammates this year included Jeff Gordon and Memo Gidley.

Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin won nine races driving for Corvette Racing in the GT1 class of the American Le Mans Series. They won the season opening 12 Hours of Sebring, seven poles and finished on the podium (top-three) in all 12 races. Beretta became the first driver to win five ALMS championships. It was the third straight ALMS championship for Beretta and Gavin and the seventh straight manufacturer's championship for Chevrolet in the ALMS.

Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas won eight races in Porsche Spyder for Penske Racing the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series. They beat the more powerful LMP1 class cars in six of those races. Prior to this year, an LMP2 class car has won only two races. They had five poles and 11 podium finishes in 12 races.

Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish, driving for Audi Sport North America, won their second straight LMP1 class championship in the American Le Mans Series. They won nine races and set the ALMS record for most wins in a season. It was the third championship for McNish and the second for Capello.

Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney, racing a Pontiac-Riley, were the Daytona Prototype champions in the Grand-Am Series. They won seven races, including Infineon Raceway, and 10 poles.

Scott Pruett in a Lexus-Riley for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates won two Daytona Prototype races in the Grand-Am Series. He teamed with Juan Pablo Montoya and Salvador Duran to win the 24 Hours of Daytona. He also had eight podiums and was second in the Grand Am Series Daytona Prototype standings.

Tomorrow: Drag racers

Ron Hornaday Jr. has been around long enough to know that it takes more than a talented driver to win a championship.
His most recent championship started years ago with a man named Wally Rogers.
Hornaday credited Rogers, the former crew chief on his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team for Kevin Harvick Inc., for laying the foundation for his championship run in 2007.
Rogers has since moved on to KHI’s Busch Series team. Rick Ren is Hornaday’s crew chief now, but it was Rogers who started it all.
“It’s kind of ironic,” said Hornaday, a former Saugus Speedway champ from Palmdale. “He used to work for Bill Davis and took a lot of good notes and put it to ours, and everything just seemed to work out.”
It was Hornaday’s third Truck Series championship and his first with Kevin Harvick Inc. He won four races and had 22 top-10 finishes in 25 races in 2007. His 33 career wins are the most of any driver in the history of the Truck Series.
“I mean, this is cool,” Hornaday said. “We’ve won at some race tracks that Rick has never won at and he’s won at race tracks I’ve never won at. I won the championship for Rick Ren, Kevin Harvick Incorporated. This is just really special.”
Hornaday was the only driver with local ties to win a championship at the national level this year.

NHRALarry Dixon, a Van Nuys High graduate, and Jack Beckman, of North Hills, qualified for the first-ever Countdown, the six-race playoff devised by the NHRA.
Dixon, an NHRA Top Fuel driver, went in to the Countdown to One, the final four in the playoff for which only the top four drivers qualified, as the top-seeded driver. He came out in fourth place.
Beckman, perhaps the most unlikely qualifier in the NHRA Funny Car division, went from third place before the Countdown to One started to fifth place and out of the Countdown after it started. Beckman ended fifth in the final Funny Car standings.

American Le Mans Series
Santa Clarita-based Honda Performance Development and its Acuras made their debut in the American Le Mans Series. Three teams — Andretti Green Racing, Lowe’s Fernandez Racing and Highcroft Racing — used Acura-powered cars in the LMP2 division of the American Le Mans Series.
Valencia’s Bryan Herta was part of the Andretti Green Racing team that won the LMP2 portion of the season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring.
Robert Clarke, the outgoing president of Honda Performance Development, said winning at Sebring was the highlight of his 15 years with the company, which included providing engines and support for teams in the Indy Racing League and the old CART Series.
Highcroft Racing’s David Brabham and Stefan Johansson had four podium finishes and were was third in the final LMP2 team championship.
In addition to winning at Sebring, Herta, a Hart High of Newhall graduate, had podium finishes at the Lone Star Grand Prix in Houston and the Grand Prix of Mosport, just outside Toronto in Ontario, Canada.
Lowe’s Fernandez Racing, with drivers Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz, had three podium finishes.

Irwindale Speedway
Elsewhere, Rip Michels of San Fernando added to his legend at Irwindale Speedway. He won 11 races and his third NASCAR Super Late Model championship. Add his Grand American Modified championship and Michels has four track championships. His 55 career wins at the track are the most of any driver.
Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills put together a four-car team, High Point Racing, to compete in the NASCAR Late Model division at Irwindale Speedway. He won the Late Model championship, the second of his career at the track.
He and his drivers — Jace Meier, Chris Carmody and Scott Jenkins — all finished in the top 10 in the Late Model division standings. The four drivers combined to win six of the 15 Late Model races at the track.
Meier, a driver from Las Vegas, ended up second in the Late Model standings with one win. Carmody, from Valencia, won two races and was fifth in the Late Model standings. Jenkins, from Portland, Ore., had six top-five finishes and finished was eighth in the Late Model standings.