THE LINE

March 17, 2010

(Chris Jones/IndyCar)
Roger Penske congratulates Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Dallara/Honda/Firestone) on his victory in the inaugural Sao Paulo Indy 300, the Izod IndyCar season opener. It was Power's second IZOD IndyCar Series victory (he also won on the temporary circuit at Edmonton in 2009), and his first race since he suffered a back injury at Infineon in August 2009. It marks Team Penske's 36th win in the IZOD IndyCar Series.  Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 37 Team Izod D/H/F) finished second in his debut race with Andretti Autosport, 1.8581 seconds behind. Vitor Meira (No. 14 ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing D/H/F) finished third, his first race since he suffered a season-ending back injury at Indianapolis in 2009. It was also Meira's first top-three finish since he finished second at Indianapolis in 2008. Raphael Matos (No. 2 HP Luczo Dragon Racing D/H/F) finished fourth, a career best IZOD IndyCar Series finish for the second year driver. "It was probably the most mixed up race that I have ever been in, but it created an opportunity for me to come back through the field and end up winning the race," said Power afterwards. "The improvements that they did to the track last night, were like night and day. Not a problem at all going down the frontstraight. I think it is just a really good day for racing. If you were fast you could pass, because there is such a good track layout here. I'm pretty sure it was an exciting race for the fans." Next up is the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 28th. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at 3:30 p.m. (ET) by ABC. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145 and Sirius channel 211. The race also will be carried on www.indycar.com. The 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season opens on the streets of St. Petersburg on March 28. The race will air live on indycar.com.

(ALMS)
Bobby Rahal knows how hard the 12 Hours of Sebring can be. After all, he was the overall winner of America's greatest sports car race in 1987 with Porsche, and he’s cautiously confident as his BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team prepares for the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, the opening round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. “I hate being overconfident,” said Rahal, whose organization is starting its second year of a partnership with BMW North America that features two BMW M3s in the Series’ GT class. The BMW/RLR partnership debuted in 2009 with one class victory at Road America and a third-place finish in the GT2 team championship. For Sebring, Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Andy Prialux will drive one M3 with Bill Auberlen, Tommy Milner and Dirk Werner in the second team car. The BMWs debuted here last year but both failed to finish the race. "We’ve had a good testing season so far, and I think we’re much better prepared than we were a year ago,” said Rahal, who also won the pole for the famous sports car race in 1982. “But at Sebring it’s not all about you. You can have the perfect race going and someone makes a mistake and takes you out with them. It’s a very long, very difficult race. Finishing the race is an accomplishment in itself.” The green flag will fall at 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 20, with live coverage on SPEED starting at 10 a.m. ET. Live coverage also will be available on American Le Mans Radio, as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 245.

(Patrón Highcroft Racing)
Patrón Highcroft Racing enters next week's opening round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón at the 12 Hours of Sebring with one eye on defending its championship crown and the other on writing a new page in the history books of America's oldest and most challenging endurance race. The Honda Performance Development factory team will be competing with the HPD ARX-01c, a development version of the machine with which David Brabham recorded Highcroft's first ever overall victory in 2008. Brabham will be paired with chief 2009 rival Simon Pagenaud in the No. 1 entry with Marino Franchitti joining the team for the endurance races. For Sebring and Petit Le Mans the American Le Mans Series will maintain the traditional separate classes for the more powerful and heaver LMP1 cars, and the lighter and more nimble LMP2 entries. For the remainder of the season, these two classes will be combined.  Only full-season entrants are available to score points.

(Risi-Krohn)
The No. 61 “Krohn green” Ferrari 430 GTE, driven by Krohn Racing team owner/driver Tracy W. Krohn, Nic Jönsson and Eric van de Poele, will be looking to add another podium to their endurance portfolio at Sebring. Krohn Racing and Risi Competizione, both of Houston, Texas, are partnering for a fourth season to field a Ferrari 430 GTE in the very competitive GT2 class at both Sebring and ALMS Monterey 6-hour race on May 22. The threesome finished third at Sebring in 2008 and was sixth in class last year. The three Risi-Krohn drivers will also compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, seeking a third podium finish in four years. The Risi-Krohn Ferrari finished second in 2007 and third in 2009 at the classic French endurance race. The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GTE team car of Gianmaria Brunni, Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer are seeking to repeat the phenomenal Risi Competizione endurance success at this year’s Sebring 12-hour race. Their enviable success includes victories at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans, and the 2009 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans.

(Mazda)
BP has announced the introduction of an advanced new bio race fuel utilizing isobutanol and ethanol in the 2010 American LeMans Series. The blend is the fifth energy source for the Global Leader of Green Racing and the world’s most relevant and technically advanced motorsport championship. Dyson Racing, with cooperation from partners BP and Mazda, will campaign its Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 LMP2 coupe on isobutanol for the full 2010 season. Chris Dyson, Guy Smith and Andy Meyrick will drive Dyson Racing’s Lola-Mazda coupe with isobutanol power at the season-opening 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 20.

BP is a leader in research and development of biofuels and is using the world’s leading sports car series to test forward reaching fuel blends in high performance engines.  Experience gained in racing could influence how biofuels are developed for broader transportation use by everyday drivers. The isobutanol fuel component is of particular interest to BP and its development partner DuPont who, through their Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels joint venture, are developing commercial facilities to manufacture isobutanol for mainstream use.  Though numerous biofuel options exist, BP is focusing on isobutanol, which offers high octane and greater energy density than other biofuel options. To that end BP has partnered with Mazda to develop a viable bio race fuel for the Mazda-powered entry in the 2010 ALMS season.

 The SPEED Channel. SPEED's opening sequence to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix was exceptionally well done. Too bad nothing else about the actual race itself was worth watching.

(ALMS)
Green Earth Technologies and Gunnar Racing took the wraps off of the super cool livery for their Green Earth Team Gunnar ORECA FLM09 that will compete in the Le Mans Prototype Challenge class for the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. The GETG prototype will be the first Series car to use environment safe oil, G-OIL™, the world's first bio-based and ultimate biodegradable motor oil approved by the American Petroleum Institute. G-OIL is the world's lowest petroleum, "eco-friendly," ultimate biodegradable motor oil. Unlike traditional petrochemical-based motor oils from leading manufacturers, Green Earth Technologies' G-OIL is made with American-grown renewable animal fats. These saturated fats, whose molecular single-bond carbon chains are similar to common petroleum oils, have no harsh effects on the environment, and could drastically cut our dependence on foreign oil. In 2009, Green Earth Technologies signed a two-year deal naming G-OIL the official motor oil of the American Le Mans Series and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA).

 DirecTV, Versus, IndyCar. DirecTV has reached an agreement with Versus, which means that IndyCar races not scheduled to be seen on ABC can now be seen on DirecTV (Channel 603). Versus is the cable home to the IZOD IndyCar Series, broadcasting 12 races this season. The Indy Racing League - the sanctioning body for the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights - issued the following statement from its Chief Executive Officer Randy Bernard regarding the carriage agreement reached today (3/15) between Versus and DirecTV: "I would like to thank Derek Chang (executive vice president of content strategy and development of DirecTV) along with Jamie Davis (Versus president) for working diligently to getting this deal done. Everyone wins - DirecTV, Versus and most importantly the fans of the Indy Racing League." A re-airing of Sunday's season-opening IZOD IndyCar Series event - the season opening Sao Paulo Indy 300 - will air tonight (3/15) at 10 p.m. EDT on Versus.

Publisher's Note: Jon Field was involved in a massive accident during pre-race testing today on Monday. See the report - with images by Dan Boyd here - courtesy of the ALMS. The team won't return until the seond ALMS race of the season at Long Beach. - PMD

 Michelin. The French tire maker will become the first tire maker ever enshrined in the Sebring Hall of Fame, and just the fourth manufacturer joining Porsche, Ferrari and Audi. In making the announcement, the Sebring Hall of Fame noted the following Michelin accomplishments:

• Michelin equipped cars have dominated Sebring since 1999, scoring 11 consecutive overall wins, the first tire manufacturer to accomplish such a streak
• Michelin has earned 31 class victories at Sebring since 1999 and has recorded 106 wins in the 109 race history of the American Le Mans Series
• Michelin has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for 12 consecutive years
• Michelin introduced the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge for the American Le Mans Series at Sebring in 2009

“Michelin is truly honored to be the first tire maker inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame and to join Audi, Ferrari, Porsche and so many legendary drivers, team owners and officials here,” said Nick Shorrock, director of Michelin Group motorsport division. Previous Sebring Hall of Fame inductees include such notables as: Dan Gurney, Jim Hall, Phil Hill, Mario Andretti, Roger Penske, Bobby Rahal, Al Holbert, Juan Manuel Fangio, Derek Bell, Stirling Moss, Brian Redman, Carroll Shelby, Briggs Cunningham, Bob Akin and Hans Stuck.

 Bernie Ecclestone. From the "I Can't Help It, I'm Just A Jackass" File comes word that Bernie told The Guardian that bringing F1 back to the U.S. is a distinct possibility BUT, he added, "It's only the fact that it's all the wrong crowd and the wrong people... nothing worked there really, we'd have to have a big change round. But we'd like to get back there." Oh really, Bernie? Maybe while you're flying your sanitized motorized circus here you can fly in your hand-picked crowd too. Our money isn't good enough for F1, apparently. (Many thanks to longtime reader Tuna, in Mustang, Oklahoma, for steering this item our way.)

  Freescale Semiconductor. The global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets is now the official Automotive Technology Solutions Partner of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron. The Austin, TX-based company has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations around the world.

(Chelsea Taylor/TruSpeed Motorsports)
TruSpeed Motorsports will field three Porsche GT3 Cup cars in all 12 races of the SCCA World Challenge GT Series this year. Rob Morgan of Ladera Ranch, Calif. and Patrick Lindsey from Santa Barbara, Calif. will drive 2008 Porsches while Charles Morgan, from Dallas, Texas, will drive a 2010 model (above). TruSpeed, the premier source for air-cooled Porsches in the United States, is the sponsor of Rob Morgan's car, while Charles Morgan's car will promote PrivacyStar, an application for Blackberries that provides users with a comprehensive privacy solution for unwanted calls. Patrick Lindsey's car will be sponsored by TruSpeed, Horton Autosport and Sloan Securities. Sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing, the 12-race 2010 World Challenge Championship begins March 26-28 with a doubleheader race weekend at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

(ALMS)
Spectators stream into Sebring International Raceway early Wednesday as gates opened for Saturday's 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. Several hundred motor homes and campers had been waiting in line for more than two weeks to make sure they were able to grab the best spots when the gates opened this morning.
 

(Courtesy of John Thawley)
The prime combatants line-up on the front straight (pointing in the opposite direction) at Sebring International Raceway. Saturday's running of America's greatest sports car race - the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida - should be an epic battle in the GT class with BMW, Chevrolet and Porsche squaring off for the entire 12 hours. Jaguar will not be a factor in the GT class, as their development program is still in its infancy.

(Highcroft Racing)
Highcroft Racing is partnering with innovative toy manufacturer, Automoblox. The range of Automoblox toys consist of wooden car body sections with patented plastic interconnects, polycarbonate wheels and rubber tires, plastic passengers and polycarbonate screens. Each car can be disassembled into its component parts and re-assembled.  Parts from different cars can be combined to allow children to design their own models. As part of the new sponsorship deal, Automoblox will market a Highcroft-branded model which will feature a race car and accompanying tow-car and trailer. The new Automoblox Highcroft model is expected to be available in April. The Automoblox logo will be featured on the rear of the #1 HPD ARX-01c chassis that Highcroft will campaign in this year's American Le Mans Series. "Every member of the Highcroft Racing team played with toy cars when they were a child - in fact, you would have to think everyone in the entire paddock kicked off their passion for the sport with toy cars," Highcroft Racing President, Duncan Dayton said. "The Automoblox product is really impressive.  It is a great quality product and something that can really inspire children's imaginations."

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