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News From The - Sebring 2012

WELCOMES SEBRING THE WORLD

CORVETTE CELEBRATES

www.michelinalley.com 2 Pickett vs Dyson

Friends& LMP1 and we are looking forward to testing new constructions and compounds,” said Pickett. “We want to be a tougher team, we need to be a tough team to beat the RivalsYou may expect that the two top The 2011 champions from Dyson are Dyson team and focus on winning the competitors in the 2012 American Le Poughkeepsie, New York-based, while championship.” Mans Series Prototype class, Dyson Pickett and his Muscle Milk squad call While the Muscle Milk team readies Racing’s and Muscle Milk Benicia, California, home. its title challenge, Dyson has taken on Pickett Racing’s Greg Pickett, would be Both teams have new for 2012; their own double challenge. Not only bitter rivals. You would be very wrong. Muscle Milk has chosen will they debut a new “We have no better friends in ALMS the new -powered Lola at Sebring, than Chris and (pictured HPD ARX-03a while but for the first time the right),” said Pickett. Dyson stays with team will enter a pair of “On the track we are fierce rivals, but Mazda power aboard a cars for the 24 Hours of we try to race each other hard and clean new Lola. They do not Le Mans in June. and when the race is over we exchange agree on tires either, “We have a unique high-fives. We root for each other and with Pickett choosing opportunity with two pat each other on the back.” while Dyson automatic entries earned “The Dysons even helped us come runs with Dunlop. by winning the 2011 into the ALMS by selling us their old To wrest the ALMS ALMS championship and RS Spyder. We have great title from Dyson the MICHELIN® GREEN respect for Chris and Rob and their (pictured below right) X® Challenge,” said Chris team,” said Pickett (pictued above with and his co-driver Guy Dyson. and ). Smith, Pickett has “We want to take on The two teams, winners of ALMS assembled a powerful the new challenge of Le prototype honors in six of the nine races driver line-up for the Mans. We have never last season, literally come from different 2012 season. tried it before.” directions. The Muscle Milk That doesn’t mean they squad pairs World GT1 champion and will be distracted here in the ALMS. former factory ace with “Our primary goal is to defend the veteran Klaus Graf. Here at Sebring, championship here in the ALMS,” said the team seasons the mix with Simon Dyson. Pagenaud, runner-up at 2011 Sebring “We are racing against our best and Le Mans. friends in racing,” said Dyson. Pickett’s quest for the title hasn’t “Neither wants to lose, but after a stopped with a new car and drivers. race, we exchange high-fives and have “Michelin has come to the table a meal together. It is healthy rivalry with some new developments for our and built on mutual respect.”

thealley CORVETTE 3 Corvette Celebrates + Readies for More

Friday will be a big day for Ford, every Corvette victory at Sebring, the Corvette tradition. New generation Corvette at Sebring , the stars and Antonio Garcia International Raceway as the and around the ALMS circuit should be are carrying the tradition forward. legendary American takes savored. Building and maintaining success are its rightful place in the Sebring Hall This year, Corvette joins Porsche, different challenges. of Fame. , Audi, and Michelin as the only Helping Corvette to deliver both are With seven Sebring 12 Hours GT manufacturers in the Sebring Hall of long-time program manager Doug recent wins to its credit and another Fame. Fehan, the talent and dedication of seven at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, “Corvette is an iconic name in and its technical including a dramatic come-from- motorsports around the world,” said centers, and the Pratt & Miller crew led behind victory in changing conditions Silvia Mammone, Michelin motorsports by Gary Pratt. at Le Mans last year, Corvette has manager. Joining Corvette in the 2012 class are proven its stripes in international “The fans in the ALMS and at Le Mans former driver Johnny O’Connell, racer sports car competition in North love the Corvettes and their fans turn turned writer Denise McCluggage, America and overseas. out in great numbers at every race and hero , Mazda The Detroit iron has 73 wins in the car corrals are always filled with the driver and HANS device inventor Jim American Le Mans Series competition Corvette faithful.” Downing and Porsche legend Hans and 8 ALMS manufacturer and team Beautifully designed and thoroughly Herrmann. championships. prepared cars, top drivers and crews, Yes, Friday will be a big day for Racers often say that the tougher and a spirit of pride knowing that many Corvette, but the Corvette Racing team the competition, the sweeter the eyes in and out of the paddock are hopes to make Saturday even bigger. victory. upon them are all part of the Corvette The only thing better than winning the With a list of competitors including tradition. Twelve Hours of Sebring seven times Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, , Drivers like , Johnny would be to celebrate their induction Viper, Lotus, , Jaguar, O’Connell, , into the Sebring Hall of Fame by making , , , and and have helped build it eight.

thealley 4 SEbring

The w rld comes to Sebring Contrary to folklore, Sebring, headed by legendary eight-time Le and ; and a trio of Florida, is not located at the end of the Mans race winner , HPD ARX 03a- in the hands of world. In fact, you cannot even see the joined by Allan McNish and Dindo (, Danny end of the world from Sebring. Capello. Watts, ), JRM Racing (David What you can see are the newest cars Each of the three Audi squads Brabham, , Karun and top endurance racers from around includes a pair of Audi Le Mans winning Chandhok), and the American-based the world as the center of the sports car drivers including 2011 Le Mans winners Muscle Milk Pickett Racing squad universe shifts 4,470 miles west from Le Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer, featuring Lucas Luhr, Klaus Graf and Mans, France, to Sebring International Marcel Fassler and 2010 winners Timo Simon Pagenaud. Raceway for the opening round of Bernhard and join Also making its debut at Sebring is a the new 2012 FIA World Endurance them. new Lola Mazda for ALMS Championship (WEC). Audi has been the dominant champions Chris The arrival of top teams, drivers and force in the sports car Dyson and Guy technical wizards and a hefty 61-car field world for the past dozen Smith, now joined is a fitting tribute to the 60th Sebring years, claiming by . race. 10 wins at Le In the GTE-Pro The 3.7-mile Sebring circuit is fast, Mans and nine ranks, the competition should be bumpy, flat and sure to be filled to the overall wins at Sebring. exceptionally fierce with the 2011 brim with a massive crowd as Sebring Audi’s main competition here at Intercontinental Le Mans Cup champion will be the only 2012 North American Sebring is expected to come from a AF Corse Ferrari drivers Giancarlo stop of the new FIA World Endurance pair of Rebellion featuring Fisichella and taking Championship. Heading the field will Nicolas Prost, , on ALMS champions and be a trio of diesel prototypes and , Dirk Mueller from BMW Team RLL. thealley SEbring 5

The w rld comes to Sebring Corvette stirs the mix of the 2011 Le multi-time ALMS champions Joerg dozen , led by Signatech, Mans GT winning Corvette combo of Bergmeister and with ADR-Delta, Gulf Racing Middle East Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner, . They are joined by and Pecom Racing take on Lotus, the by pairing Oliver Gavin and Richard Lizard leader , Darren Morgans of Oak Racing and Conquest, Westbrook with Milner and placing Law and . and the Honda powered Starworks Jan Magnussen and newcomer Jordan Porsche presents an interesting tire and Level 5 squads. Taylor with Garcia. battle with Team Falken’s Top shoes to watch here include The Extreme Speed Motorsports and and the Dunlop- Stephane Sarrazin, , Ryan team of and Johannes van fitted Paul Miller Racing Porsche with Dalziel, , Christophe Overbeek expects to be the top ALMS- and . Bouchut and Luis Diaz. based Ferrari along with Patron’s Ed Aston Martin presents the Aston The LMP Challenge class includes Brown and . Martin Vantage V8 with stalwarts aces , , Weapons-grade cars and top Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Mucke and , and teammates do not stop there as AF . Duncan Ende in identical Chevy Corse tosses and The TEG -Am lineup includes the powered prototypes. The TG Olivier Beretta into the mix. BMW goes defending Intercontinental and Le Challenge class matches identical with Joerg Muller and . Mans champion Corvettes of Larbre Porsche 911s. Porsche looks to retake the top Competition led by , with With great cars, teams, drivers and spot with new cars and a taller ’s and Nic the kickoff to both WEC and ALMS MICHELIN® front tire for the Team Jonsson and AF-Corse Waltrip Ferrari seasons, the 60th anniversary of the Felbermayr-Proton with factory shoes with NASCAR . Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and and the Look for a Nissan – Honda – Lotus should be a classic. After all, the rest of Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of battle in the LMP2 class, as a half the world is watching, too. thealley 6 dijyano? We’ve strangled our piggy bank pretty hard.

Muscle Milk team owner Greg Pickett on his team’s push to win the 2012 ALMS LMP1 championship:

Dijyano DID YOU KNOW

There will be a bit of acronym alphabet soup in the Sebring paddock this week with the FIA, WEC, ACO, IMSA and ALMS are all here in various roles. For the newbies, the Federation International Automobiles (FIA) oversees global motorsports. The World Endurance Championship (WEC )is the new FIA sanctioned global endurance championship. The Automobile Club l’Ouest (ACO) runs the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is the sanctioning body for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Wonder if they will meet up with the DOE, EPA and SAE folks? What Now? One of the biggest challenges facing the Flying Lizard Motorsports team with their new – Hugues de Chaunac celebrates his the famous Lizard graphic 2011 Twelve Hours of Sebring overall doesn’t quite fit on the door of the new car. victory. ORECA and de Chaunac will Growth ALMS has not defend their Sebring title as they witnessed an increase both in race attendance are currently working with and online activity as the cumulative race Motorsport on their new gasoline- attendance grew by 10% and traffic on powered hybrid prototype that will americanlemans.com experienced a 38% growth debut at the next WEC event. in unique visitors. Streaking Ranked # 1 Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen is the TheN ational only ALMS driver to have won a race in Geographic every year since the series’ inception in magazine recently 1999. Magnussen will have plenty of fans ranked the 2012 24 rooting for him at Sebring as he was voted Hours of Le Mans as the 2011 Most Popular Driver. the # 1 sporting event in the world – one which all sports fans Alley Live should see at least www.michelinalley.com once in their lives. Follow a live Michelin Le Mans beat out the Blog with features, Olympic Games, the race insights, Football World Cup interviews, videos, and the Super Bowl. photos and highlights We agree. from all 2012 ALMS events. thealley news 7 It’s a bird, it’s a plane - it’s the DeltaWing! The radically designed DeltaWing continues preparation for its race debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans where it has been granted a special “56th” entry. Based upon a Ben Bowlby design and constructed in ’s AAR shops, the innovative Nissan-powered car features half the weight, horsepower and fuel of current LMP1 competitors. Look for the car to make a few demonstration laps here at Sebring.

CATCH THE ACTION The American Le Mans Series and ABC/ESPN continues its broadcast and digital package for the 2012 ALMS season which involves televising the world’s premier sports car series over several ESPN SebringSEBRING Schedule SCHEDULE programming and media platforms, including ABC, ESPN2 and ESPN3.com. Friday, March 16, 2012 All ALMS races and qualifying 8:00am - 8:30am Qualifying #2 - MX5 Cup sessions will be broadcast live and in 8:40am - 8:55am Warm Up - USF2000 their entirety on ESPN3 and for viewers 9:15am - 9:45am Race #2 - Ferrari Club outside the U.S., via ALMS.com. Live streamed coverage of the Mobil 1 9:55am - 10:55am Practice - ALMS / WEC (All Classes) Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from 11:15am - 11:45pm Race #2 - USF2000 Florida race can be viewed on ESPN3.com with a tape- 12:00pm - 12:30pm Race #2 - MX5 Cup - 30 Minutes delayed television coverage on ABC, Sunday, March 18 from 12:00pm - 1:00pm ALMS/WEC Autograph Session 12:00 - 2:00 pm (ET). 12:30pm - 1:45pm Lunch The full broadcast will be available on demand on ESPN3. 1:55pm - 2:40pm Race #2 - Prototype Lites com for three weeks and on AmericanLeMans.com after that. 3:20pm - 3:35pm Qualifying - ALMS / WEC (GTE-Am/GTC) ALMS TV and Broadband Schedule 3:35pm - 3:50pm Qualifying - ALMS / WEC (GT/GTE-Pro) Fri. March 16 ESPN3.com Live Qualifying 3:55pm - 4:10pm Qualifying - ALMS / WEC (P2/LPC) (3:20 - 4:25 pm) 4:10pm - 4:25pm Qualifying - ALMS / WEC (P1) Sat. March 17 ESPN3.com Live Race Coverage 4:45pm - 5:30pm Race #2 - GT3 Cup (10:30 am - 10:30 pm) 5:40pm - 6:40pm Races - Vintage Sportscars Sun. March 18 abC 12:00 - 2:00 pm

Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:00am - 8:25am Warm Up - ALMS / WEC (All Classes) 10:30am - 10:30pm Race - 60th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours Of Sebring Fueled By Fresh From Florida

2012 ALMS Schedule

17 March Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sebring, FL 14 April Long Beach Grand Prix, CA 12 May Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA 7 July , Lakeville, CT 22 July Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Canada 4 August Mid- Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH 18 August , Elkhart Lake, WI 1 September Grand Prix, Baltimore, MD 15 September Virginia International Raceway, Danville, VA 20 October Petit Le Mans, , GA

thealley Fan Favorites AUDI CORVETTE

Lotterer/Tréluyer/Fässler Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 1 McNish/Kristensen/Capello 4 Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor Bernhard/Dumas Michelin 2 Michelin Audi Sport Team Joest 03 Corvette Racing 3 Audi R18 C6 ZR1

LOLA / TOYOTA HPD

Bergmeister/Long/Holzer 12 Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 6 Graf/Luhr/Pagenaud 45 Neiman/Law/Lally Belicchi/Primat/ Bleekemolen Michelin Michelin Muscle Milk Pickett Racing 13 HPD ARX-03a 044 Michelin Flying Lizard Motorsports Lola B12/60 Toyota Porsche 911 GT3 RSR ORECA BMW Click below to view one of Flying Lizard’s most famous Sebring finishes

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Junco/Leitzinger/Dobson Hand/D. Mueller 52 Michelin 56 Auberlen/J. Müller PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Dunlop LMP1 CLASS Oreca FLM09 155 BMW Team RLL BMW E92 M3 LMP2 CLASS LMPC CLASS FERRARI ORECA GT CLASS

Michelin North America, Inc • One Parkway South, • Greenville, SC 29615 • TEL: 1-800-458-5000 www.michelin.com • Printed in USA, August 14, 2012 • Volume 6, Issue 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. Copyright © 2012 Michelin North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Sharp/van Overbeek Richard/Ende/Cameron 01 Brown/Cosmo 025 Michelin Michelin Dempsey Racing Printed on recycled paper • 10% Total Recovered Fiber 02 Extreme Speed Motorsports ORECA FLM09 All Post-Consumed Fiber Italia