The Prototypes in 2003
A Preview of the ALMS Season
© Tom Kjos
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA – Although the “official” start of the American Le Mans Series’ season is at Sebring, the major event character of that race and the long hiatus following it make now, after Le Mans, a better time to look ahead at the 2003 season.

This will be the fifth full racing season for Don Panoz’ association with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, proprietors of the annual French classic at Le Mans. Over that time the ALMS has grown significantly in popularity, even though the existence of another claimant to the loyalty of North American sports car fans has added not a small amount of controversy to the sport. All that is simply more of the same to long-time fans; sports car racing has been nothing if not disorderly throughout its history.

Plagued by the cancellation of race dates – this year both Mexico City and Washington, DC – the series has none-the-less engaged most of North America’s best road race tracks for its events. Sebring, Road Atlanta, Mosport, Sears Point (Infineon Raceway), and Laguna Seca (Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) have been with the ALMS since the beginning; Road America and Trois-Rivières will be in their second year in the coming season.

About 25 teams and 30+ cars are expected to commit themselves to participating in the remaining eight events of the season: this core will be supplemented by entrants with less ambitious plans, making grids of forty typical. For the remainder of 2003, Road Atlanta should see both the smallest (at the upcoming Chevy Grand Prix of Atlanta) and largest (at the October 18th Petit Le Mans) fields. That “low end’ appears to be thirty-seven, the current entry for the just-post Le Mans June event.

Prototypes

The 2003 ALMS Prototype season will be the first in which there is not a factory-backed team. Audi has withdrawn in favor of two full time entriesand one occasional single-car independent entry. Contesting the entirety of the schedule will be Reinhold Joest’s Infineon Racing and Dave Maraj’s Champion Racing. Audi Sport UK raced at Sebring and after its unfortunately brief appearance at Le Mans may only be seen again at October’s Petit Le Mans. Prompted perhaps by the Audi withdrawal, Panoz “spun off” its factory team into a privateer effort led by seasoned sports car racing entrepreneur John McLoughlin, who sadly suffered a stroke on the eve of Sebring, from which he is still recovering. The Panoz factory’s announced concentration on developing a GT racer is probably long overdue anyway.

MG never had a factory team in other than name anyway (having done one of those not-often-successful Le Mans-only things), and is now in the capable hands of two full-time racing teams, Dyson and Intersport, who between them will field three of the smaller 675 Kg turbocharged prototypes.

Riley & Scott could be represented at most events by two of its LMP 900 Mark IIIC cars, and Bucknum Racing will run one or more Pilbeam Nissans. We expect Intersport’s LMP 900 Lola B2K / 10 MG (Judd) to be a regular entrant, and would like to see Nasamax’s Cosworth-powered “green” racecar.

Essex Racing will contribute a Lola B2K / 40 Nissan for Canadian Melanie Paterson, and a WR Mazda from Jim Downing will be a boon to audiologists wherever it appears. Mazda rotary power has been specifically excluded from another North American road racing series, so “traditional fans” are especially pleased to see it appear on the Road Atlanta entry. Sometime competitors Jimmy Adams and Joe Blacker bring back their Pilbeam MP84 Nissan for at least the first race of the season.

We expect that there will typically be sixteen prototypes at ALMS sprint races this year (there are fourteen for Road Atlanta next week), split between two classes, LMP 900 and LMP 675, a distinction without a difference in our view. We quit writing about these as separate classes last year and will continue that approach in 2003, though we will usually identify a car’s official class, and will of course identify 675 class winners at each event. This year’s most important challengers include:

Infineon Team Joest is the descendent of the all-conquering Audi Sport North America, both operated by famed team owner Reinhold Joest. His Joest Racing is well known for its recent domination of the prototype class and has been associated with Audi since the R8R was introduced at Sebring in 1999, but Joest was first and always a “Porsche man,” having, among other feats, won Le Mans back-to-back with a Porsche-powered and Jaguar-chassised LMPs. This is a team that rarely, if ever, puts a foot wrong, and in endurance racing that more often than not is enough to win. We saw more of the same at the Sebring opener. Infineon trailed Champion Racing for most of the way, but in the end got it right where Champion did not – and won. Joest naturally attracts (or can afford) drivers among the best in the sport, and 2003 is no different, with Germans Frank Biela and Marco Warner. Expect Infineon Racing to set the ALMS standard once again. Challengers will simply have to prove that they can rise to the Joest standard or be relegated to no better than the second step of the podium.

The title of “first challenger” has to be awarded to Team ADT Champion Racing. Dave Maraj’s team filled that role last season and shared it with Panoz in 2001. Dave clearly isn’t afraid to spend a little in pursuit of a Champion(ship) for his south Florida Audi-Porsche dealership; that’s clearly been the case since he hired the likes of Hans-Joachim Stuck to drive the first distinctive splashes-on-white 911 racers. Aside from the obvious investment in used cars – in this case Audi R8s – Champion has engaged the best drivers that money can buy, mostly ex-F1 pilots, this year’s versions being Finn JJ Lehto and Englishman Johnny Herbert. To date that has gotten him little beyond questionable race strategies, and runner-up spots. To be fair, all that may only be a consequence of “stretching” to take on the faster factory Audis. It has been said that “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.” Has opportunity not yet knocked, or has preparation been wanting? This is the season when Champion has to come through for the boss – who can be seen pacing nervously behind the team’s pit space at your favorite race course – although he has indicated a commitment to continue into 2004. We think that 2003 is the year that good things will happen, and JJ’s experience with some of the world’s best sports car racing teams will have a hand in that.

Panoz Motorsports is now JML Team Panoz, a privateer led by the redoubtable John McLoughlin. In Panoz colors this is the only team to have broken through three seasons of Audi (and Joest Racing) domination, winning four times in 2001 and 2003 in spite of missteps in aerodynamics and the abandonment as a lost cause of a whole new car and motor. Much of the success over the past two seasons of this unorthodox team (OK, to be fair, it is the car, not the team, that is unorthodox) has to be credited to star drivers Jan Magnussen and David Brabham, both let go before this “rebuilding” season. In 2003 JML will race the venerable “clown shoe” (as the French named it when it first appeared at Le Mans) with 2002 side pods and a 2001 nose – an illustration of the ad-hoc nature and past struggles of the team. Only Gunnar Jeannette, previously a reserve driver, but who has demonstrated solid talent whenever given the opportunity (most recently at this just-past Le Mans) returns. He is currently joined by Belgian driver David Saelens in one car, while ex-F1 and ORECA star Olivier Beretta and former Ferrari test driver and CART journeyman “Mad Max” Papis currently share the other. All-in-all four good drivers and well-sorted equipment will keep the Panoz cars on or near the podium, but the wins of the past will likely remain out of reach this season.

Riley & Scott Racing is a joint venture of the car builder and R&S stalwart Jim Matthews. Although it has been referred to as a “factory team” we don’t think it quite fits the Audi, BMW, Corvette, or even Panoz mold. The R&S Mark IIIC might contest the bulk of the current season, but will skip at least this next Road Atlanta race – or it might stay in Europe. The respected chassis builder has had some success with the Mark IIIC, but the car has shown flashes of speed to go along with the reliability expected of a Riley & Scott, particularly a derivative of the venerable “A model.” Dyson Racing gave this car a tryout in 2001, and came to the conclusion that it simply was not enough of a step forward to have the potential to compete with the Audis at the front of the grid. Still, in the hands of the current partnership the “C” has had solid performances at both Daytona (2002) and Sebring (2002 and 2003), so that like Panoz, we think they might be pushing for the occasional podium finish.

A second R&S Mk IIIC is fielded by American Spirit Racing, with Trans Am regulars Michael Lewis and Tomy Drissi piloting. A twelfth place overall in one of the toughest sports car fields in memory - at Sebring - is certainly a good start, but this team has its work cut out amongst the seasoned ALMS teams running the big prototypes. Perhaps the intensity of Trans Am racing will stand them in good stead here. They appear to have the hardware and driving talent to take on that mid-pack bunch.

Swiss Fredy Lienhard is the proprietor of Lista, the maker of workspace storage systems and Doran Lista Racing is the team that previously fielded a Ferrari 333SP, and now a Judd (MG?) powered Dallara. Fredy is a solid, but not spectacular driver, but is more than ably seconded in this entry by experienced Belgian Didier Theys. The latter can be counted on for hot laps with the best of them when needed, and Kevin Doran brings as much savvy to the pit lane as anyone in the sport. The Dallara can be fast, and it can be reliable. We don’t know if it can be fast and reliable at the same time. This is an entry that we expect to be in close battles with the two Riley & Scotts, the two Panoz’ and Intersport’s Lola B2K / 10 Judd (MG) throughout the calendar.

Although the Lola EX257 AER MG remains one of the enigmas of the sports car world, there is nothing enigmatic about the Dyson Racing Team, Inc., the long name for one of North America’s premier motor sport competitors. Rob and Chris Dyson seem to have built a family as well as a race team, with a driver (yes, a driver) who has been with them for twenty years, and a crew chief who retires this summer after an entire career with the same race team. How often in the world has that ever happened? The important part here is not just longevity, but whom – James Weaver, Andy Wallace, Butch Leitzinger, Pat Smith, and of course Rob Dyson. Chris represents the next generation, of course - and well, Andy and Butch are probably “tweeners.” But the point here is that this team has sought out the challenge of that enigmatic Lola MG. And we can’t believe that they have all collectively gone bonkers, so we think there has to be something to it. There is no doubt about the speed of the little MG; it demonstrated that as early as Sebring in 2002, with a third on the grid in the hands of KnightHawk. Later in the season, the car was surprisingly close to the leading 900 cars at Mosport and then even more so at Petit Le Mans. Sebring this year was a disappointment, with early failures (particularly of the power steering unit) that led Dyson to cancel a Le Mans entry to concentrate on testing and development. We hope that work pays off, because if it does it means good things for prototype racing throughout this season.

Twins Jon and Joel Field are the motive forces behind Banana Joe’s restaurants, a construction company, and most importantly to us, Intersport Racing. This Ohio-based team has probably run more races in North American professional sports car racing than any other, contesting both Grand Am and ALMS in most of the prior five seasons. Their approach is unusual in another way, not so much that they run two cars, but that they run two cars in ‘different’ classes – a Lola B2K / 10 in LMP 900 and a Lola EX 257 AER MG in LMP 675. The fact that both are named Lola, and both engines are badged MG does not add up to compatibility – we doubt that the cars share even a single part. Jon has been fast in the new small turbocharged Lola, and we think both Intersport and Dyson Racing will benefit from continuing the development of three cars between them, if in no other area than in work by Goodyear on the tire they share – last year they did not have a tire specifically for this car; this year they will. Clint Field, Jon’s son, will continue to campaign the LMP 900 Lola, partnered at the start of this season by Michael Durand, and will join that mid-pack battle with Panoz, Dallara, and R&S. Duncan Dayton will join Jon in the EX 257, and together they make a formidable team. Expect the car to regularly be near the front with the “big boys” (you know who we mean).

Ronnie Bucknum raced Ford GT 40s at Le Mans nearly forty years ago, and son Jeff took Team Bucknum Racing back there this year. This will be the second season for Team Bucknum and a Pilbeam, but they attack the series with a new “91” chassis, and a new “Willman 6”, their name (from team driver Bryan Willman) for the new “wide angle” V6 engine. Last year careful driving and persistence overcame a lack of pace to hand the team a series-leading three LMP 675 wins. They hope that the new car and motor will give them the pace to go with the obvious good sense. If so, and if – a big if based on recent form – they can find some reliability, they could still be winners in this class. Even though Dyson Racing and Intersport seem more likely to set the race pace, this is endurance racing, and you have to first finish, to finish first.

So how does all this shake out? Infineon Team Joest has one under its belt already, having stolen Sebring away from Champion Racing. We expect more of the same, with those two going hammer and tongs the rest of the season. Dyson Racing doesn’t want to settle for the class win they garnered at Sebring, they’re gunning for the Audis. We think they will take a couple. Panoz might sneak a single win. Intersport is a possible, and in any case, when Jon gets it “a-wheelin’” he’ll scare ‘em at the front.

We’ll say Infineon Team Joest will win (at least) two more to total three in the season, and count Champion Racing for three of their own; that’s six wins in nine races (including Sebring) for the two of them. We like Dyson Racing for two outright wins, and Panoz to get a single upset – or perhaps that ninth race will go to someone else? Unlikely. Some will whine that Audi again wins at least two-thirds of the races. But we’ll see the four different winners. And we’ll see some great racing – again. But where are Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello, Emanuele Pirro, David Brabham and Jan Magnussen?