|
AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES MICHELIN GREEN X CHALLENGE Laguna Seca (Monterey, California) - Round 10 Lowe’s Fernandez Racing and Flying Lizard Take Team Titles The tenth and final race of the 2009 American Le Mans Series season provided a fitting test to determine the event winners and the first MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge season champions. The Lowe’s Fernandez Acura and drivers Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz claimed their third MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge Prototype category win of the year and eighth race win in the LMP2 class to clinch the 2009 MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge Prototype team and driver championships. The victory was the eighth for Acura in ten events. Relentlessly chasing the larger, more powerful LMP1 class Acura prototype of race winner Gil de Ferran, up and around the hilly 2.238 mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit, Fernandez crossed the line just 0.662 seconds behind the larger more powerful LMP1 winner in the four hour race. “The MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge is a great way for us to be an example to everyone to be more energy efficient,” said Fernandez. “Our cars feature a lot of technology. Both Gil and I were trying to be more efficient and save fuel but still maximize our speed to avoid another pit stop in the final laps. We are very proud and happy to get this championship award.” The #44 Flying Lizard Porsche of Seth Neiman and Johannes van Overbeek scored a second MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge victory in as many starts since switching to E85R ethanol fuel. The victory leapfrogged them ahead of their teammates in the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche in season rankings to claim the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge GT category award. The victory was the fifth of the season for Porsche. “This was an exciting end to the first season of MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge competition,” said Silvia Mammone, Michelin Motorsports manager. “In ten races, we saw nine different cars from eight different teams post wins for five different manufacturers, and they won using three different fuels.” Through the course of the season, the ALMS manufacturers and teams competed on a wide variety of circuits ranging from 1.5 miles to over 4.0 miles long. The races ranged from 100 minutes to 12 hours. Prior to the race Michelin joined with the ALMS and members of the “Green Racing working group” to announce that Michelin will support the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge awards again in 2010.
|
