American Le Mans Series

ALMS press conference day…green racing!

It was press conference day today at the Sebring circuit and most of the announcements had everything to do with “green racing” and the leading position of the American Le Mans Series in the world of green racing initiatives.

The first press conference was the Yokohama Tire Press Conference. Not directly ALMS related, as it involved the Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama. The Japanese tire manufacturer announced its new eco-friendly, orange oil-infused ADVAN ENV-R1, the spec tire for the ALMS support series. This tire is the world’s first orange oil tire to be used in a race series.

Just after noon it was time for Michelin. The French tire manufacturer announced its plans go sponsor the for the Michelin Green X Challenge. Similar to the Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge in the Le Mans Series and at Le Mans, the American Le Mans Series will now have a ‘race within the race’. All teams competing in the ALMS will take part in the challenge that will measure and reward teams for achieving the highest performance on the race circuit with the greatest fuel-efficiency and the least environmental impact.

Back in 2008 the Green Challenge started at Petit Le Mans, where Corvette Racing won the GT Award and Penske Racing won the Prototype award.
For this year Michelin is supporting the challenge and with more eco-friendly “Green X” tires available in North America the ALMS renamed the challenge to Michelin Green X Challenge.

The final eco-friendly announcement was made by confirming a two-year contract with Greener Earth Technologies as a new corporate sponsor of the American Le Mans Series. Green Earth Technologies’ biodegradable “green” motor oil, “G-OIL” will be the official motor oil of the ALMS and IMSA. For now the oil will be used in the IMSA/ALMS safety trucks, but Greener Earth Technologies hopes to use it for the actual race cars in the future as well.

So far for the green racing announcements…back to the green flag for qualifying!