American Le Mans Series – Petit Le Mans - Race Report

Lotus Alex Job Racing 11th in GT at Petit Le Mans ALMS Finale Lotus Alex Job Racing (AJR) finished the 2012 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season by coming across the line in 11th place in GT at Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta today. Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell and Johnny Mowlem fended off early trouble to run the remainder of the race trouble free. Townsend Bell had the controls of the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Lotus Evora GT for the start of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at the challenging 2.54-mile,12-turn Road Atlanta circuit. On lap ten the Californian reported 'unnecessary contact' with the No. 17 Porsche. Thirteen laps later the contact manifested itself into a right rear lower control arm failure. Bell pitted, under green, and it took the Lotus AJR crew 10 laps to make the repairs and return him to the race. From lap 33 forward the Lotus Evora ran flawlessly in the hands of the AJR trio. 'It was a tough race,' Bell said. 'Just ten laps into a 10-hour race I got hit by the Falken Porsche for no reason. It took its toll on the car as I had to pit a few laps later and the team had to make repairs. That cost us 10 laps and that was our race. After that the car ran well. Johnny and Bill did a nice job behind the wheel, and the team was performing in the pits. It makes you think what might have been. It has been a development year, and we are already well into the planning for next year. I really like this kind of racing and the series races at some great tracks.' Bill Sweedler likes the way the car ran and is optimistic for the future. 'It was unfortunate that Townsend got hit early on,' Sweedler said. 'The Falken car just assaulted the rear of our Lotus. We had to make repairs, which put us 10 laps down. That is a little upsetting, without that incident we had a fifth or sixth-place car. After that the car ran great. I am proud of the team and all our sponsor partners. It is tough not racing for a podium or win, but they did a great job helping us to develop this car all year. That we can be proud of and take onto to 2013.' Johnny Mowlem is not happy with the result, but is proud of the effort. 'It is such a shame we had the rear right track rod break,' Mowlem said. 'The car ran like clockwork all day, and that is a testament to all of the hard work that Alex, and the team have done this season. I have to say that Townsend and Bill drove an absolutely phenomenal race today. The team definitely deserved better than an eleventh for sure. My first stint was very hot. I struggled with a drink's bottle, and I doubled stinted. My second run was really good. I had a long yellow, so I ran most of my laps in the darkness. In the evening our lap times were a second closer to the top GT competitors. Although the result didn't show it, I am happy with the overall effort today.' Alex Job, team principal, put a cap on a development year with the Lotus Evora GT. 'We had a tough start to the race,' Job said. 'Townsend had contact with the Falken car and that broke the tow rod on the right rear. It took a few laps to get the car back out, but once we did it ran flawlessly to the end. We would have been further up the finishing order by at least five or six places if not for that incident. But, the car ran great the rest of the race and went all ten hours today. That is a testament to the development work we've done the car and a motivator for next year.' - LOTUS ALEX JOB RACING

Recent Articles

CHRYSLER GROUP LLC'S SRT (STREET AND RACING TECHNOLOGY) BRAND KICKS OFF THIRD CONSECUTIVE 2013 SRT TOUR ◾First 2013 SRT Tour stop kicked off May 9-12 at American Le Mans Series in Monterey, Calif. ◾The 2013 Dodge Challenger SRT8, Dodge Charger SRT8 and Chrysler 300 SRT8 along with 2014 Jeep® Grand Cherokee SRT vehicles to be on display ◾The all-new 2013 SRT Viper on display at select locations ◾The third year of SRT Tour will visit unique lifestyle events over three-month span May 17, 2013 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - For the third consecutive year, the SRT Tour, showcasing the latest high....

ELMS - 9 FERRARI'S HEAD FOR HOME RACE IN IMOLA Maranello 16 May - The second round of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) arrives at Imola this weekend and nine Ferrari 458 will take to the grid. By far the most popular car in the GTE category is the 458, Ram Racing have entered two cars for Silverstone pole sitters Johnny Mowlem and Matt Griffin and a second for American hot shots Gunnar Jeanette and Franck Montecalvo. JMW have one car for Andrea Bertolini and Joël Camathias. After a difficult round at Silverstone, AF Corse return with t....

PORSCHE ON FRONT ROW IN ALMS GT QUALIFYING FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE EVENT New Long/Core Porsche and Sellers/Team Falken Tire Porsche 2nd and 3rd Monterey, Calif. - Patrick Long (USA) took the new CORE autosport team Porsche 911 GT3 RSR onto the front row of the grid in qualifying for tomorrow's American Le Mans Series race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Long, who will share the Porsche with British driver Tom Kimber-Smith, finished less than a tenth of a second off the time of the pole-sitting Ferrari, was enthusiastic as he spoke about the effort of the whole ....

BMW TEAM RLL QUALIFIES 5TH AND 8TH FOR ALMS MONTEREY Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – May 10, 2013 . . . BMW Team RLL will start in the fifth and eighth positions in tomorrow's four-hour American Le Mans Monterey race at Laguna Seca, the third round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series. Maxime Martin, driving the No. 55 Z4 GTE, set his quickest time in this afternoon's 15-minute qualifying session on his seventh lap of the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit. His lap of 1:22.990 minutes was only 0.258 seconds from the class pole time. Class co-leaders in D....

A WEEKEND OF MIXED EMOTIONS FOR THE 458 GT Maranello, 12 May – There were two sides to Ferrari's weekend of GT racing. The happy one was on show in Portimao in Portugal, at the second round of the International GT Open season. One outright victory and a class win were the best results from the two races run at the Portuguese track, both coming in Race 2. The outright win came thanks to Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron, who completely dominated the race in the AF Corse 458. Griffin took the lead right from the start, overtaking pole man Pa....

BMW TEAM RLL FINISHES THIRD AT ALMS MONTEREY; MÜLLER TAKES GT DRIVER POINTS LEAD Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – May 11, 2013 . . . Dirk Müller and John Edwards, driving the No. 56 BMW Z4 GTE, scored a third place finish in today's four-hour American Le Mans Monterey race. A second consecutive podium finish for the No. 56 machine and a win for the No. 55 car at Long Beach in only the third race of the new program keeps BMW in second place in the GT class manufacturer point standings and moves Müller to the top of the GT class driver points. Müller started the car from the ....

BMW TEAM RLL READY FOR THE NEXT ALMS ROUND AT LAGUNA SECA AFTER SUCCESS AT LONG BEACH The 2013 American Le Mans Series is back on track this Saturday at Laguna Seca Raceway, in Monterey, California, with the four-hour American Le Mans Monterey. The first two races of the debut season of the BMW Z4 GTE have been strong ones for BMW Team RLL, with fourth and seventh place finishes at the 12 Hours of Sebring and, thanks to excellent strategy, an outstanding 1-2 finish at Long Beach. BMW stands second in GT class manufacturer points. With the win at Long Beach in the No. 55 Z4 GTE....

2014 MDX Acura
          

---

2013 R8 GRAND-AM Audi
          

---

2013 Z4 GTE BMW
          

---

2013 Corvette Z06 Chevrolet
    

---

2013 Viper GTS-R SRT Dodge
          

---

2013 Viper SRT Dodge
          

---

2013 E21 Lotus
          

---

2013 Evora Sport Racer Lotus
          

---

2012 V8 Vantage GTE Aston Martin
          

---

2012 Corvette Centennial Edition Chevrolet
          

---

blog comments powered by Disqus