2011 American Le Mans Series

rdf:langString 2011 American Le Mans Series

rdf:langString American Le Mans Series

rdf:langString The 2011 American Le Mans Series season was a multi-event motor racing series for sports racing cars which conform to the technical regulations laid out by the International Motor Sports Association for the American Le Mans Series. It was the thirteenth season of the American Le Mans Series, a sports car racing series that drew original inspiration from the types of racing cars that compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the 41st season for the IMSA GT Championship, as this series traces its lineage to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. The full title of the 2011 series is "the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón" to include the principal sponsor. The season began March 19, 2011 with the 12 Hours of Sebring and ended after nine rounds on October 1 with the Petit Le Mans. While Lola-built sports cars dominated the upper racing positions in the faster LMP classes for sports prototype vehicles, their numbers continued to drop to the point where at the third round of the series at 2011 Northeast Grand Prix no LMP2 class cars were entered. The only growth in prototype numbers has been in spec racing class LMPC in which all class competitors use identical Oreca chassis powered by a Chevrolet engine. The Lola-Mazda of the Dyson Racing Team and its drivers Chris Dyson and Guy Smith won the LMP1 class championship at the penultimate race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, holding a 32-point gap over the Muscle Milk Motorsports team and driver Klaus Graf. Level 5 Motorsports ran unopposed for the majority of the season in LMP2 with their Lola-HPDs. Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker also wrapped up the championship early. LMPC title remained live until the final race of the season where Genoa Racing's Eric Lux and the Core Autosport pair of Gunnar Jeannette and Ricardo González ended tied on points, and had the same number of second, third, fourth and fifth-place finishes. In the Grand Touring classes, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's BMW M3 GT2 driven by Dirk Müller and Joey Hand won the championship, taking three wins and three podiums. They wrapped up the class title a round early, having held a 33-point lead over the Chevrolet pair of Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen. Black Swan Racing driver Tim Pappas clinched the GTC spec racing class for Porsche 997s at the final round by winning the class.