Highcroft will hope to take their winning form to Mid Ohio
DUBLIN, OH (July 15, 2008) -- Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will be home for the second year in a row to the largest and most significant motorsports event in the state of Ohio: the dual-headline Acura Sports Car Challenge / The Honda Indy 200 presented by Westfield Insurance, July 18-20.
The American Le Mans Series, whose drivers will battle for two hours and forty-five minutes, will celebrate its 10th Anniversary and seventh visit to Mid-Ohio during the Acura Sports Car Challenge. The Saturday afternoon race will test four different classes of high-tech sports cars competing for overall and class wins.
The fight for the overall win will return to Mid-Ohio, as the American Le Mans Series' LMP1 two-car effort of Audi Sport North America will seek to upset LMP2's Penske Racing's Porsche Spyder duo, who have dominated the 2.25-mile, 13-turn circuit for the past two years. In 2006, Penske Racing claimed its first overall win at Mid-Ohio and followed it up in 2007 with eight overall victories -- including another at Mid-Ohio -- while the Audi R10 TDI captured four wins. The two teams have continued the fight into 2008, with both teams heading into Mid-Ohio with two overall wins respectively.
While Penske seeks its third-in-a-row overall win at Mid-Ohio, they and the Audis will face some tough challengers, namely from a four-car effort from Acura Motorsports, whose driver line-up is a who's-who of motorsports: former Indy 500 champion Gil de Ferran, current 24 Hours of Le Mans winner David Brabham, former IndyCar Series and Trans-Am champion Scott Sharp, Formula One driver Franck Montagny, past Mid-Ohio race winner Adrian Fernandez, as well as young stars Luis Diaz and Simon Pagenaud. Acura posted its first-ever overall win this past weekend at Lime Rock as Scott Sharp and David Brabham took the Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX 01b to victory lane after a late-race pass by Brabham.
Audi and Porsche hope to take back the winning form from Acura
"This event will be the fourth different type of car I will have raced at Mid-Ohio," said Scott Sharp. "I drove in Trans-Am and clinched the title here in 1993. I raced in Champ Car in the 1990s and last year in an Indy car. This Acura is really close to an open-wheel car. It is fast and it handles so well. Mid-Ohio is tough on a driver with the elevation and the tough turns. But it is fun to drive with this Acura. The new Acura ARX-01b chassis just blows me away. It is one of the best cars I have ever driven. For a driver, it has everything you would want. The Acura has downforce, has great brakes, and has traction control and the Michelin tires really stick to the racing surface. I can't wait to get back to Mid-Ohio. With David (Brabham) as a teammate, I feel good about our chances there."
While the Corvettes will look to dominate the American Le Mans Series GT1 class yet again, GT2 is another story, as the epic battle between Porsche and Ferrari rages on. Flying Lizard Motorsports (Porsche) has claimed three races and Tafel Racing (Ferrari) two races of the first five of the season. Risi Competizione (Ferrari), returning from the class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will look for their first win of 2008 at Mid-Ohio.
The Acura Sports Car Challenge race is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 19 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. NBC Sports will televise the race from noon to 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20. XM Satellite Radio will air the race from 5:00 -- 8:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20.