ALMS Boss Discusses 2010 Season

September 29th, 2010

HARRISBURG, N.C. — After an eventful two years, with many wondering about its long-term future, the American Le Mans Series comes to the end of its 2010 season Saturday with Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans event in a far better position than had been expected and with great hope for the future.

“For us,” said ALMS President Scott Atherton in an interview with NSSN, “it has been a very good year, not only have we had the most competitive GT season ever with as yet to be decided championship, but our prototype category has been equally exciting, perhaps more so than most might have thought, with its championship likewise undecided.”

That latter situation, according to many experts, is attributable to the decision by Atherton and his staff to combine the headlining LMP1 division with the second tier LMP2 category into a single title chase. Even so, perhaps the most significant move for the series has been the introduction of the spec Le Mans Prototype and spec, Porsche only, GT classes, which have added cars and entertainment to the Don Panoz-owned tour.

When asked about the LMP Challenge prototypes, Atherton said, “They have really succeeded, bringing close racing to the series in a very cost effective way. Indeed, there are some teams who have yet to rebuild their engines, and one which has just recently changed the oil in its.”

According to Atherton the category’s regulations will remain stable through at least 2012, the year which will see the completion of the transition from current non-spec prototypes to their successors that is scheduled to begin next season.

Turning to the GT Challenge arena, there Atherton denied suggestions that it was ever intended to lure away Rolex GT competitors, who use the same basic Porsche 911 GT3s in the Grand Am tour that are eligible in the new ALMS category.

“That was never our intension,” he said. “What we wanted was to provide a starting place in our series for those wanting to move into GT, but who felt they needed to gain experience before doing so. In fact, we have very deliberately limited the number of GTC entries, and will continue to do so in the future.”

Still, when questioned about that future, Atherton reported that the ALMS has yet to make a decision on whether or not to add additional makes to the GTC class, something which, if it does happen would obviously expand its scope to include other potential entries now racing in the Grand Am.

Also undecided is television coverage for 2011, an issue which, Atherton said, would be resolved in the near future; and which, according to insiders, not only involves the matter of broadcast networks, but the form the coverage will take. Those insiders point to changes in the minds of potential broadcasters favoring the kind of delayed “documentary” style shows of the Laguna Seca and Mid Ohio rounds CBS telecast this year. Those drew mixed reviews, something Atherton acknowledged, saying, “It was a toss-up between those who absolutely loved them and those who absolutely hated them.”

One thing that is settled, however, is the 2011 ALMS schedule, which was to include two new races when initially announced last month. “We had thought we would add two more events for 2011,” said Atherton. “However, as so often happens, the best laid plans go array. While we will race with the Indy Cars in Baltimore on Labor Day weekend, the hoped for Oklahoma City event is not going to happen. We will not be going back to Miller Motorsport Park, so we will have the same number of races as we did in this season.”