It has been a long four months since the close of the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. The first real steps toward the 2011 championships come at Sebring for the annual ALMS Winter Test on Wednesday and Thursday. It’s always a great chance to see what’s in store for the coming season, which starts in mid-March with the 59th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida.
More cars than ever will participate in the two-day test – 33 as of Monday. Among the entries that will garner the most attention are Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing’s Lola-Aston Martin coupe – the same car which finished third last year at the 12 Hours – and Ferrari F458 GTs for Risi Competizione and Extreme Speed Motorsports.
West Racing’s Lamborghini Gallardo will get plenty of looks as well as it prepares to makes its ALMS debut next month. JaguarRSR will bring P.J. Jones, Bruno Junqueira and Cristiano da Matta together for the first time to drive two Jaguar XKR GTs. Paul Miller Racing also is stepping up to GT from GTC with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.
There are a number of other first-year entrants set to make their Series debuts – CRS Racing in GT with a Ferrari F430 GT, Performance Tech Motorsports and CORE autosport in LMP Challenge, and JDX Racing, NGT Motorsports and Kelly Moss Motorsports in GT Challenge.
Among the other notable entries include three Corvettes – two from Corvette Racing and one from Larbre Competition – and Team LNT with a Radical SR9 in LMP2.
General admission tickets to the Winter Test are $10 per day with no paddock admission or overnight camping.
The first race for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón is the 59th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 19. The race, set for 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 19, will be shown live and in its entirety on ESPN3.com and americanlemans.com. ABC will provide coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 20. Visit the American Le Mans Series’ schedule page for information on tickets and area accommodations.
