ALMS announces 2010 schedule; Laguna Seca moves to May, becomes 6-hour enduro
2008 ALMS at Laguna Seca - click above for a high res image gallery
On Friday, prior to this weekend's Petit Le Mans, the American Le Mans Series announced its planned 2010 schedule. Tentatively, nine of this year's 10 venues are carried over, with only the St. Petersburg, FL street race going away. There are a couple of date changes for the existing venues, however. The Utah race, which had been run in May in recent years, will move to a July slot after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The big change for 2010 however, concerns the annual race at Laguna Seca. This California event has long been the season-ender following Petit Le Mans. In 2010, though, it moves to the May 22 slot and the race length grows to six hours (it's currently a four-hour event). Unfortunately for fans in Michigan, the Detroit race won't return in 2010 because of its local sponsors' poor financial situation; organizers still hope to revive the race in 2011. The schedule is after the jump.
Gallery: 2008 ALMS at Laguna Seca
All photos Copyright ©2008 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: American Le Mans Series]
2010 AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES SCHEDULE
March 20 (SAT) Sebring 12 Hours
Sebring , FL
April 17 (SAT) Long Beach 1 Hour, 40 Minutes
Long Beach, CA
May 22 (SAT) Mazda Raceway 6 Hours
Laguna Seca
Monterey, CA
July 10 (SAT) Miller Motorsports 2 Hours, 45 Minutes
Park
Tooele, UT
July 24 (SAT) Lime Rock Park 2 Hours, 45 Minutes
Lakeville, CT
August 7 (SAT) Mid-Ohio 2 Hours, 45 Minutes
Lexington, OH
August 22 (SUN) Road America 2 Hours, 45 Minutes
Elkhart Lake, WI
August 29 (SUN) Mosport 2 Hours, 45 Minutes
Bowmansville, ONT
October 2 (SAT) Petit Le Mans 10 Hours/1000 miles
Braselton, GA
Get a WordPress.com Blog_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg "2011 Audi A8: Live from Miami")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GTX141 5:47PM (9/27/2009)
Man, that sucks. I've been going to the Laguna race for years. Always plan my vacation around it. Guess I'll be vacationing in......Atlanta next year?
Reply
pedantic 5:58PM (9/27/2009)
Not really good for that Laguna Seca. A lot of the European teams who come over for Petit, decide to stay and run Laguna Seca too. The other thing is the date might be an issue for both European and American teams who are planning on going to Le Mans.
Reply
Fox 1:42AM (9/28/2009)
Yep you are right...
With Audi having a dedicated US program, this would further limit any chance of them coming over from Europe to race here...
It will be nice to have a six hour race (hopefully returning back into a proper night time finish).
campasini1 6:28PM (9/27/2009)
i wish they would add more races,its going to be a good season especially in GT!!!
Reply
This Man. 7:07PM (9/27/2009)
Laguna Seca does not work well for an Enduro track. Frankly... I don't see how it'll work. The pits are very small, not to mention the fact that to complete a lap takes a minute something, and it gets incredibly tedious after awhile. It's good for maybe a 20 or 30 lap race... but for 6 hours?
It's going to be not only very boring for the drivers, but probably not very exciting for the viewers as well.
Reply
why not the LS2LS7? 7:49PM (9/27/2009)
They were scheduled for 432 laps at Road Atlanta yesterday. 6 hours at Laguna Seca will be a similar number.
AZZO45b 8:24PM (9/27/2009)
^^ ???????
The current ALMS events have been 4 hour enduros (starting in early evening light & finishing just after sunset). Ever actually attended this event of just babbling here-say?
AZZO45b 8:26PM (9/27/2009)
My ?????? comments were directed @ ThisMan
why not the LS2LS7? 7:52PM (9/27/2009)
I believe the Detroit race is largely the work of Roger Penske and he's supposedly not going to be in ALMS next year.
There's some indication Grand American will be running as a support race to NASCAR next year a couple times. If so, Penske might do well to concentrate on that series (that co-founded!).
Reply
AZZO45b 8:32PM (9/27/2009)
Grand Am already does this... Daytona July event, Watkins Glen, & Montreal Nationwide race. Also Porsche is rumored to be pulling out of GADP + rolling back support of GA/GT 911 programs.
Penske & "co-founded"??????
why not the LS2LS7? 10:37PM (9/27/2009)
I dunno, sometimes the internet lies, but...
http://www.autometricsmotorsports.com/sponsorship/index.htm
why not the LS2LS7? 10:38PM (9/27/2009)
Oh, and Grand Am tested at Indy this year. Given they are owned by NASCAR now, they won't be supporting IRL, you can be sure. So that most likely means they will support the Coca-Cola 400 next July 4th weekend.
AZZO45b 4:21PM (9/28/2009)
Guess the 'net lies. Roger Penske ran in the ALMS for 3 seasons & came to Grand Scam using rumored NASCAR $$$ when Wayne Talyor leased Penske his Pontiac powered Riley DPs. Roger teamed his NASCAR & ICS drivers into that line up.
Everyone knows GA teams tested @ Indy... NASCAR has "owned" Grand Am since the beginning they just made their ownership "public" last year. I don't know why you keep thinking GA & NAPCAR do not work together... there has been a GA support race for years This year it was the Brumos 250...
http://www.grand-am.com/schedule/index.cfm?series=r&cat_id=60
David 8:05PM (9/27/2009)
6 hours at Laguna Seca? I must see this race someday!
Reply
richard 8:11PM (9/27/2009)
Hey Sam - Mosport is in Bowmanville, not Bowmansville.
Reply
zanagosi 6:00AM (9/28/2009)
I prefer to F1.It give me more exciting moments than other racing.
-------
http://www.laptop-battery-inc.co.uk/laptop-batteries/hp.htm
Reply
Chris 10:15AM (9/28/2009)
F1? Sure, it's great if you like scandals, no passing, and monotone engine notes.
zanagosi 9:51PM (9/28/2009)
Chris,you're right.Scandals, plus popularity in the world. :)
Reply