Corsa hope to go well at home
Risi
Corsa
Tafel
Michelin
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Risi
RESOURCEFUL RISI LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK IN UTAH
Still chasing their first victory of 2008, Risi Competizione heads to Salt Lake City for the Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park with both determination and optimism.
Currently third in the American Le Mans Series GT2 Team Championship, Risi is looking to revive its bid for title success with a solid finish from either of its two Ferrari 430 GT cars. Those pushing hardest will be last year's Drivers Champions, Jaime Melo and Mika Salo, who are looking to re-start their season after a three-race run of bad luck and misfortune. With two ALMS races now under their belt, and both drivers becoming increasingly comfortable in their new working environment, Harrison Brix and Patrick Friesacher will also be looking for an improvement in their final race result.
In the two years that the race has been held at Miller Motorsports Park -- considered by many to be the finest facility in North America -- Risi Competizione has done well, winning (GT2) in 2006 and last year placing itself in a commanding position for a repeat victory before an axle failure one hour before the checkered flag. The only mechanical failure suffered by the team throughout the 2007 season, it ended a five-race winning streak for Melo and Salo.
The 3.048 mile, 15-turn circuit configuration is new for 2008 and, by taking out the center section, the track now becomes primarily a left-turn course. A combination of medium speed and long, moderately fast corners favor a stiffer set up and also suit the mid-engine cars such as the Ferrari as its weight distribution makes it more consistent throughout the corners. Risi's engineers are confident they will achieve a well balanced car early in the running, and are secure in the knowledge that the Michelin tires used by the team work extremely well in Utah.
One unknown factor will be the weather conditions, as they fluctuate from very hot to much cooler to rain at this time of year. The race start this year is at 1:05 pm as opposed to 5:05pm last year so common sense would indicate that temperatures could indeed be much hotter than in the last two years.
Mika Salo says of the facility: "It's a nice track and we've been there a couple of times already with a good result. The surface isn't very abrasive but it's dirty because of the blowing sand which also changes the grip. During the race it will get sandy off line so, although the track may be wide, the racing line won't be. If it's very, very hot it will be a hard race for the cars and the drivers but we have a solution for cooling us now which means we should be okay."
Patrick Friesacher added: "I am looking forward to going to Salt Lake City this year as I have been told it's one of the premier new venues in the USA. It's not the same configuration as last year, which evens things up between someone who hasn't been there and people who have driven there before. Harrison has driven been there so that will be a big help in getting to know the track, and the Ferrari was of course quick last year so I am excited about being there."
Corsa
CORSA MOTORSPORTS HOPES TO MAKE A STAND AT HOME
Salt Lake City-Based Team Heads To Miller Motorsports Park on the Heels of Consecutive Fourth-Place Finishes
SALT LAKE CITY (May 12, 2008) -- Friday night sports fans in the Salt Lake City area will cheer for the home team at the EnergySolutions Arena; Sunday they will cheer for the home team at Miller Motorsports Park (MMP) just outside the city in Tooele. Competing for face time in a market which is saturated with coverage of the Western Conference Semifinals contender Utah Jazz, Corsa Motorsports seeks its moment in the limelight Sunday when it takes to the 3-mile, 15-turn perimeter circuit just west of Salt Lake City for the American Le Mans Series Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels.
"There is no place like home," says Team Owner and Principal Steve Pruitt who lives in near-by Sandy. "After two street circuits, it's a delight to race at Miller where the track is fast, smooth and wide open. This place just has a natural beauty; the mountains are a great backdrop for the event weekend. We're certainly looking forward to racing here in the team's backyard."
Pruitt's organization has a long history with MMP. "Miller Motorsports Park certainly holds a special place in the team's history," he explains. "Our team operations have been based at MMP since the facility's inception until just recently when we moved into Salt Lake City. We needed more space to conduct the business of racing at the level required of the American Le Mans Series."
Following two fourth-place finishes on street circuits, drivers Gunnar Jeannette (Sandy, Utah) and Johnny Mowlem (UK) are ready to come home to a more-forgiving track where it will turn much faster speeds.
"It's definitely going to be fast," Jeannette explains. "The turns are not as tight as what we've seen recently on the street circuits. You can get through the first four turns in third and fourth gear, which is considerably different from what we've experienced the last two times out."
Mowlem has spectacular hopes for the weekend. "We're aiming for a podium finish in Utah," he says. "That's a tough proposition, given the quality of the opposition. We've been very close in the last two events and we're going for one better."
Pruitt is hopeful of maintaining the team's fortune to date, taking care of the equipment and making a respectable finish in front of family and friends. "We haven't been in a position to talk about winning and podiums to date, but I don't feel like it's too far out of the question. This weekend we want to make a stand our home turf; if that stand is a podium, so be it.
"This year we enter the event at Miller with race experience, a pair of proven drivers and a team that has had an opportunity to work together, develop chemistry and become comfortable in its skin," Pruitt continues. "We know the track very well. With the familiarity our drivers have with the track and the experience we have as a team, we think we have the potential to do very well this weekend."
The American Le Mans Series Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels Round 4 is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. MT Sunday, May 18 with live coverage by SPEED.
Tafel
Tafel Racing to Use Salt Lake City to Keep Momentum from Season's Start into Second Half
No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Ferrari Looks for ALMS Hat Trick, No. 73 Returns to Tafel Racing
TOOELE, Utah, May 12, 2008 - After two GT2 class victories in the three American Le Mans Series races held thus far in 2008, Tafel Racing is enjoying a surge of momentum entering the Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park (MMP). The May 18, two hour and 45-minute feature comes after two straight wins in the Series for the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC driven by Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) and Dirk Muller (a native of Germany living in Monaco) and precedes a seven week break on the schedule. A successful run at MMP can help carry early season momentum into the heart of the schedule for the Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.) owned effort. The Tooele, Utah-area track also marks the fulltime return of the No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GTC to the Series. Open wheel and sports car standout Alex Figge (Denver, Col.) joins owner/driver Jim Tafel behind the wheel of the No. 73 for the remainder of the season.
The Bell Microproducts-backed No. 71 opened the season with a seventh at the 12 Hours of Sebring but rebounded to take victories on the street courses at St. Petersburg, Fla. (April 5) and Long Beach, Calif. (April 19). Muller, the 2000 American Le Mans Series GT2 champion, and Farnbacher currently lead the driver championship chase by six points while heading the privateer championship, the IMSA Cup, by five markers. The program trails in the team championship by two points to the three-car Flying Lizard organization. A "hat trick" would place the second-year American Le Mans Series team securely in the lead of each category with seven races remaining on the schedule. Round Five will come at Lime Rock Park, Conn. on July 12.
A new configuration to the Miller Motorsports Park awaits the Cumming, Ga.-based program. Unlike the proceeding two years of the event, the 2008 race will use the "outer loop" of the pristine facility. At 3.048- miles, the 15-turn design will be shorter than in 2006 and 2007. Regardless of the configuration, MMP's long, sweeping turns and wide-open runoff is a stark comparison to the tight, cement wall-lined street courses that the team and drivers faced on the way to the two victories. Tafel Racing Technical Director Tony Dowe (Cumming, Ga.) and the crew of both the No. 71 and the No. 73 will face a very different setup on the smooth Utah track versus the bumpy temporary courses. High speed aerodynamics will also be more significant as longer straightaways and faster turns allow for more time the Ferrari V8 is at full throttle.
A recent test at the team's home track, Road Atlanta, allowed for several key components to be tested for the Salt Lake City event. Perhaps the most critical component tested was newly signed driver Alex Figge. Figge returns to the American Le Mans Series after a two year absence to race in the Champ Car World Series (2007) and Grand-Am Daytona Prototype Series (2006). Figge closed his Champ Car career with that Series' final race at Long Beach on April 20. He last competed in the American Le Mans Series in 2005 earning a career-best third in the GT1 class at Portland. The Utah Grand Prix also marks Jim Tafel's return to the cockpit after finishing fourth at Sebring. The driver/owner has worked the sidelines for his team during the two wins but recommits himself to the cockpit at Salt Lake making his 14th career Series start.
Jim Tafel, Owner/Driver, No. 73: "You don't really realize how much you miss it as a driver until you aren't in the race. The only thing that got me through was concentrating on the efforts to win the last two races with the Bell Micro number 71. Being back as a driver I am really looking forward to starting off on the right foot with Alex and getting the results we want for the rest of the season."
Tony Dowe, Technical Director: "There really is no difference in 'mind set' for Miller Motorsports Park against Long Beach or any other circuit. We have just done a test at Road Atlanta where we tested a number of items for the Miller event and we came away very happy with our progress. The current ALMS testing format has been good because it has reduced the time that teams have available to test and this has placed a premium on sorting through the 'things' we feel we should test. So it's 'make a decision' and live with the results; good or bad. I suspect the number of 'things' we tested last year with the Porsche in trying to improve it has been, in hindsight, quite good for us because we have been able to pick out the problems that were primary and work with these items to a conclusion."
About the addition of the No. 73: "The return of the number 73 car is, on balance, a good thing for the team. Guys that were not working fulltime on the number 71 car now have a focus and so the spirit of workshop competition is back. It's also a much better 'economy of scale' to have two car than one."
Dominik Farnbacher, Driver, No. 71: "Salt Lake is a very wide and open race track. You are able to go over your limits to see where the limit is without risking too much damage to the car. If you spinout there are huge runoff areas and no holes or barriers which could hurt your car. The car only gets dirty. So that is good feeling and it makes it much easier. The track layout has changed a little bit but it is still the same, just a bit shorter."
About the momentum gained from the two victories: "After the two victories the team is highly motivated and the competition is looking up to us now. That is a very good feeling. But we should not be too lazy. We should keep working as hard as always and maybe we can do a hat trick. Tony and the guys are prepping an awesome car for Utah. I know it!"
Alex Figge, Driver, No. 73: "Jim and I split the car for the test day at Road Atlanta so that is more like a half a day for each driver. That is my only experience in a GT2 car so Friday and Saturday I will still be learning the ropes a bit. Hopefully in the race we can run a good pace and end with a good result."
Dirk Muller, Driver, No. 71: "For me it is the first time to Salt Lake. I am very much looking forward to getting one more track on my personal list. From the pictures, the track is really wide with wide runoffs. I am very open minded and from what Dom told me we will have a good weekend again. For sure the Ferrari needs a different set-up in comparison to a street track, which is done already by the team. We also collected very good data from our last test so I am very confident."
About maintaining momentum: "Originally there wasn't so much time between events with Le Mans, but now we have perfect time to go testing and to have a family break. For sure we need to carry the momentum as long as possible and with all the experience in the team we will do it. We need just to stay calm and to collect the points. The pressure is not on us." About his preparations for Salt Lake: "I am training a bit more in the heat of the day to get used to the heat, which I am expecting. The rest is just normal race prep."
Michelin
FAST, FAST, FAST
Michelin Ready for Ultra-Fast New Miller Circuit
TOOELE, UTAH (May 12, 2008) - There is fast and then there is "fast." Michelin and its American Le Mans Series (ALMS) technical partner teams definitely know "fast."
Michelin teams hold the ALMS track lap records at almost every current ALMS circuit and are ready for the fourth stop on the 2008 American Le Mans Series and a very fast new track.
Using a new 3.08-mile, 15-turn Miller Motorsports Park (MMP) perimeter track configuration for the 2008 Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels, the ALMS cars will produce much higher average lap speeds than on the previous 4.486-mile, 24- turn MMP circuit.
"We could very well see average speeds near the range of Mosport or Road America" said Karl Koenigstein, Michelin ALMS technical team leader.
The top ALMS qualifying lap average speed on the 2.459-mile Mosport circuit in 2007 was 134.476 miles per hour. The ALMS pole speed at Wisconsin's Road America was even higher, as the pole-winning Audi R10 TDI topped the 135 miles per hour lap mark on the hilly 4.048-mile circuit.
"We tested here on the new perimeter circuit with some of our Michelin technical partner teams," said Koenigstein. "The weather and track conditions will help decide which Michelin tires we use, but the new perimeter circuit is definitely going to produce much higher lap speeds, maybe as much as 10-20 miles per hour faster than the 113-114 mph laps that we saw on the longer MMP circuit," said Koenigstein.
After combining to break track records at every stop on the 2007 series, a total of 82 records in all, Michelin technical partners have already posted new marks at each of the first three races in 2008.
MICHELIN WELCOMES DE FERRAN MOTORSPORTS
Making their ALMS race debut at Miller Motorsports Park is the new de Ferran Motorsports Panasonic ELS Acura ARX-01b from former Indy 500 Champion and two-time CART Champion, Gil de Ferran who will co-drive with Simon Pagenaud (2006 Champ Car Atlantic Champion). De Ferran Motorsports joins the Acura team in the ultra-competitive LMP2 class and completes the Michelin 2008 ALMS technical partner line-up.
CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLES HIGHLIGHTED BY MICHELIN TEAMS
After completing one-third of the 2008 ALMS season, Michelin technical partner team drivers are leading the championship battles in all four ALMS classes:
LMP1: Audi Sport North America (Michelin) drivers Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner lead the championship with their Audi teammates Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro in third position.
LMP2: Michelin Penske Porsche RS Spyder drivers Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard have a 10-point lead over Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura drivers Scott Sharp and David Brabham. Dyson Racing drivers Chris Dyson and Guy Smith and Butch Leitzinger and Marino Franchitti hold the third and fourth places respectively. All are Michelin partner teams.
GT1: The GT1 driver championship is a battle between the two Corvette (Michelin) driver pairs as Jan Magnussen and Johnny O'Connell currently hold a four-point lead over teammates Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta.
GT2: On the strength of two consecutive class wins, Tafel Racing Ferrari (Michelin) drivers Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk Müller hold a six-point lead over Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche drivers Jörg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler, while Johannes Van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet of Flying Lizard Motorsports complete the top three. All are Michelin partner teams.