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. 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.
Season summary 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.
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.
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. 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. 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.http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=313648 Dyson Racing will move from Porsche RS Spyders to full-works AER Mazda-powered Lola B08/80's in the LMP2 class. Paul Gentilozzi announced that RSR Racing would be entering Jaguar XKRs in the GT2 category beginning in July. 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.
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. On December 18, 2008, it was announced that the Detroit race would be canceled.
The Challenge class of cars only participated in five rounds in 2009: Utah, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Road America, and Laguna Seca.
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 St. Petersburg Street Circuit St. Petersburg, Florida April 4 3 Tequila Patrón 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 or 10 Hours Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia September 26 10 Monterey Sports Car Championships 4 Hours Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California October 10
Entries
LMP1 Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Peugeot HDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel) 07 Pedro Lamy 1, 9 Nicolas Minassian 1, 9 Christian Klien 1 08 Franck Montagny 1, 9 Stéphane Sarrazin 1, 9 Sébastien Bourdais 1 Audi Sport North AmericaAudi R15 TDIAudi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10 (Diesel) 1 Lucas Luhr 1, 9 Marco Werner 1, 9 Mike Rockenfeller 1 Audi Sport Team Joest 2 Rinaldo Capello 1, 9 Allan McNish 1, 9 Tom Kristensen 1 Team Oreca Matmut AIMOreca 01AIM YS5.5 5.5 L V107 Romain Dumas9 Nicolas Lapierre9 Olivier Panis9 Patrón Highcroft RacingAcura ARX-02aAcura AR7 4.0 L V89 David Brabham All Scott Sharp All Dario Franchitti 1, 9 ECO RacingRadical SR9ECO (AER) 5.0 L Turbo V10 (Diesel)10 Hideki Noda9–10 José Manuel Balbiani9 Dion von Moltke9 Cort Wagner10 Nikolas Konstant10 Autocon MotorsportsLola B06/10AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V812 Bryan Willman 1, 3–4, 6–7, 9 Chris McMurry 1, 5, 7–9 Tony Burgess1, 5, 8–9 Michael Lewis 3–4 Tomy Drissi 6 Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8 37 Clint Field All Jon Field All Chapman Ducote 1–5 Corsa Motorsports Ginetta-Zytek GZ09HS Zytek ZJ458 4.5 L Hybrid V8 48 Johnny Mowlem 4–7, 10 Stefan Johansson 4–7, 10 de Ferran MotorsportsAcura ARX-02aAcura AR7 4.0 L V866 Gil de Ferran All Simon Pagenaud All Scott Dixon 1, 9 Drayson RacingLola B09/60Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V1088 Jonny Cocker 9–10 Paul Drayson 9–10 Rob Bell 9Sources:
LMP2 Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Team Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder Evo Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8 6 Klaus Graf 6–7, 9–10 Greg Pickett6–7, 9–10 Sascha Maassen 9 Lowe's Fernández RacingAcura ARX-01BAcura AL7R 3.4 L V8 15 Luis Díaz All Adrián Fernández All Dyson Racing TeamLola B09/86Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I416 Chris Dyson All Guy Smith All Andy Lally 1Lola B09/86 Lola B08/86 20 Marino Franchitti All Butch Leitzinger All Ben Devlin 1, 9 van der Steur RacingRadical SR9AER P07 2.0 L Turbo I419 Adam Pecorari 5–6, 8–9 Gunnar van der Steur5–6, 8–9 Robbie Pecorari9Sources:
GT1 Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 (E85 ethanol) 3 Jan Magnussen 1, 3 Johnny O'Connell1, 3 Antonio García 1 4 Olivier Beretta 1, 3 Oliver Gavin1, 3 Marcel Fässler 1Sources:
GT2 Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Drayson Racing Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 Aston Martin AM05 4.5 L V8 (E85 ethanol) 007 Rob Bell 1 Jonny Cocker 1 Paul Drayson 1 Corvette RacingChevrolet Corvette C6.RChevrolet LS7.R 6.0 L V83 Jan Magnussen6–10 Johnny O'Connell6–10 Antonio García94 Olivier Beretta6–10 Oliver Gavin6–10 Marcel Fässler9 Primetime Race GroupDodge Viper Competition CoupeDodge Viper 8.3 L V10 11 Joel Feinberg 1–9 Chris Hall 1–9 Ritchie Holt 1 Team Falken TirePorsche 997 GT3-RSRPorsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-617 Dominic Cicero3, 9–10 Bryan Sellers3, 9–10 VICI RacingPorsche 997 GT3-RSRPorsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-618 Johannes Stuck1, 3–6, 10 Hans-Joachim Stuck1 Nicky Pastorelli1, 4 Richard Westbrook3, 5–6, 10 Lance David Arnold10 Panoz Team PTGPanoz Esperante GT-LMFord 5.0 L V821 Dominik FarnbacherAll Ian JamesAll22 Ryan Phinny2 Tom Sutherland2 LG MotorsportsChevrolet Corvette C6Chevrolet LS3 6.0 L V828 Eric Curran 1–3 Lou Giglotti 1–2 Lucas Molo1 Boris Said3 Matt Bell9–10 Tomy Drissi9–10 Tom Sutherland 9–10 RSRJaguar XKR GT2Jaguar AJ133S 5.0 L V833 Paul Gentilozzi10 Marc Goossens10 Robertson RacingFord GT-R Mk. VIIFord Cammer 5.0 L V840 David MurryAll David RobertsonAll Andrea Robertson1–2, 4–10 Flying Lizard MotorsportsPorsche 997 GT3-RSRPorsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-644 Seth Neiman 1–7, 9–10 Darren Law 1–3, 6–9 Johannes van Overbeek1, 4–5, 8–1045 Jörg Bergmeister All Patrick LongAll Marc Lieb 1, 9 Risi Competizione Krohn Racing Ferrari F430 GT Ferrari F136 GT 4.0 L V8 61 Niclas Jönsson 1 Tracy Krohn 1 Eric van de Poele 1 Risi Competizione 62 Pierre Kaffer All Jaime Melo All Mika Salo 1, 9 Farnbacher-Loles MotorsportsPorsche 997 GT3-RSRPorsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-687 Wolf Henzler All Dirk Werner 1–5, 8 Richard Lietz1 Martin Ragginger6, 9 Bryce Miller7 Pierre Ehret10 BMW Rahal Letterman RacingBMW M3 GT2BMW P65B40 4.0 L V890 Bill Auberlen All Joey Hand All Andy Priaulx992 Tommy MilnerAll Dirk MüllerAll Jörg Müller9 Advanced Engineering PeCom Racing TeamFerrari F430 GTFerrari F136 GT 4.0 L V895 Gianmaria Bruni1 Matías Russo1 Luis Pérez Companc1Sources:
ALMS Challenge Team Chassis Engine Drivers Rounds Gruppe Orange Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Porsche M97/76 3.6 L Flat-6 02 Nick Parker 4–7, 10 Carl Skerlong 4 Donald Pickering5–7, 10 36 Bob Faieta 4–7, 10 Wesley Hoaglund 4–7, 10 GMG RacingPorsche 997 GT3 CupPorsche M97/76 3.6 L Flat-6 05 Bret Curtis 7, 10 James Sofranos 7, 10 Orbit RacingPorsche 997 GT3 CupPorsche M97/76 3.6 L Flat-6 08 Ed Brown 4–7, 10 Bill Sweedler 4–7, 1047 Jon Baker4–7, 10 Guy Cosmo4–7, 10 Velox MotorsportPorsche 997 GT3 CupPorsche M97/76 3.6 L Flat-638 Shane Lewis 10 Mitchell Pagerey 1088 Shane Lewis6 Gerry Ventos6 Snow RacingPorsche 997 GT3 CupPorsche M97/76 3.6 L Flat-657 Martin Snow4–7, 10 Melanie Snow4–7, 10 P7 RacingPorsche 997 GT3 CupPorsche M97/76 3.6 L Flat-669 Galen Bieker10 Robert Rodriquez 10Sources:
Season results
Overall winner in bold.