With Sebring now over, all sorts of announcements have been made. So I've compiled it all for tose interested.
Mazda teams up with Sportsbook.com and B-K Motorsport
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Sebring, Fla. - The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) hit the jackpot with a full house of ALMS sponsorship announcements made at Sebring International Raceway prior to the historic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring March 19.
Sportsbook.com has decided to become a player on the track. The online giant will join the return of Mazda to North American Road Racing as the primary sponsor of the No. 8 Mazda factory powered Courage C65 for B-K Motorsports. Pat Kestner and Bob Bach of B-K will display a scale model of the race car at Chateau Elan at Sebring International Raceway.
Sportsbook.com will also be the "official online gaming partner" of the ALMS for one year, which will include sponsorship of the "Sportsbook.com Winners Circle" at all ALMS events. Sportbook.com will also support a "Lucky Move of the Race" contingency award of $1,000 presented to the one driver who got lucky on the track at the previous race during prerace ceremonies. The last "Lucky Move of the Race" award at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will be given to the recipient driver at the ALMS year-end banquet. In addition, lucky fans will have the chance to win Mazda RX-8s and other prizes over the course of the season via online entries.
The final aspect of the sponsorship trifecta involves Sportsbook.com becoming the title sponsor of the Grand Prix of Atlanta April 17.
Wisconsin based B-K Motorsports announced at Sebring International Raceway that it would carry the Mazda banner and rotary power back into endurance racing in the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series for a full season in 2005. The Mazda powered Courage will be piloted by 2002 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Formula Mazda National champion, Jamie Bach, and 2002 Star Mazda Championship winner Guy Cosmo. The Formula Mazda graduates duo has worked together previously as Cosmo served as driver-coach for Bach during the 2003 campaign.
The twenty-one year-old Bach, a junior Engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will be entering his fifth season of racing cars in 2005 having spent most of his time behind the wheel of Formula Mazdas. Bach, the 2002 SCCA Formula Mazda national champion, has amassed nearly 50 victories and over 30 pole positions in four seasons and currently holds six track records. Bach spent 2004 behind the wheel of the SIRIUS Satellite Radio Pro Formula Mazda, finishing eighth in the Star Mazda Series North American Championship presented by Goodyear. In 2004, he also scored his third SCCA Central Division Championship in four years, his third Central Division Star Mazda Series crown, and scored a runaway victory in the prestigious Chicago Region June Sprints at his home circuit -- Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin's Road America. Bach got his start in karting at the tender age of nine, scoring victories and championships at all levels.
Cosmo has basically driven anything with wheels on it. Also a product of karting, he has driven Formula Continentals, Formula Fords and Formula Mazdas to divisional championships in the SCCA. In 2002, Cosmo won the crown in the Star Mazda Series North American Championship with dominant victories at Mid-Ohio and Road America. With that championship, Cosmo was given the opportunity to drive the Panoz LMP1 car and ultimately had the opportunity to start his first Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the LMP1 Riley and Scott of American Spirit Racing in 2004.
The program is made possible largely because of a partnership with Sportsbook.com, a division of Sportingbet, a UK based company. Sportsbook.com and Sportingbet easily form the world's largest Internet gaming company and one of the Internet's most profitable companies.
In 1991, Mazda became the first and is still the only Japanese car manufacturer to win the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mazda did so with the legendary rotary power plant, a key icon that has contributed to the unique heritage of the company that instills the "Soul of a Sports Car" in all of its products. With the rotary engine back in the marketplace as of 2003 in Mazda's RX-8 four door, four-seat sports car, it is only fitting that a group of young, dedicated racers bring Mazda back to endurance racing.
The team also brings Goodyear Racing Tires back to the American Le Mans Series, a fitting tie-in with the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.
The 10-race American Le Mans Series will have three network television broadcasts on CBS and seven races televised on SPEED Channel and worldwide on the Sky Sports World Motorsports program.
After an absence of one year from the race schedule, the American Le Mans Series will be back at its home track of Road Atlanta for the Sportsbook.com Grand Prix of Atlanta on April 17. The Sportsbook.com Grand Prix of Atlanta will be the warm-up for the world famous Petit Le Mans event at Road Atlanta in October.
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Awesome news! There was news a long time ago about Mazda coming back to sportscar racing with a rotary something. I'm excited for it, rotaries are known for their deafening roar, so I'll be waiting patiently for the Road America race, bar any huge problems, they should be there. Thats another thing that got me, I dont' think anyone would have predicted they would race this year! It'll debut next month at Road Atlanta. The Courage chassis is one awesome car, lets up the engine lives up to it's expectations!
Like most people, when i first heard that Mazda would run a car, I assumed it would be an all Mazda effort. Not that they would use someone elses chassis. From what I've read though, it seems that Mazda will have a hands on role with the engine. Most likely to evaluate if the ACo regs and series are a fit to their engines. If it is, maybe we will see an all Mazda car.
Riley Technolgies wants to build LMP cars
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The reputable American race car builder, Riley Technologies, has set its sights on building LeMans Prototypes for the P1 and P2 classes.
Bob Riley, who has been building race cars for over five decades, and his son, Bill Riley, who currently oversees the successful Grand American Riley chassis program, believe it is time for a quality American-made LeMans chassis effort.
"We have designed and built winning cars in the past, including the successful Riley Mk.III from the former IMSA race days and the current Mk.XI, which is experiencing huge success in Grand Am competition for the past two years," said the younger Riley. "Additionally, the new LeMans rules will be to our advantage because of the specified undertray and our history of optimizing new rules packages. We have proven numerous times that we can build a winning chassis. Now we want to do it with prototypes at LeMans."
"We currently have two parallel programs – one for an open cockpit car, and one for a closed cockpit," said Bob Riley, who has numerous wins in all arenas of motorsports. "The closed design features less drag, while the open car has a lower CG (center of gravity) and more ballast to shift, as required."
Features of the currently named Riley Mk.XII chassis include a carbon fiber tub, power steering and paddle shifting. The body is developed using CFD, full-scale wind tunnel and coast down testing.
Customer support will include an expanded parts department, similar to the service currently being provided in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series in the United States.
Riley Technologies already has a reputation for building winning cars at a reasonable cost. As interest in the program gears up, this will be a strong factor that car owners and engineers see as a viable strength. Riley Technologies is likely the only leading race car manufacturer in America to take on a program of this scope at this time.
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While it's nice to hear that they will build a new car (the Riley and Scott MkIII is getting a tad old) all I can get out of this, is that they are willing to build them if someone opens their checkbook. They may have already built one or two, but that doesn't mean they will race. They won't race unless someone buys one. Which I don't have a hard time believing, given their history. So, yea, we might see one in the near future.
Other news and rumors:
Derek Bell and his son (Justin Bell) are putting together a GT1 team. no word on what car yet, but Justin Bell was involved with the Corvette Racing team for some time. A C5R wouldn't surprise me. Some are even saying a C6R! Who knows at this point though. This is not a rumor, they are doing something. It's said to be a two car team.
Pacific Coast Motorsports has apparently combined with MidAmerica Motorsports. So that might mean, that instead of one PCM C5R for this season, there could be two. They are also said to race a C6R in 2006.
Not really new news but, a second Maserati MC12 will join the grid sometime this year.
Some people seem to think ACEMCO will run a second Saleen S7R. I for one don't see it happening.
Intersport will have a new Lola by this years end, a LMP1 car for Jon Field. Clint Field will pilot the B05 LMP2 car.
Team Titan will run something. I wouldn' count on it, they have said nothing in such a long time. I'm starting to believe we'll never see them.
A new Panhard car. Who knows? I sure don't.
Courage Competition Courage C60H Judd. Now this is something I'd love to see!
Marshall Cooke may come in sometime with a Lola B2K/40
Porsche LMP2 at Petit LeMans. That would be awesome, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Zip Racing/Hazardous Motorsports will run 2 cars. This wouldn't surprise me, they've done it before.
Audi has announced that they will run next year with an all new prototype. I guess it'll be an R9. Will the diesel engine rumors be true? LOL
There are rumors of Miracle bumping up to LMP1 next year. I wouldn't mind this happening!
A supposed Facotry effort from Dodge to field a new Viper coupe (SRT10 Coupe) in GT1.
And I think thats it for now.