Down Shift Magazine

Dirk Müller, driver No. 56 M3 GT – “We wanted to fight back for another championship, but we had tough luck this year. A really a big thank you to everyone. Today could have ended badly, but we came back to finish fourth. Third and fourth is a great way to finish the season.”

Both SRT Viper GTS-Rs were able to get longer stints out of their fuel loads and their Michelin tires, enabling the team to skip a stop at a Lap 66 caution in order to take the lead. Once the #91 was at the front of the pack, Farnbacher paced 17 trips around the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta course, building a lead of more than six seconds before handing the reins to Hunter-Reay.

Sports car racing in North America is getting a makeover. Grand-Am and American Le Mans announced a merger Wednesday that will join them as one series beginning in 2014. Grand-Am founder Jim France and ALMS founder Don Panoz said in a joint statement at Daytona International Speedway that the new series will start with the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2014 and likely include 12 races.

“This merger will strengthen professional sports-car racing beyond what either of our organizations could have achieved separately,” ALMS founder Don Panoz said in a statement.

Corvette Racing encountered heavy holiday traffic on the streets of Baltimore today, finishing second and sixth in the Baltimore Sports Car Challenge. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner labored long and hard on the Labor Day weekend to bring the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R across the finish line second, 2.2 seconds behind the winning No. 17 Porsche of Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler. That result increased their lead in the GT driver championship as their closest rivals finished down the order.

The Baltimore Sports Car Challenge presented by SRT features 32 entries comprised of North America’s best sports car drivers and teams who are gunning for not just a race victory… but an ALMS championship as well.

The Road America Road Race Showcase goes green on Saturday, August 18 at 3:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN3.com. The race will be broadcast on tape delay on ESPN2 on Sunday, August 19 between 2 and 4 p.m._________       Click to Enlarge  -  1920×1200

The 2011 edition of the American Le Mans Series round at Road America was a nail-biter to the finish that saw Pickett Racing come away with a win that was the closest finish in the history of the ALMS, with Klaus Graf crossing the finish line 0.112 seconds ahead of Guy Smith.     |   Click to Enlarge  -  1920×1200