Laguna Seca : Duels in the dunes

Competitors of the American Le Mans Series are in preparation for the penultimate 2011 round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca. This six-hour race is on one of the finest circuits in the United States. AMR Muscle Milk in prototypes  and  Corvette Racing in GT, will be respectively facing Dyson Racing and BMW.

The Laguna Seca is located south of San Francisco, near Monterey Bay and Carmel, the home of Clint Eastwood. A region which hosts three big events cars in the year: the Monterey Historic Meeting, the Concours d'Elegance at Pebble Beach and the ALMS. Laguna Seca's 'Corkscrew' that turns left, then drops down steeply to a tight right and is the hallmark of a track that has many elevation changes as it winds through the dunes.

Despite disappointing performance at the previous round in Baltimore, the Lola-Aston Martin of Muscle Milk AMR still has a chance against the Lola-Mazda of Chris Dyson and Guy Smith. In GT the Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMWs have not won since the third round at Lime Rock in July, but still maintain a comfortable points lead on the factory Corvette driven by Jan Magnussen and Oliver Gavin.

Two guests will join the ALMS grid on the edge of the Pacific. The Aston Martin Racing prototype in the Gulf blue and orange colours will join the AMR Muscle Milk car. It will be driven by Stefan Mücke, Adrian Fernandez and Harold Primat. Laguna Seca will also see the participation of the Porsche 911 GT3-R 2.0 Hybrid, equipped with two electric motors (75 kW) housed in the front. They are 'charged' during braking, then return energy in the form of extra power on the front wheels, in addition to the traditional 465 hp rear engine. The 911 GT3-R 2.0 Hybrid will run outside classification, with Romain Dumas and Richard Lietz at the wheel.

The eighth round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series will be held from September 15th to 17th. To learn more about this race and the news of the ALMS, click here.

Jean-Philippe Doret

Photo: Braselton (GEORGIA, USA), Road Atlanta, Petit Le Mans, RACE, October 2, 2010. Driven by Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller, Porsche 911 GT3-R Hybrid was impressive at Petit Le Mans.