ALMS
Courtesy of the American Le Mans Series
Competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is quite a challenge for even the world's best sports car teams. But turning around and resuming the American Le Mans Series season just two weeks after is another whole race in itself.
Eleven Series teams that competed at the famed French endurance classic will be at Lime Rock Park this weekend for the New England Grand Prix, Round 4 of the 2006 season. Many teams didn't get their equipment and cargo back from France until late last week, which meant a lot of work in a short amount of time in order to have everything ready for Lime Rock.
"Between the two races, we had two days at home to do laundry and rest while the car and all of our equipment traveled back from Le Mans," said Eric Ingraham, team manager for Flying Lizard Motorsports, which will field two Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs.
"We raced our No. 44 American Le Mans Series car at Le Mans, so we have to completely disassemble and prep that car and also prepare our No. 45 car for Lime Rock. We also have to unpack all of our parts and gear that we took to Le Mans and reorganize it all back into our Series race transporters in time for them to get on the road for Lime Rock. There's been a lot of 'Have you seen the ...?' over the last few days! It's great to be home and we are all looking forward to Lime Rock."
There definitely are more differences than similarities: 8.3-mile track at Le Mans compared to the 1.54-mile layout at Lime Rock, plus going back to the two-hour, 45-minute sprint format instead of the classic 24-hour enduro. But there is one thing everyone agrees on - resuming the Series schedule can't come soon enough.
"Because of the nature of the track (short and bumpy), it's a demanding race," said Scott Maxwell, pilot of the No. 50 Panoz Esperante GTLM of Multimatic Motorsports Team Panoz. "You're always in a corner and traffic is always an issue. Unlike Le Mans or even Road America, you don't get to relax or take it easy just for a moment. I think it will be quite exhausting.
"Our job is pretty easy," he added. "We adapt to another track, and it's like going to any other race. Sure, it's a bit of a different mentality. The hard part is the crew guys in that it is a short turnaround time. It's not like they're driving six hours back to the shop to get the car ready. The cars got back Friday, then they had a two- or three-day turnaround. The fatigue factor definitely starts to set in, but then you get back to the track and the adrenaline kicks in."
The New England Grand Prix, Round 4 of the American Le Mans Series, is set for July 1 at Lime Rock Park. The race is scheduled for a 3 p.m. EDT start. CBS Sports will televise the event from 4 to 6 p.m. EDT on July 2. MotorsTV will air the race from 2:30-5:30 p.m. CET on July 2. Live coverage will be available at americanlemans.com with American Le Mans Radio and IMSA Live Timing & Scoring.