2013 American Le Mans Series

43rd season of the racing series organized by IMSA

The 2013 American Le Mans Series was the fifteenth and final season of the International Motor Sports Association GT Championship being labeled as the American Le Mans Series, before merging up with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014.

As the IMSA and Grand-Am merger was announced on September 5, 2012, between NASCAR Holdings (Grand-Am’s owner) and Panoz Motorsports, the 2013 season was the transition season as both series were now held under the NASCAR Holdings banner. As such, this is the 43rd season of the series dating back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship.^[1]

It began on March 16 with the 61st running of the 12 Hours of Sebring and ended with the 16th running of the Petit Le Mans on October 19. At the seventh round in Baltimore, Muscle Milk Pickett Racing successfully defended their 2012 Prototype One championship.

Calendar[edit]

The calendar was announced October 18, 2012.^[2] The race at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas, was previously announced in June 2012,^[3] and a combined event with the Rolex Sports Car Series at Road America was announced on September 28, 2012.^[4] The event at Mid-Ohio, a joint weekend with the IndyCar Series, was not renewed. The event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was initially scheduled on May 18. However, with this date conflicting with the 24 Hours Nürburgring, the series opted to move the event up one week to May 11. The event was also shortened from 6 hours to 4 hours.^[5]

Rnd	Race	Length	Circuit	Location	Date
1	61st Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring	12 Hours	Sebring International Raceway	Sebring, Florida	March 16
2	American Le Mans Series at Long Beach	2 Hours	Long Beach street circuit	Long Beach, California	April 20
3	American Le Mans Monterey	4 Hours	Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	May 11
4	American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix	2 Hours 45 Minutes	Lime Rock Park	Lakeville, Connecticut	July 6
5	Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix	2 Hours 45 Minutes	Canadian Tire Motorsport Park	Bowmanville, Ontario	July 21
6	Orion Energy Systems 245[6]	2 Hours 45 Minutes	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	August 11
7	Grand Prix of Baltimore	2 Hours	Baltimore street circuit	Baltimore, Maryland	August 31
8	International Sports Car Weekend	2 Hours 45 Minutes	Circuit of the Americas	Austin, Texas	September 21
9	Oak Tree Grand Prix[7]	2 Hours 45 Minutes	Virginia International Raceway	Alton, Virginia	October 5
10	Petit Le Mans	1,000 mi (1,600 km) or 10 Hours	Road Atlanta	Braselton, Georgia	October 19

Entry list[edit]

Entry List
Entrant/Team	Car	Engine	Tyre	No	Drivers	Rounds
P1
DeltaWing Racing Cars	DeltaWing	Élan (Mazda) 1.9 L Turbo I4	B	0	Andy Meyrick	1, 3–6, 8–10
					Olivier Pla	1
					Katherine Legge	3–6, 8–10
Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo V6 (Diesel)	M	1	Marcel Fässler	1
					Benoît Tréluyer	1
					Oliver Jarvis	1
				2	Lucas di Grassi	1
					Tom Kristensen	1
					Allan McNish	1
Muscle Milk Pickett Racing	HPD ARX-03c	Honda LM-V8 3.4 L V8	M	6	Klaus Graf	All
					Lucas Luhr	All
					Romain Dumas	1, 10
Rebellion Racing	Lola B12/60	Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8	M	12	Nick Heidfeld	1–3, 10
					Neel Jani	1–3, 10
					Nicolas Prost	1, 10
				13	Mathias Beche	1
					Congfu Cheng	1
					Andrea Belicchi	1
Dyson Racing Team	Lola B12/60	Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4 (Isobutanol)	M	16	Guy Smith	1–4, 7, 9
					Chris Dyson	1–4, 7, 10
					Butch Leitzinger	1
					Tony Burgess	5–6, 8, 10
					Chris McMurry	5–6, 8, 10
					Johnny Mowlem	9
P2
Greaves Motorsport	Zytek Z11SN	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	D	41	Tom Kimber-Smith	1
					Christian Zugel	1
					Eric Lux	1
Extreme Speed Motorsports	HPD ARX-03b	Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6	M	01	Scott Sharp	All
					Guy Cosmo	1–6
					David Brabham	1, 10
					Anthony Lazzaro	7–10
				02	Ed Brown	All
					Johannes van Overbeek	All
					Anthony Lazzaro	1
					Rob Bell	10
Level 5 Motorsports	HPD ARX-03b	Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6	M	551	Scott Tucker	All
					Ryan Briscoe	1–2, 4, 7–10
					Marino Franchitti	1, 3, 5, 10
					Simon Pagenaud	6
				552	Scott Tucker	1–8
					Ryan Hunter-Reay	1
					Simon Pagenaud	1
					Marino Franchitti	2, 4, 6–9
					Ryan Briscoe	3
					Mike Conway	5
					Ricardo González	6
					Guy Cosmo	7–10
					Stefan Johansson	9
					Jonny Kane	10
					Peter Dumbreck	10
PC
Starworks Motorsport	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	C	5	Ryan Dalziel	8
					John Pew	8
BAR1 Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	C	7	Rusty Mitchell	All
					Tomy Drissi	1–5, 7–8, 10
					Chapman Ducote	1
					James French	6, 9–10
				8	Kyle Marcelli	All
					Chris Cumming	All
					Stefan Johansson	1, 10
RSR Racing	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	C	9	Bruno Junqueira	1–8, 10
					Duncan Ende	1–6, 10
					Alex Popow	1, 7
					David Heinemeier Hansson	8
					Gustavo Menezes	10
Performance Tech Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	C	18	Tristan Nunez	All
					Charlie Shears	1–3, 5–8, 10
					David Heinemeier Hansson	1
					Ryan Booth	4, 9
8 Star Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	C	25	Oswaldo Negri Jr.	10
					Sean Rayhall	10
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	C	52	Mike Guasch	All
					David Cheng	1, 4–6, 10
					David Ostella	1
					Luis Díaz	2–3
					Dane Cameron	5, 7–10
DragonSpeed	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	C	81	Mirco Schultis	1, 3–6, 8–9
					Patrick Simon	1
					Pierre Kaffer	1
					Renger van der Zande	3–6, 8–9
CORE Autosport	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	C	05	Jon Bennett	All
					Colin Braun	1–7
					Mark Wilkins	1, 10
					Tom Kimber-Smith	8–10
GT
Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Chevrolet 5.5 L V8	M	3	Antonio García	All
					Jan Magnussen	All
					Jordan Taylor	1, 10
				4	Oliver Gavin	All
					Tommy Milner	All
					Richard Westbrook	1, 10
Team Falken Tire	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	F	17	Wolf Henzler	All
					Bryan Sellers	All
					Nick Tandy	1, 10
Team West/AJR/Boardwalk Ferrari	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	Y	23	Townsend Bell	1–9
					Bill Sweedler	1–4, 7–10
					Leh Keen	1, 5–6, 10
					Johnny Mowlem	10
Paul Miller Racing	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	M	48	Bryce Miller	All
					Marco Holzer	All
					Richard Lietz	1
					Emmanuel Collard	10
BMW Team RLL	BMW Z4 GTE	BMW 4.4 L V8	M	55	Bill Auberlen	1–9
					Maxime Martin	1–7, 9–10
					Jörg Müller	1, 10
					Joey Hand	8
					Uwe Alzen	10
				56	Dirk Müller	All
					Joey Hand	1–2, 5, 7, 9
					John Edwards	1, 3–4, 6, 8, 10
					Bill Auberlen	10
Risi Competizione	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	M	62	Olivier Beretta	1–4, 6–10
					Matteo Malucelli	1–4, 6–10
					Gianmaria Bruni	1
					Robin Liddell	10
SRT Motorsports	SRT Viper GTS-R	SRT 8.0 L V10	M	91	Dominik Farnbacher	All
					Marc Goossens	All
					Ryan Dalziel	1, 10
				93	Kuno Wittmer	All
					Jonathan Bomarito	All
					Tommy Kendall	1, 10
Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin Vantage GTE	Aston Martin 4.5 L V8	M	97	Darren Turner	1
					Stefan Mücke	1
					Bruno Senna	1
				007	Paul Dalla Lana	1
					Billy Johnson	1
					Pedro Lamy	1
CORE Autosport	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	M	06	Patrick Long	3–10
					Tom Kimber-Smith	3–7
					Colin Braun	8–10
					Michael Christensen	10
GTC
Dempsey Racing/Del Piero	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	Y	10	Michael Avenatti	1–3
					Bob Faieta	1–2
					Andrew Davis	1, 3
					Darren Law	10
					Charles Espenlaub	10
					Charles Putman	10
				27	Patrick Dempsey	All
					Joe Foster	1–2, 10
					Andy Lally	1, 3–10
JDX Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	Y	11	Mike Hedlund	All
					Jan Heylen	All
					Jon Fogarty	1, 10
Alex Job Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	Y	22	Cooper MacNeil	All
					Jeroen Bleekemolen	All
					Dion von Moltke	1
					Sebastiaan Bleekemolen	10
NGT Motorsport	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	Y	30	Henrique Cisneros	1–9
					Sean Edwards	1–2, 5–9
					Marco Seefried	1
					Nick Tandy	3
					Nicolas Armindo	4
				31	Kuba Giermaziak	1, 9
					Carlos Gómez	1
					Mario Farnbacher	1
					Eduardo Cisneros	9
					Nicolas Armindo	10
					Christina Nielsen	10
					Angel Benitez Jr.	10
Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	Y	44	Pierre Ehret	1, 3
					Brett Sandberg	1, 10
					Alexandre Imperatori	1
					Dion von Moltke	2–10
					Brian Wong	2
					Seth Neiman	4–10
				45	Nelson Canache Jr.	All
					Spencer Pumpelly	All
					Brian Wong	1
					Seth Neiman	3
					Madison Snow	10
TRG	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	Y	66	Ben Keating	All
					Damien Faulkner	All
					Craig Stanton	1, 10
				67	Marc Bunting	7
					Norbert Siedler	7
				68	Al Carter	1, 7
					Kévin Estre	1, 7
					Carlos de Quesada	1
					Bret Curtis	2
					Craig Stanton	3–4
					Andrew Novich	3
					David Ostella	4
					Alex Popow	5
					Ryan Dalziel	5
					Jeff Courtney	6
					Madison Snow	6
Competition Motorsports	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	Y	99	David Calvert-Jones	1–2
					Sascha Maassen	1
					Lawson Aschenbach	1
					Ted Ballou	2–3
					Cort Wagner	3

Team announcements[edit]

• On September 17, 2012, it was announced that the DeltaWing prototype had been cleared for entry into the ALMS for 2013.^[8]
• On October 26, 2012, Porsche announced that it would cease development of the 911 GT3-RSR (Type 997), which had competed in the series since 2005, to focus its efforts on developing its next generation 911 GT3-RSR (Type 991) race car set to debut in 2014. As a result, the development partnership with Flying Lizard Motorsports was discontinued. Porsche will, however, continue to provide support for customer teams continuing to compete with the 911 GT3-RSR (Type 997).^[9]
• On November 15, 2012, Flying Lizard Motorsports announced that they would transition to competing in the GT Challenge category. On that date they confirmed a full-season campaign for their #44 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry to be piloted by team principal Seth Neiman and 2-time 24 Hours of Daytona GT class champion Spencer Pumpelly.^[10]
• On December 2, 2012, BMW announced that they would stop racing with the M3 GT2 in favour of the BMW Z4 GTE model.^[11]
• On December 5, 2012, Rebellion Racing announced that they would contest the full season with a single Lola B12/60 Toyota P1 Prototype. The team will also enter a second car for at least the 12 Hours of Sebring.^[12]
• On December 6, 2012, CORE Autosport confirmed their return to the PC category with drivers Colin Braun and Jon Bennett piloting their No. 05 entry. Braun and Bennett will be joined by Mark Wilkins for the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. The driver lineup for the team’s second entry (No. 06) is still pending.^[13]
• On December 19, 2012 Paul Miller Racing announced that Porsche works driver, Marco Holzer, would join Bryce Miller in competing for the GT championship in the team’s 911 GT3-RSR (Type 997). The team also announced the switch to Michelin tires, having previously competed on Dunlop tires.^[14]
• On January 18, 2013, Risi Competizione announced their return to the GT class. They will field one Ferrari 458 Italia, with drivers yet to be announced.^[15]
• On January 22, 2013, CORE Autosport announced that it would field a Porsche 997 GT3-RSR in GT, in addition to their PC effort. Patrick Long and Tom Kimber-Smith will drive it.^[16]
• Extreme Speed Motorsports will switch to P2 fielding two HPD ARX-03b prototypes, retaining drivers Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 01 and Ed Brown and Guy Cosmo in the No. 02.^[17]

Results and standings[edit]

Overall winners in bold.

Championships[edit]

Points were awarded to the top ten cars and drivers which complete at least 70% of their class winner’s distance. Teams with multiple entries only score 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. Drivers are required to complete a particular amount of the minimum number of laps in order to earn points. The number of laps vary depending on the course size.

Points System[18]
Race Distance	Position
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Less than four hours	20	16	13	10	8	6	4	3	2	1
Between four and eight hours	22	18	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3
More than eight hours	24	20	17	14	12	10	8	7	6	5

Team championships[edit]

Teams with full season entries are awarded points in the team championships. Teams which participated in a partial season or on a race-by-race basis are not included in these championships.

P1 standings[edit]

^[19]

P2 standings[edit]

^[19]

• 1: Car was scored in 1st place in the race results, but was subsequently penalized for a late-race avoidable contact incident, resulting in the team being awarded points and winnings as the 3rd-place finisher. The points and earnings for the 2nd and 3rd place cars were elevated to 1st and 2nd, respectively.

PC standings[edit]

All teams utilize the Oreca FLM09 chassis with Chevrolet LS3 engine.
^[19]

GT standings[edit]

^[19]

GTC standings[edit]

All teams utilize variations of the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup.

^[19]

Driver championships[edit]

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

P1 standings[edit]

^[19]

P2 standings[edit]

^[19]

PC standings[edit]

Drivers in the PC category are allowed to drive for more than one car during an event. If a driver is in each car for a minimum of two hours each, he is allowed to score the points from whichever car he chooses.
^[19]

GT standings[edit]

^[19]

GTC standings[edit]

^[19]

References[edit]