2002 ALMS Calendar Announced

[Craig]

NEW VENUES, LONGER RACES, NEW NETWORK HIGHLIGHT 10-RACE AMERICAN LE MANS
SERIES SCHEDULE FOR 2002

BRASELTON, Ga. (October 5, 2001) -- Four exciting new venues, a
revived endurance racing format with longer races and a new television
partner highlight a 10-event schedule for the 2002 American Le Mans Series
season, series officials have announced.
The American Le Mans Series, which features sports car endurance
races based on the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be in its fourth season
in 2002.
The new venues for the American Le Mans Series in 2002 include one
of North America's finest permanent road racing facilities, Road America in
Elkhart Lake, Wis., as well as one of its most established and successful
street racing events, Le Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres in Quebec, Canada.
In addition, new events in the key major markets of Washington, D.C., and
Miami will be held on temporary racing circuits as part of the series
schedule, with the Miami race the rebirth of what was one of the most
significant street racing events in the world.
The Miami and Road America events will be televised live in the
United States by CBS Sports, the first time that the popular television
network will carry American Le Mans Series programming. NBC Sports, which
has televised ALMS racing in all three years of the series' existence, will
also carry two events, while six will be broadcast by the Speedvision
Network, another partner of the series since its inception. International
broadcast rights for ALMS races are currently under negotiation.
The series will open and close with its two longest events. The 50th
running of the Mobil1 12 Hours at Sebring (Fla.) will open the schedule,
with the fifth annual Audi presents Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta to close
the season. The Petit Le Mans runs for 1,000 miles or 10 hours, whichever
comes first.
The series will return to three other traditional road racing
circuits which have been a part of the series since it began in 1999,
including Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.; Mosport International
Raceway in Bowmanville, Ont., Canada; and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in
Monterey, Calif. In addition, the series will return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car
Course in Lexington, Ohio, which hosted its first ALMS race in 2001.
A new emphasis will be placed on an endurance racing format for
2002, with four-hour races at Sears Point, Mid-Ohio, Mosport and Laguna
Seca. This format replaces the two-hour, 45-minute sprint races that had
been the standard length for many ALMS events.
The new event at Road America will be a distance event of 500 miles, while
the new Miami, Washington, D.C., and Trois-Rivieres races will be three
hours in length.
"We couldn't be more pleased with the tracks and promoters that we
have forged relationships with for the 2002 season," said Scott Atherton,
President and COO of the Panoz Motor Sports Group.
"The combination of world-class venues, major markets and an outstanding
television package makes this one of the finest schedules and best values in
motorsports," he said. "In three short years, the American Le Mans Series
has evolved into a top property for promoters, manufacturers, competitors
and, most importantly, for fans."
In addition to the 10 North American races which will determine the
American Le Mans Series championships, Le Mans Series racing will also be
seen in Asia as the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia hosts the Le
Mans Series Race of Champions in November. The six-hour race will be a
special invitational event.
The American Le Mans Series will continue its relationship with the
Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The
series schedule will include a gap of five weeks in May and June to allow
racing teams to compete at Le Mans, which will be held June 15-16.
All ALMS races in 2002 will be officiated and sanctioned by IMSA
(formerly known as Professional Sports Car Racing), which has sanctioned the
series since its inception.
The 2002 American Le Mans Series schedule, showing date, location,
race length and television network:

March 16 -- Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway; 12 hours, Speedvision.
April 7 -- Miami Downtown Street Circuit, 3 hours; CBS Sports.
May 19 -- Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.; 4 hours, Speedvision.
June 30 -- Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio; 4 hours;
Speedvision.
July 7 -- Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.; 500 miles; CBS Sports.
July 21 -- RFK Stadium Circuit, Washington, D.C.; 3 hours, NBC Sports.
Aug. 3 -- Le Circuit Trois-Rivieres, Trois-Rivieres, Quebec; 4 hours,
Speedvision.
Aug. 18 -- Mosport International Raceway, Bowmanville, Ontario; 4 hours,
Speedvision.
Sept. 22 -- Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif.; 4 hours, NBC
Sports.
Oct. 12 -- Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga.; 1,000 miles; Speedvision.
Nov. 3 -- Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 6 hours,
TBA. (Special Invitational race).


-30-

[Heeltoe6]

lotsa good stuff in here. great to see alsm take its rightful place at road america and trois-riviers. also good to see more races on broadcast netowrks from a penetrations standpoint(not good for coverage usually).

the little bad news, is that the schedule does drop out portland, probably due to the noise police. oh well, it wasn't the best circuit(too short and flat) but it was nice.

[Logan]

Things are definately looking up for the ALMS, GrandAm should be worried.

Now all we need to know is if there will be an ELMS series or not! Perhaps they will decide to concentrate on the US to really build the series up and leave the FIA to carve up Europe (and the rest of the world?). It's almost back to how it used to be in the Group C days.

Logan.

[Andy H]

Europe Dropped From Calendar

Europe's two events in the American Le Mans Series have been removed from next year's calendar.

Britain staged one of the rounds in 2000 and 2001, at Silverstone and Donington Park respectively, while Germany and Spain have also been host countries to the endurance sportscar racing championship.

But ALMS chiefs, who revealed next season's schedule on the eve of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans event in Atlanta, have decided to keep the points-scoring rounds of the series within the confines of North America.

[Liz]

I was at the press conference where they asked about this, and it was rebroadcast later on (at least in the pressroom) and Dr. Panoz said that because of the "situation in Europe" (meaning the war) they were at that time not sure what was going to happen with the ELMS. I'm not really surprised they decided to give it a pass this year, and doubt very much if Sepang will be run either.

The Washington race is going to be a very high roller type affair. An "event" like Monaco, that is. There will be no camping and almost no parking; people will be shuttled from their hotels to the venue. Weekend tickets will be $150.00 (which is about double the usual price.) I can give more information if anyone would like it, as I have the press kit.

[Heeltoe6]

i agree that alms should forget about elms; don't dilute your energies, get things worked out in north america first.

[racer69]

Hopefully it will get back to what it was like with Group C (Iwant it back), with a successful US series and also a European Endurance Series and a World Endurance/Sportscar Cahmpionship.

[Logan]

If the ELMS really is 100% off then the 2 FIA series have been given a golden opportunity to consolidate in Europe and really get Sportscar racing back on track, whether they take it or not is another matter.

I think a big step in the right direction would be to put the GT's and the protos together (as in ACO rules) for at least 3 or 4 big events if not a whole championship. I know there would be a lot of moaning from some of the teams and the circuits would have to be picked very carefully to ensure all the cars could be fitted in the pitlane, but can you imagine a 50 car grid including Dome, Courage, Ascari, possibly customer Audi's and Dallara's and a strong GT grid with Lister, Ferrari, Vipers and maybe some Saleen's & Corvettes not to mention the Porsche's and Ferrari 360 in N-GT?

Now that would be a race I would pay to see!

Logan.

[Liz]

I was talking to Sascha Maasen about the differences between Daytona and Le Mans, and he said that the traffic at Daytona was a serious problem; the track was "not interesting" and there were far too many cars. That will have to be considered too, before they expand the field - a lot of those GT guys have little experience and are a danger in a big field.

[Craig]

Originally posted by Liz
The Washington race is going to be a very high roller type affair. An "event" like Monaco, that is. There will be no camping and almost no parking; people will be shuttled from their hotels to the venue. Weekend tickets will be $150.00 (which is about double the usual price.) I can give more information if anyone would like it, as I have the press kit.

I'm gonna write to my MP about this... it's a disgrace that there should be no camping and the tickets cost so much! Don't they know that I can get tickets for Le Mans for a fraction of that ?! Only in America... and I bet it rains that time of year too...!

(sorry Liz )

[Liz]

Craig Antill, you are a disrespectful brat. How dare you show scorn its own image!

But if you would like to camp in a place where people routinely shoot each other, you are a brave man and should volunteer for duty in Afghanistan at once. You couldn't pay me to camp in Washington!

And anybody who pays full price for a race weekend is either overpaid or not using all his or her little gray cells. I'd be surprised if I can't get to this race for a lot less than the published price.

P.S. Anybody want to get up a party for the 24 Hours of Daytona?