{"id":8722,"date":"2010-09-30T10:30:56","date_gmt":"2010-09-30T14:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/?p=8722"},"modified":"2010-09-30T10:30:56","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T14:30:56","slug":"in-their-own-words-the-gt-class-at-petit-le-mans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/alms\/in-their-own-words-the-gt-class-at-petit-le-mans\/","title":{"rendered":"In Their Own Words: The GT Class at Petit Le Mans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Race win, championship, Le Mans berth … there is plenty at stake!<\/p>\n

If the 13th Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2 isn\u2019t the most important race in the history of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patr\u00f3n, it certainly ranks on the podium. Championships in all four classes are up for grabs \u2013 a first in the Series \u2013 and none is as hotly contested as GT. Some of the key players in the class spoke about what\u2019s at stake \u2013 race victory, class championship, invitation to the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, among others \u2013 in the annual 1,000-mile\/10-hour classic at Road Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Tommy Milner, BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

BMW M3 GT<\/p>\n

\u201cWith one race to go, we\u2019re only one point out of the manufacturer\u2019s championship, and Petit Le Mans is where it will all be decided. Anything can happen in an endurance race but with our combination of cars, team, drivers, and tires we have to be one of the favorites. It\u2019s going to be at least nine hours of flat-out racing and the ones who make the least mistakes will be out front. I\u2019m up for the challenge as I\u2019m sure the rest of the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team is. Road Atlanta is one of those tracks where every lap is exciting whether you are by yourself or racing on the last lap and I hope to see the No. 92 M3 GT out front at the checkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Car_92-BMW-Rahal-Letterman-Racing-Team-BMW_M3\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnny O\u2019Connell, Corvette Racing<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Corvette C6.R<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly big for us because we haven\u2019t gotten a win. We want to finish up with one so we can move forward to next year. There are championships on the line, there is such a huge field \u2026 the excitement of the season coming to the end. It\u2019s appropriate that the last race is Petit Le Mans. I think it should be every year. After all Road Atlanta is the birthplace of ALMS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Car_3-Corvette-Racing-Corvette_ZR1\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jaime Melo, Risi Competizione<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ferrari F430 GT<\/p>\n

\u201cPetit Le Mans is always really difficult because it\u2019s a very fast track and very busy. It\u2019s narrow, especially the first part of the track, and there\u2019s not much room for overtaking. There are a lot of cars and we need to be patient with the traffic and during the first part of the race. We have used a spotter in the past which helps some of the drivers.<\/p>\n

\"Car_62-Risi-Competizione-Ferrari_F430_GT\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur approach will be to try to score maximum points we can for the Team and Manufacturers\u2019 championships and for sure to try and protect the car to reach the end of the race without any trouble. We had a good car last year, although the weather was a bit strange. But thinking back to the year before we did well here, so I am confident for 2010. Hopefully we can end the Ferrari 430\u2019s life in the ALMS in the best way possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

J\u00f6rg Bergmeister, Flying Lizard Motorsports<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Porsche 911 GT3 RSR<\/p>\n

\u201cThe title is virtually within our grasp, although with 30 points for the winner, anything could happen. Still, we\u2019ll be doing everything to bring home as many points as possible and to also secure the manufacturer title for Porsche and team title for Flying Lizard Motorsports. The track is very picturesque, but very challenging. It puts a lot of demands on a driver. With the many pit stops, strategy and teamwork play a major role. And our Flying Lizard Motorsports boys have proven often enough that they are the best at this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Car_45-Flying-Lizard-Motorsports-Porsche_911_GT3_RSR\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul Gentilozzi, JaguarRSR<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jaguar XKR GT<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Petit Le Mans event obviously holds significance for our program as it was where we debuted the Jaguar GT last year. In over a year\u2019s time, we have made a lot of progress. Success at Petit Le Mans is important to us as it represents one of the toughest endurances tests in the United States. Having a second car there not only doubles our chances, but also allows us to expand our program in anticipation of the 2011 season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Car_75-JaguarRSR_Jaguar_XKRS\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s race is set for 11:30 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 \u2013 a production of Radio Show Limited \u2013 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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 RIF | ALMS<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Race win, championship, Le Mans berth … there is plenty at stake! If the 13th Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2 isn\u2019t the most important race in the history of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patr\u00f3n, it certainly ranks on the podium. Championships in all four classes are up for grabs …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9,2120],"tags":[5264,5334,1383,5303,5275,793,452,103,208,201,363,109,5281,110,5352],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8723,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722\/revisions\/8723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}