American Le Mans Series returns to Lime Rock Park

LIME ROCK — The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) comes to Lime Rock Park this weekend, July 8 to 9, for the Northeast Grand Prix. This is its eighth year at one of the fastest tracks the prototype and sports car racing series visits.The Lime Rock race is round three of the 2011 title chase, following the March season opener at the 12 hours of Sebring in Sebring, Fla., and the mid-April Tequila Patron American Le Mans in Long Beach, Calif.The ALMS championship, which sees many of the same cars and stars that race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is known for its environmentally sensitive rules package, which strongly encourages the use of alternative fuels and other green initiatives, with multiple classes of cars racing at the same time.The four classes competing in this weekend’s event include the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Man Prototype Challenge (LMPC), Grand Touring (GT) and Grand Touring Challenge (GTC). The points leader in the main category, LMP1, is Chris Dyson of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., teamed with England’s Guy Smith. Lime Rock Park has been Dyson’s home track since he began racing as a teen and he’s aware of what’s needed to win on the shortest track (1.5 miles) ALMS visits. Getting behind traffic on short tracks is a challenge and it takes experience to get around slower cars. Last year’s Lime Rock LMP1 winner, in a bit of an upset, was the duo of Greg Picket and Klaus Graf. The Muscle Milk team switched chassis and engines for 2011 (from Penske-Porsche to Lola-Aston Martin) and all eyes will be on the number six car to see if it can successfully defend.In the GT category, Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller lead the points in the Rahal-Letterman BMW M3, just ahead of the Chevy Corvette of Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen.Friday, July 8, features practice and qualifying for all four ALMS classes as well as practice and qualifying for the two support series, the IMSA Cooper Ties Prototypes Lites series and the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Presented by Yokohama.Saturday, July 9, features two Prototype Lites races, two GT3 Cup races and the ALMS Northeast Grand Prix, which starts at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, visit www.limerock.com or call 860-435-5000.

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