American Le Mans Series

Petersen/White Lighting Heads for Laguna in Lead

Despite entering the American Le Mans Series season-finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with a commanding lead in the GT2 driver championship and a six point buffer in the team championship, Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing is focused on winning Saturday’s race. While other teams in this position might approach the four-hour Monterey Sports Car Championships with point management on their minds, the Michael Petersen-owned operation is entering the daylight-to-darkness event on a mission to win their fourth-straight ALMS GT2 event, fifth of the season.

A win here would make a sweep of ALMS endurance races (four hours or more) for 2005 as the No. 31 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR has been first across the line at the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and the most recent event, the Petit Le Mans. The temptation to stop chasing race victories and start running for points would be very appealing to most teams eager to win their first title. Not so for the small, tight-knit group from Nevada. With both titles still up for grabs, the team is going to continue to pursue victory on the Monterey Peninsula as if hungry for their first-ever win.

The Dale White-managed team has claimed one championship already; the 2005 GT2 IMSA Cup. Awarded to the highest-finishing, privateer entrant for the season, the team clinched the title by winning the Petit Le Mans. In fact, the team dominated the category this season winning eight of the nine event IMSA Cups awarded thus far. They hold an insurmountable 51 point lead entering the final race. Initially the 2005 goal of the team, the IMSA Cup is a prestigious addition to over 20 years worth of accolades that Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing has garnered in off-road competition (?99 SCORE and SNORE Truck championships, “98 Protruck Stadium Series championship, “97 SODA Unlimited 2wd Champions, “95-?97 Baja 1000 and Baja 500 overall titles, class titles in each in “98, 50 victories) and sports car racing (?03 and “04 24 Hours of Le Mans GT(2) victories, class titles at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans, the 24 At Daytona and the Six Hours at The Glen, five ALMS race wins, three SCCA World Challenge wins and one SCCA Trans-Am win). 23 points are available for each championship this weekend.

The team has also assisted technical partner Porsche Cars North America to a crushing (122 point lead entering this weekend) GT2 Automobile Manufacturer’s title with the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. By winning four times already this season, Petersen/ White Lightning also helped Michelin’s Pilot SX racing slick clinch the GT2 Tire Manufacturer Championship with a 79 point margin entering the season-finale.