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PRESENTS

CORSA HYBRID FOLLOWING IN FOOTSTEPS OF PANOZ Q9

The Corsa Motorsports Ginetta-Zytek 09SH hybrid prototype that will debut at the American Le Mans Series’ Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix is a revolutionary entry that looks to change the landscape of motorsports. But it’s not the first hybrid to test the waters of endurance racing.

Series Founder Dr. Don Panoz commissioned the design and build of an electric hybrid for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998. “Sparky”, as the hybrid was affectionately called, was a Panoz GTR-1 coupe that used a Zytek electric motor paired with the Roush-Ford V8. The Panoz Q9 barely missed qualifying for the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans (with James Weaver at the wheel) but finished second in GT1 in the inaugural Petit Le Mans that same year and completed all 1,000 miles.

“We were the first with Sparky to race an electric-hybrid car,” Dr. Panoz said. “The world in 1998 wasn’t paying much attention to it so we couldn’t get a lot of traction. Obviously even as far back as 1998, I thought the ability to have a hybrid car that could be fuel efficient and energy efficient would be important. Unfortunately that car has gotten old but other people have taken up that mantle. (They) believe in the greening of motorsport. They’re presenting products that are competing and racing with green backgrounds.”

Johnny Mowlem, who is shaking down the Ginetta-Zytek at Silverstone today, will team with Stefan Johansson for the Utah-based Corsa team owned by Steve Pruitt.

“I talked to Don last year at Detroit and told him we were bringing the car and technology forward,” Pruitt said. “He was very excited about the prospect of the Q9 having a successor. There is a huge push for the electrification on the transportation sector. The project offers an interesting dynamic. It has a lot of potential and challenge.”

The Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix from Miller Motorsports Park is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. MDT on Sunday, May 17. SPEED will broadcast the race starting at 10 p.m. EDT on the same day, and satellite radio subscribers to can listen to the race starting at 4 p.m. ET on Sirius 126 and XM 242. American Le Mans Radio and Live Timing and Scoring will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com. You can also follow the Series on Twitter.

COSMO BACK IN SERIES AS PART OF CHALLENGE CLASS

The introduction of the American Le Mans Series’ Challenge class at the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix is bringing back some familiar faces. Among them is Guy Cosmo, who is scheduled to drive one of ORBIT Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 cup entries with John Baker at Miller Motorsports Park.

Cosmo’s most recent stint in the Series saw him as part of B-K Motorsports’ LMP2 program with a rotary-powered Courage C65-Mazda. He teamed with Jamie Bach for two seasons that saw them earn one class victory (2005 at Mid-Ohio), Rookie of the Year honors (2005) and nine podium finishes.

Cosmo also drove for American Spirit Racing at Sebring in 2003, a 12^th-place overall finish with Mike Lewis and Tomy Drissi.

The American Le Mans Series announced the formation of the Challenge class nearly a month ago as an effort to promote the brightest and best of a new generation of sports car drivers. The Challenge class will compete with the American Le Mans Series for five races in 2009.

The Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix from Miller Motorsports Park is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. MDT on Sunday, May 17. SPEED will broadcast the race starting at 10 p.m. EDT on the same day, and satellite radio subscribers to can listen to the race starting at 4 p.m. ET on Sirius 126 and XM 242. American Le Mans Radio and Live Timing and Scoring will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com. You can also follow the Series on Twitter.

The race also will include the season-long MICHELIN Green X Challenge. Tickets are available at americanlemans.com or millermotorsportspark.com.

THE SHARP END: BACK AT THE BRICKYARD

Patrón Highcroft Racing's Scott Sharp is returning to America's open-wheel Mecca for this year's running of the Indianapolis 500 in a Patrón-sponsored entry with Panther Racing. In addition to his full-season duties with David Brabham in the Patrón Highcroft Acura ARX-02a, Sharp is racing at Indy for the first time since 2007 when he placed a career-best sixth. He’ll keep americanlemans.com visitors up to date with his latest musings from both the Brickyard and Miller Motorsports Park throughout the month.

I am very excited to be back because of everything that Indy is about, the speed, the heritage – everything about this place.

I was on track for the first time yesterday for my “refresher” laps. Our pit is very close to pit out and I was in the car looking down to Turn 1 and thinking, “Wow, my old line into there seems like a long way out.”

I’ve always used quite a unique wide line into Turn 1 and I was wondering how long it was going to take to get back to that. But on my first lap out it all came rushing back to me and I was able to slip straight into the groove into Turn 3 on the out lap. It was just like I had never been away.

It really felt like getting back on a bike – very familiar.

There are a lot of differences between the Patrón Dallara IndyCar and the Patrón Highcroft Acura American Le Mans Series prototype however.

The IndyCar has a huge steering wheel compared to the Acura – that was the first thing I noticed. But from a driver’s perspective it has a different seat, different seating position and it is also great to be able to see my front tires again. Like the Acura, you also try to sit as low as possible in the car.

But the main thing is the really different mindset for Indy compared to the American Le Mans Series. The speeds are so much higher and the way you drive the oval is very different to the road course – you have to be precisely smooth without a lot of steering inputs.

Having done it for so long it really didn't take long to get the feel for it again.

It was great to put down a 221.878 mph lap and be second fastest on my return. Paul Tracy stole the fastest time but he came up and thanked me later because I gave him a huge tow at one stage out there.

Working with the Panther guys has been great. The car is really well prepared with a lot of attention to detail. They had a solid plan for me yesterday with my refresher laps to get me up to speed.

It was a very green track with a lot of young rookie drivers out there so I think we were smart in the way we went about things.

We accomplished everything we wanted in regards to getting me comfortable in the car and getting a strong baseline to work off of for the rest of the week. Most of the first week will be about working on my comfort level and building on the speed.

Getting a good qualifying set-up this week will be important before Saturday because the weather is looking a little ugly for the next few days with some showers and thunderstorms. We’re probably going to concentrate harder on that earlier than we would normally because we don't know what the weather is going to do.

It will be a very big challenge to break into the top 11 on pole day and we will have to work very hard to get it done.

Follow Scott’s return to Indianapolis and at the upcoming Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix exclusively at americanlemans.com.

BRABHAM BLOGS: PREPPING FOR SPA AND PEUGEOT

David Brabham is a seasoned veteran of sports car racing across the globe. The only driver to capture race wins and pole positions in four American Le Mans Series classes, Brabs also has taken consecutive GT1 class victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours for the past two years.

Aside from his main role partnering Scott Sharp in the Patrón Highcroft Racing team, Brabs will return to the LMP1 class for the Le Mans 24 Hours with Peugeot Sport this year where he will be aiming for three wins in a row.

Before Le Mans, however, Brabs will be back in the driving seat this weekend in Europe, contesting his first race with Peugeot - the Spa 1,000 kilometers:

I’m really looking forward to getting to Spa as it’s one of the greatest race tracks in the world. This will obviously be my first race with Peugeot so it’s going to be a fantastic experience. The car’s in good shape and I am looking forward to sharing the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with my co-drivers Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene.

The race will be good preparation for Le Mans, which is really what we are focussing on. Of course we want to win at Spa, but all of the information we gain will be working towards Le Mans so we will be doing things to the car and trying out strategies all to learn and understand what we need to do for Le Mans.

I get back to the UK next Monday and then on Thursday I will fly out for Round Four of the American Le Mans Series at Salt Lake City to race the Patrón Highcroft Acura ARX-02a. We are already in a positive state of mind for the event and we’ve obviously put our glitch at Long Beach behind us.

We go to Salt Lake with the same attitude, to go out and win. We are really getting a better understanding of the new Acura LMP1 car so I can’t wait to get back on track with it.

It shouldn’t be too much of a challenge jumping from the Peugeot into the Acura now that I am more used to driving the respective cars, especially as the Acura is now behaving in the way we would like it to. I had the quickest race pace at Long Beach and I know we can build on that.

It’s been a good 10 years since I last raced the 1,000 kilometers at Spa but I’m feeling well prepared for my first race in the Peugeot, particularly as I completed a positive endurance test at Paul Ricard with the team between St. Petersburg and Long Beach last month. When I feel properly prepared, I feel like I have a better chance of winning.”

2009 SCHEDULE

Jan. 24-25, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla., 24 hours
TBD, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico, 1000 kilometers
April 26, Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Va., 250 miles
May 3, New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville, N.J., 250 miles
May 17, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 250 miles
June 6, Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y., 6 hours
June 20, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, 250 miles
July 3, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla., 250 miles
July 19, Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, Ala., 250 miles
Aug. 8, Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y., 200 miles
Aug. 30, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, 250 miles
Sept. 20, Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, Utah, 250 miles
Oct. 10, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla., 250 miles

2009 SCHEDULE

3/21/2009	Sebring International Raceway	Sebring, FL
4/4/2009	St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, FL
4/18/2009	Long Beach	Long Beach, CA
5/17/2009	Miller Motorsports Park	Salt Lake City, UT
7/18/2009	Lime Rock Park	Lakeville, CT
8/8/2009	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, OH
8/16/2009	Road America	Elkhart Lake, WI
8/30/2009	Mosport International Raceway	Bowmanville,Ontario, Canada
9/5/2009	Detroit	Detroit, MI
9/26/2009	Road Atlanta	Braselton, GA
10/10/2009	Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Salinas, CA

 

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