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Starting festivities for 2010 season finale in grand style!
The American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón kicks off activities for its October 2 Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA2 in Greenville, SC on Thursday with the inaugural “Motorsports on Main”.
The event is organized by Michelin – whose North American headquarters is located in Greenville – will feature a day-long festival on the downtown streets of one of America’s most electrifying and revitalized business districts. The event runs from 1 to 9 p.m. ET.
“I could not think of a better place to kick off activities for the 13th annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA2,” said American Le Mans Series President and CEO Scott Atherton. “The business and technical development occurring in and around Greenville in the automobile and transportation industry with the likes of Michelin, BMW and Clemson University’s International Center of Automotive Research, just to mention a few, clearly demonstrates this to be one of the leading areas in the country for automotive innovation – and an ideal fit for the ALMS.”
Activities will begin at 11:15 a.m. with a press conference recognizing the American Le Mans Series, Michelin and the Greenville-Spartanburg area for its contributions to technical innovation within the automotive sector. “Motorsports on Main” will open to the public and feature activities for all ages, including the ability to visit with many of the teams who will compete at Road Atlanta on October 2. Teams participating include defending LMP class champion Patrón Highcroft Racing and its HPD ARX-01c prototype, Corvette Racing’s Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Porsche RS Spyder, Mazda’s Dyson Racing, Robertson Racing’s Ford GT, Patrón’s Extreme Speed Motorsports with its Ferrari and Green Earth Team Gunnar’s ORECA FLM09. Additional manufacturers represented include BMW and Panoz with the new Panoz Abruzzi “Spirit of Le Mans”.
Drivers on hand will include Patrón Highcroft’s Marino Franchitti, Rahal Letterman’s Tommy Milner, Corvette Racing’s Johnny O’Connell, ESM’s Scott Sharp and Guy Cosmo, GETG’s Gunnar Jeannette, Benjamin Leuenberger from Panoz, and David and Andrea Robertson of Robertson Racing. Tickets and merchandise to Petit Le Mans will be available.
The American Le Mans Series, regarded as the Global Leader in Green Racing, also will have a “green” racing simulator available for fans to “test drive”. Developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, it demonstrates the features and scoring applications of the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge, a competition held within each race that scores all race cars on overall performance, fuel efficiency and emissions. All cars in the Series race on one of five forms of alternative fuel or energy – clean diesel, cellulosic E85, E10, Isobutanol, or E10-electric hybrid.
Other family-friendly activities are set as well. For additional info on Motorsports on Main go to michelinalley.com.
Based in Braselton, Ga., the ALMS is considered the world’s leading sports car series. In the tradition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, multiple classes of cars – Prototype and Grand Touring – race on the track at the same time to create compelling race action and constant passing. The Series has more automobile marquees involved than any other major race series in the world as manufacturers develop relevant technologies on track that transfer directly to the customer showroom. It operates a nine-race schedule in top markets throughout North America that concludes Oct. 2 with Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2.
The 1,000-mile/10-hour race is set for 11:15 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 2. SPEED will air the race starting at 11 a.m., with live radio coverage available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche – a production of Radio Show Limited – as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242. Americanlemans.com will stream qualifying live starting at 3:15 p.m. ET on Friday, October 1. Visit the Series’ schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.
© RIF | ALMS
