2009 American Le Mans Series

The 2009 American Le Mans Series season was the 39th season for the IMSA GT Championship, with it being the eleventh season with the American Le Mans Series moniker. It began on March 21, 2009, and ended on October 10, 2009 after ten events. The series was composed of Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and Grand Tourer (GT) race cars divided into four classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2. A fifth category, known as the Challenge class, was also added for select races and featured Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars from the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge.[1] 2009 was also the final year for GT1, with Corvette Racing abandoning the class after Long Beach and switching over to much more competitive GT2 (renamed GT) class.

2009 American Le Mans Series
Previous: 2008 Next: 2010
David Brabham (pictured) and Scott Sharp won the LMP1 class title for Patrón Highcroft Racing.

This was the first time that the Michelin Green X Challenge championship was used throughout a full ALMS season after its initial introduction at the 2008 Petit Le Mans. Two champions were determined by the entry which is the most efficient over the season within the LMP and GT categories.[2]

Patrón Highcroft Racing duo David Brabham and Scott Sharp won the main LMP1 standings, holding off De Ferran Motorsports pairing Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud at the final round of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Adrián Fernández and Luis Díaz won the LMP2 title, in the final season of Fernández Racing, who closed at the end of the 2009 season. In GT2, Flying Lizard Motorsports' Patrick Long and Jörg Bergmeister won six races en route to the championship title. Husband-and-wife Martin and Melanie Snow won the inaugural GT Challenge class title, that ran at half of the season's ten races.

Schedule

The 2009 schedule remained mostly identical to the 2008 schedule, although the season was shortened in length. This was done to allow teams from the American Le Mans Series to participate in events for the new Asian Le Mans Series in November.[3] On December 18, 2008, it was announced that the Detroit race would be canceled.[4]

The Challenge class of cars only participated in five rounds in 2009: Utah, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Road America, and Laguna Seca.[1][5]

Rnd Race Length Circuit Location Date
1 57th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring 12 Hours Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida March 21
2 Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg 1 Hour 55 Minutes Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida April 4
3 American Le Mans Series at Long Beach 1 Hour 40 Minutes Long Beach street circuit Long Beach, California April 18
4 Utah Grand Prix 2 Hours 45 Minutes Miller Motorsports Park Tooele, Utah May 17
5 Northeast Grand Prix 2 Hours 45 Minutes Lime Rock Park Lakeville, Connecticut July 18
6 Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio 2 Hours 45 Minutes Mid-Ohio Lexington, Ohio August 8
7 Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase 2 Hours 45 Minutes Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 16
8 Grand Prix of Mosport 2 Hours 45 Minutes Mosport International Raceway Bowmanville, Ontario August 30
9 Petit Le Mans 1,000 mi (1,600 km) or 10 Hours Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia September 26
10 Monterey Sports Car Championships 4 Hours Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California October 10

Season results

Overall winner in bold.

Rnd Circuit LMP1 Winning Team LMP2 Winning Team GT2 Winning Team Challenge Winning Team Results
LMP1 Winning Drivers LMP2 Winning Drivers GT2 Winning Drivers Challenge Winning Drivers
1 Sebring #2 Audi Sport Team Joest #15 Fernández Racing #62 Risi Competizione Did Not Participate Results
Tom Kristensen
Allan McNish
Rinaldo Capello		 Adrián Fernández
Luis Díaz		 Jaime Melo
Pierre Kaffer
Mika Salo
2 St. Petersburg #9 Highcroft Racing #15 Fernández Racing #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Did Not Participate Results
David Brabham
Scott Sharp		 Adrián Fernández
Luis Díaz		 Patrick Long
Jörg Bergmeister
3 Long Beach #66 de Ferran Motorsports #15 Fernández Racing #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Did Not Participate Results
Gil de Ferran
Simon Pagenaud		 Adrián Fernández
Luis Díaz		 Patrick Long
Jörg Bergmeister
4 Miller #66 de Ferran Motorsports #15 Fernández Racing #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports #57 Snow Racing Results
Gil de Ferran
Simon Pagenaud		 Adrián Fernández
Luis Díaz		 Patrick Long
Jörg Bergmeister		 Martin Snow
Melanie Snow
5 Lime Rock #66 de Ferran Motorsports #20 Dyson Racing Team #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports #36 Gruppe Orange Results
Gil de Ferran
Simon Pagenaud		 Butch Leitzinger
Marino Franchitti		 Patrick Long
Jörg Bergmeister		 Wesley Hoaglund
Bob Faieta
6 Mid-Ohio #66 de Ferran Motorsports #15 Fernández Racing #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports #57 Snow Racing Results
Gil de Ferran
Simon Pagenaud		 Adrián Fernández
Luis Díaz		 Patrick Long
Jörg Bergmeister		 Martin Snow
Melanie Snow
7 Road America #9 Highcroft Racing #15 Fernández Racing #90 BMW Rahal Letterman #57 Snow Racing Results
David Brabham
Scott Sharp		 Adrián Fernández
Luis Díaz		 Joey Hand
Bill Auberlen		 Martin Snow
Melanie Snow
8 Mosport #9 Highcroft Racing #15 Fernández Racing #3 Corvette Racing Did Not Participate Results
David Brabham
Scott Sharp		 Adrián Fernández
Luis Díaz		 Johnny O'Connell
Jan Magnussen
9 Road Atlanta #08 Team Peugeot Total #20 Dyson Racing Team #62 Risi Competizione Did Not Participate Results
Franck Montagny
Stéphane Sarrazin		 Butch Leitzinger
Marino Franchitti
Ben Devlin		 Jaime Melo
Pierre Kaffer
Mika Salo
10 Laguna Seca #66 de Ferran Motorsports #15 Fernández Racing #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports #47 Orbit Racing Results
Gil de Ferran
Simon Pagenaud		 Adrián Fernández
Luis Díaz		 Patrick Long
Jörg Bergmeister		 Guy Cosmo
John Baker

Note that the GT1 class only competed in two rounds. Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen, and Antonio García won the 12 Hours of Sebring for Corvette Racing, while Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta won for Corvette at Long Beach.

Championships

Points were awarded to the top ten cars and drivers which either finish the race or complete 70% of the winner's distance, except in the ALMS Challenge category where cars and drivers only have to complete 50% of their class winner's distance. Teams with multiple entries only scored the points of their highest finishing entry in each race. Drivers were required to drive a minimum of 45 minutes to earn points, except for the Long Beach event which required only 30 minutes. The GT1 category was only used for two events and no championships were awarded in that category.

Points System
Race Distance Position
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Less than three hours 20 16 13 10 8 6 4 3 2 1
Between four and eight hours 25 21 18 15 13 11 9 8 7 6
More than eight hours 30 26 23 20 18 16 14 13 12 11

Team championships

Teams with full entries were awarded points in the team championships. Teams which participated in partial season or on a race by race basis were not counted as part of the championship.

LMP1 standings
Pos Team Chassis Engine Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Total
1 Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-02a Acura AR7 4.0 L V8 18 20 16 16 16 16 20 20 16 21 179
2 de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a Acura AR7 4.0 L V8 0 13 20 20 20 20 16 16 12 25 162
3 Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8 0 16 13 13 8 13 13 13 14 13 116
4 Autocon Motorsports Lola B06/10 AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8 0 10 0 10 0 8 0 13 18 59
5 Corsa Motorsports Ginetta-Zytek GZ09HS Zytek ZJ458 4.5 L Hybrid V8 10 13 10 10 15 58

LMP2 standings
Pos Team Chassis Engine Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Total
1 Lowe's Fernández Racing Acura ARX-01B Acura AL7R 3.4 L V8 30 20 20 20 16 20 20 20 26 25 217
2 Dyson Racing Team Lola B09/86 Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4 0 16 16 16 20 13 16 16 30 0 143

GT2 standings
Pos Team Chassis Engine Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Total
1 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3-RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 8 18 25 181
2 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430GT Ferrari 4.0 L V8 30 0 16 13 16 8 8 16 30 0 137
3 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing BMW M3 GT2 BMW 4.0 L V8 0 16 13 4 13 13 20 2 26 11 118
4 Farnbacher-Loles Racing Porsche 997 GT3-RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 13 4 1 16 10 6 1 10 23 18 102
5 Panoz Team PTG Panoz Esperante GT-LM Ford 5.0 L V8 23 13 6 10 6 4 0 6 12 15 95
6 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet LS7.R 6.0 L V8 16 13 20 20 21 90
7 Robertson Racing Ford GT-R Mk. VII Ford 5.0 L V8 14 6 2 1 2 1 4 1 11 0 42
8 Primetime Race Group Dodge Viper Comp. Coupe Dodge 8.3 L V10 0 0 4 2 3 2 3 0 14
9 Team Falken Tire Porsche 997 GT3-RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 0 0 8 8

ALMS Challenge standings

Gruppe Orange tied on points for the ALMS Challenge Team Championship, but Snow Racing broke the tie by having three wins over the season compared to Gruppe Orange's one.

Pos Team Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Total
1 Snow Racing 20 10 20 20 0 70
2 Gruppe Orange 0 20 13 16 21 70
3 Orbit Racing 0 16 16 10 25 67
4 P7 Racing 18 18
5 GMG Racing 0 13 13
6 Velox Motorsport 10 0 10

Driver championships

Drivers who participated in races but failed to score points over the course of the season are not listed.

LMP1 standings
Pos Driver Team Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Total
1= David Brabham Patrón Highcroft Racing 18 20 16 16 16 16 20 20 16 21 179
1= Scott Sharp Patrón Highcroft Racing 18 20 16 16 16 16 20 20 16 21 179
3= Gil de Ferran de Ferran Motorsports 0 13 20 20 20 20 16 16 12 25 162
3= Simon Pagenaud de Ferran Motorsports 0 13 20 20 20 20 16 16 12 25 162
5= Jon Field Intersport Racing 0 16 13 13 8 13 13 13 14 13 116
5= Clint Field Intersport Racing 0 16 13 13 8 13 13 13 14 13 116
7= Johnny Mowlem Corsa Motorsports 10 13 10 10 15 58
7= Stefan Johansson Corsa Motorsports 10 13 10 10 15 58
9= Franck Montagny Team Peugeot Total 26 30 56
9= Stéphane Sarrazin Team Peugeot Total 26 30 56
11= Allan McNish Audi Sport Team Joest 30 23 53
11= Rinaldo Capello Audi Sport Team Joest 30 23 53
13= Bryan Willman Autocon Motorsports 0 10 0 0 8 13 18 49
13= Chris McMurry Autocon Motorsports 0 10 8 0 13 18 49
15= Nicolas Minassian Team Peugeot Total 20 26 46
15= Pedro Lamy Team Peugeot Total 20 26 46
17= Lucas Luhr Audi Sport North America 23 20 43
17= Marco Werner Audi Sport North America 23 20 43
19 Chapman Ducote Intersport Racing 0 16 13 13 42
20 Tony Burgess Autocon Motorsports 0 10 0 13 18 41
21 Dario Franchitti Patrón Highcroft Racing 18 16 34
22 Tom Kristensen Audi Sport Team Joest 30 30
23 Sébastien Bourdais Team Peugeot Total 26 26
24 Mike Rockenfeller Audi Sport North America 23 23
25 Christian Klien Team Peugeot Total 20 20
26= Nicolas Lapierre Team Oreca Matmut AIM 18 18
26= Romain Dumas Team Oreca Matmut AIM 18 18
28 Scott Dixon de Ferran Motorsports 0 12 12
29 Michael Lewis Autocon Motorsports 10 0 10

LMP2 standings
Pos Driver Team Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Total
1= Adrián Fernández Lowe's Fernández Racing 30 20 20 20 16 20 20 20 26 25 217
1= Luis Díaz Lowe's Fernández Racing 30 20 20 20 16 20 20 20 26 25 217
3= Butch Leitzinger Dyson Racing Team 0 13 13 16 20 13 16 16 30 0 137
3= Marino Franchitti Dyson Racing Team 0 13 13 16 20 13 16 16 30 0 137
5 Klaus Graf Team Cytosport 16 13 23 21 73
6= Chris Dyson Dyson Racing Team 0 16 16 13 0 0 10 0 55
6= Guy Smith Dyson Racing Team 0 16 16 13 0 0 10 0 55
8 Greg Pickett Team Cytosport 16 13 0 21 50
9 Ben Devlin Dyson Racing Team 0 30 0 30
10 Sascha Maassen Team Cytosport 23 23
11= Gunnar van der Steur van der Steur Racing 13 0 0 0 13
11= Adam Pecorari van der Steur Racing 13 0 0 0 13

GT2 standings
Pos Driver Team Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Total
1= Patrick Long Flying Lizard Motorsports 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 8 18 25 181
1= Jörg Bergmeister Flying Lizard Motorsports 20 20 20 20 20 20 10 8 18 25 181
3= Jaime Melo Risi Competizione 30 0 16 13 16 8 8 16 30 0 137
3= Pierre Kaffer Risi Competizione 30 0 16 13 16 8 8 16 30 0 137
5 Wolf Henzler Farnbacher-Loles Racing 13 4 1 16 10 6 1 10 23 18 102
6= Tommy Milner BMW Rahal Letterman Racing 0 16 13 4 1 13 16 0 26 11 100
6= Dirk Müller BMW Rahal Letterman Racing 0 16 13 4 1 13 16 0 26 11 100
8= Dominik Farnbacher Panoz Team PTG 23 13 6 10 6 4 0 6 12 15 95
8= Ian James Panoz Team PTG 23 13 6 10 6 4 0 6 12 15 95
10= Johnny O'Connell Corvette Racing 16 13 20 16 21 86
10= Jan Magnussen Corvette Racing 16 13 20 16 21 86
12 Seth Neiman Flying Lizard Motorsports 18 8 8 6 4 2 3 14 13 76
13 Mika Salo Risi Competizione 30 30 60
14 Johannes van Overbeek Flying Lizard Motorsports 18 6 4 4 14 13 59
15 Darren Law Flying Lizard Motorsports 18 8 8 2 3 4 14 57
16= Oliver Gavin Corvette Racing 10 6 13 20 6 55
16= Olivier Beretta Corvette Racing 10 6 13 20 6 55
18 Marc Lieb Flying Lizard Motorsports 20 18 54
Farnbacher-Loles Racing 16
19 Dirk Werner Farnbacher-Loles Racing 13 4 1 10 23 51
20= Joey Hand BMW Rahal Letterman Racing 0 0 3 3 13 3 20 2 0 0 44
20= Bill Auberlen BMW Rahal Letterman Racing 0 0 3 3 13 3 20 2 0 0 44
22 David Murry Robertson Racing 14 6 2 1 2 1 4 1 11 0 42
23 Andrea Robertson Robertson Racing 14 6 1 2 1 4 1 11 0 40
24 David Robertson Robertson Racing 14 2 1 2 1 4 1 11 0 36
25 Johannes Stuck T-Mobile VICI Racing 0 10 8 8 9 35
26 Richard Westbrook T-Mobile VICI Racing 10 8 9 27
27= Gianmaria Bruni Advanced Engineering PeCom 26 26
27= Matías Russo Advanced Engineering PeCom 26 26
27= Luís Pérez Companc Advanced Engineering PeCom 26 26
27= Jörg Müller BMW Rahal Letterman Racing 26 26
31= Marcel Fässler Corvette Racing 20 20
31= Tom Sutherland LG Motorsports 13 7 20
31= Tomy Drissi LG Motorsports 13 7 20
34 Pierre Ehret Farnbacher-Loles Motorsport 18 18
35 Lou Giglotti LG Motorsports 0 10 0 7 17
36= Tracy Krohn Risi Competizione 16 16
36= Eric van de Poele Risi Competizione 16 16
36= Niclas Jönsson Risi Competizione 16 16
36= Antonio García Corvette Racing 16 16
40= Joel Feinberg Primetime Race Group 0 0 4 2 3 2 3 0 14
40= Chris Hall Primetime Race Group 0 0 4 2 3 2 3 0 14
42= Richard Lietz Farnbacher-Loles Racing 13 13
42= Matt Bell LG Motorsports 13 13
44 Bryce Miller Farnbacher-Loles Racing 10 1 11
45 Eric Curran LG Motorsports 0 10 10
46= Nicky Pastorelli T-Mobile VICI Racing 8 8
46= Bryan Sellers Team Falken Tire 0 0 8 8
46= Dominic Cicero Team Falken Tire 0 0 8 8
49 Martin Ragginger Farnbacher-Loles Motorsport 6 6

ALMS Challenge standings

Driver points were awarded collectively, with all the drivers who have driven for a team being awarded the same number of points.

Pos Drivers No. Team Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Total
1 Martin Snow #57 Snow Racing 20 10 20 20 0 70
Melanie Snow 20 10 20 20 0
2 Nick Parker #02 Gruppe Orange 0 13 8 16 21 58
Donald Pickering 13 8 16 21
Carl Skerlong 0
3 Guy Cosmo #47 Orbit Racing 0 0 16 10 25 51
John Baker 0 0 16 10 25
4 Wesley Hoaglund #36 Gruppe Orange 0 20 13 13 0 46
Bob Faieta 0 20 13 13 0
5 Ed Brown #08 Orbit Racing 0 16 0 8 15 39
Bill Sweedler 0 16 0 8 15
6 Robert Rodriguez #69 P7 Racing 18 18
Galen Bieker 18
7 Bret Curtis #05 GMG Racing 0 13 13
James Sofronas 0 13
8 Shane Lewis #88 Velox Motorsport 10 0 10
Gerry Ventos 10
Mitchell Pagerey 0

Team changes
  • Corvette Racing announced on September 9 that during the 2009 season the GT1 Corvettes will run at Sebring and Long Beach before competing at Le Mans, after which a new GT2 Corvette will compete for the rest of the season in preparation for 2010.[6]
  • Audi announced on December 5 that they will no longer compete in the American Le Mans Series, choosing instead to concentrate on the DTM, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (later FIA World Endurance Championship) and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Audi's new LMP1 competitor, the R15 TDI, will compete at Sebring before returning to Europe.[7] The cars returned for the Petit Le Mans in September.
  • Highcroft Racing and De Ferran Motorsports will move from LMP2 to campaign Acura's new LMP1 ARX-02a, while Lowe's Fernandez Racing will continue to race the ARX-01B in LMP2.
  • Porsche will not return with their factory-backed RS Spyders, campaigned by Penske Racing, choosing instead to compete on the Rolex Sports Car Series.[8]
  • Dyson Racing will move from Porsche RS Spyders to AER Mazda-powered Lola B08/80's in the LMP2 class.[9]
  • Paul Gentilozzi announced that RSR Racing would be entering Jaguar XKRs in the GT2 category beginning in July.[10] This however, did not happen until a one car test session during the final Laguna Seca race, starting from the pit lane.
  • Team Cytosport acquired and ran an ex-Dyson Porsche RS Spyder from Mid-Ohio to the end of the season.
gollark: Why is there so little use of modern Markdown-y mobile-friendly forum stuff? It must exist.
gollark: I just said as much.
gollark: It pours forever in the ruins of the hub feedback thread and I get notifications every few minutes.
gollark: The salt pours.
gollark: https://dragcave.net/lineage/aGbaD

References
  1. "Series provides advancement opportunity with addition of "Challenge Class"". American Le Mans Series. 2009-03-27. Archived from the original on March 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
  2. "Green Challenge Rules and Regulations Set". American Le Mans Series. 2008-06-24. Archived from the original on January 22, 2009. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  3. "Record Results and a Bold Five-Year Plan". American Le Mans Series. 2008-10-03. Archived from the original on 14 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  4. http://jalopnik.com/5113734/2009-detroit-belle-isle-grand-prix-canceled
  5. "IMSA Competition Bulletin #09-21" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. 2009-08-16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  6. http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/09/corvettes-back-in-alms-in-2009-with-gt1-and-gt2-programs/
  7. "ALMS : Audi concentrates on European motorsport". Endurance-Info. 2008-12-05. Archived from the original on 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  8. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=313648%5B%5D
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-12-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "American Le Mans Series – News". Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
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