Pirelli Heads West For American Le Mans Doubleheader

First Up Is Grand Prix of Sonoma Followed By Portland Grand Prix Sonoma, Calif., July 15, 2005 Last year, Pirelli was accustomed to celebrating P2 podiums on a regular basis as Pirelli-shod teams won seven of nine races, including the Grand Prix of Sonoma, and set seven fastest laps in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), winning the coveted ALMS Tire Manufacturers Championship. For 2005, however, Pirelli-shod teams were merely hoping to challenge for podiums in the very competitive GT1 and GT2 classes with Maserati and Panoz respectively. That was until April at Road Atlanta, only the second round of the ALMS season, where Maserati scored its first North American podium in nearly 50 years and the Panoz Esperante upset the dominant Porsches for its first GT2 victory ever. In fact, Pirelli has earned podiums in every race this year until Lime Rock two weeks ago when the #35 Maserati was only seconds out of third place at the finish and a multi-car accident put the #50 Panoz in the pits while running second. Both the Maserati and Panoz teams, along with the J3 Racing Porsche which owns two podiums this year, are looking for more podiums at this Sundays Infineon Technologies Grand Prix of Sonoma across the bay from San Francisco. Forty-eight years ago, in 1957, racing legends Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra won the 12 Hours of Sebring with a Pirelli-shod 450S, Maseratis last victory in the U.S. with a factory car. Now, Maserati is back with a factory racing car and re-united with another great racing legendPirelliin its biggest market. In 2005, Maserati will participate in the entire ALMS race calendar with one Maserati MC12 supported by Risi Competizioni of Houston. Ferrari/Maserati factory tester Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio De Simone will drive the car for most of the season. In its first race on North American soil, a fifth-place finish at Sebring proved to be a real challenge with the Italian Trident carrying 50 kilos (115lb) in weight penalty. With a reduction to 30 kilos at Road Atlanta, Maserati achieved a well-earned third-place podium behind the two factory Corvettes. With a further penalty reduction to 10 kilos, everyone is anxious to see how level the playing ground is in GT1. In its first full year in the ALMS, the Pirelli-shod Panoz Motor Sports Esperante GTLM team was looking forward to the season with greater expectations. These expectations met with dramatic success at Road Atlanta as Bill Auberlen from Redondo Beach, Calif., first achieved a record-setting pole in qualifying followed by his teammate, Scot Robin Liddell, who held off a major challenge by the #23 AJR Porsche for 90 minutes to claim the teams first victory in the #50 Panoz Esperante. It was Auberlens second class win and Liddells seventh, but first in GT2. Liddell also set a new lap record during the race. More recently, Auberlen, along with Liddell and Canadian Scott Maxwell, further demonstrated the Esperantes potential by managing to lead the classic 24 Hours of Le Mans until mechanical problems put them out of the race. At Sonoma, Auberlen and Liddell will be joined by the second Panoz entry, #51, which will be driven by Bryan Sellers of nearby Sacramento, Calif., and Marino Franchitti of Scotland. Rounding out the Pirelli-equipped teams for Road Atlanta will be the #71 Carsport America Viper of team owner Tom Weickardt and young Italian Michele Rugalo in GT1 and the surprising #79 J3 Racing Porsche of Justin Jackson and Tim Sugden who are second in GT2 points. The Grand Prix of Sonoma will get the green flag at 11 a.m. onSunday, July 17, and will be nationally televised live by  CBS Sports at 3:00 p.m. (EDT). The Portland Grand Prix will follow two weeks later on Saturday, July 30. The ALMS Radio Web will have live coverage online at www.americanlemans.com. In addition, all ALMS races will again be televised live in Europe in a television arrangement between the series and MotorsTV, a European television channel dedicated to the world of motorsports. For the third year in a row, all ALMS races will also be covered by the American Forces Network. More information about Pirellis motorsport activities, including the Pirelli Girls, can be found at www.us.pirelli.com. In fact, one of the Pirelli Girls at Sonoma will be featured in Blow Out on the Bravo Channel on Tuesday, July 19.