Marino Franchitti shakes down Level 5's Lola, Marathon man, Riley LMP2 update and more...
FRANCHITTI SHAKES DOWN LEVEL 5 LOLA — Level 5 Motorsports’ new European-based Lola B11/80 Honda Coupe turned its first laps Friday in a shakedown at Snetterton in England. With the Scott Tucker-owned squad taking part in this weekend’s American Le Mans Series round at Long Beach, none other than Marino Franchitti performed the driving duties in the roll-out of the new chassis.
“We had a very successful shakedown [on Friday] with no glitches,” explained team manager David Stone. “Marino Franchitti did the shakedown for us and our European base of operation guys handled all of that for us. The reports that came back were great.”
Franchitti is no stranger to Honda’s new 2.8-liter twin-turbo V6 power plant, as the Scot was a part of the engine’s development program with Highcroft Racing during the winter. The car, identical to Level 5’s U.S.-based Lola Coupe, is now en route to Le Mans to take part in next weekend’s Test Day in the hands of Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa.
MARATHON MAN — With this year’s London Marathon falling on Long Beach weekend, Oliver Gavin has been forced to miss the historic race that he’s taken part in four previous occasions. However, that doesn’t mean the Corvette Racing driver won’t be completing the 26.2-mile run.
Gavin will be taking part in his own marathon around the streets and coastline of Long Beach on Sunday, supporting his countrymen Richard Westbrook, Andy Meyrick, Robin Liddell and other BRDC drivers who are running to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
“It’s going to be three loops of 8.8 miles,” Gavin explained. “I somehow figured out the Westin hotel all the way down to the end of the road at Ocean Blvd. Guy Smith is going to come and join me for the last nine miles of it... And I couldn’t convince anybody else to do it with me!
“I really feel an affinity to this year’s charity as one of my daughter’s best friends suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, and I was determined to do my bit to raise money for the Trust. I’m sad I’ll not be in London for the lunch or to run with all the other guys, but at least I can do my bit while in California.”
Over $150,000 was raised in last year’‘s marathon, which went to the CLIC Sargent children’s cancer charity. To make donations to the BRDC runners this year, visit: www.justgiving.com/brdc-marathon2011
SINGLE-CAR RACE ENTRY FOR LEVEL 5 — In other Level 5 news, the team has elected to withdraw its No. 055 entry of Luis Diaz and Scott Tucker in favor of concentrating efforts on its No. 33 Lola coupe of Tucker and Christophe Bouchut in the race. Stone said the car will likely complete two stints of 20 laps, the minimum for each driver to score points, before being parked.
The team had hoped to run the open-top Lola in the race, in order to preserve the coupe for next week’s Le Mans Test Day, but an issue arose with Tucker having already been nominated to score points in the coupe. IMSA denied Level 5’s request to transfer Tucker’s nomination to the open-top entry.
“We had a very successful shakedown [on Friday] with no glitches,” explained team manager David Stone. “Marino Franchitti did the shakedown for us and our European base of operation guys handled all of that for us. The reports that came back were great.”
Franchitti is no stranger to Honda’s new 2.8-liter twin-turbo V6 power plant, as the Scot was a part of the engine’s development program with Highcroft Racing during the winter. The car, identical to Level 5’s U.S.-based Lola Coupe, is now en route to Le Mans to take part in next weekend’s Test Day in the hands of Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Joao Barbosa.
MARATHON MAN — With this year’s London Marathon falling on Long Beach weekend, Oliver Gavin has been forced to miss the historic race that he’s taken part in four previous occasions. However, that doesn’t mean the Corvette Racing driver won’t be completing the 26.2-mile run.
Gavin will be taking part in his own marathon around the streets and coastline of Long Beach on Sunday, supporting his countrymen Richard Westbrook, Andy Meyrick, Robin Liddell and other BRDC drivers who are running to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
“It’s going to be three loops of 8.8 miles,” Gavin explained. “I somehow figured out the Westin hotel all the way down to the end of the road at Ocean Blvd. Guy Smith is going to come and join me for the last nine miles of it... And I couldn’t convince anybody else to do it with me!
“I really feel an affinity to this year’s charity as one of my daughter’s best friends suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, and I was determined to do my bit to raise money for the Trust. I’m sad I’ll not be in London for the lunch or to run with all the other guys, but at least I can do my bit while in California.”
Over $150,000 was raised in last year’‘s marathon, which went to the CLIC Sargent children’s cancer charity. To make donations to the BRDC runners this year, visit: www.justgiving.com/brdc-marathon2011
SINGLE-CAR RACE ENTRY FOR LEVEL 5 — In other Level 5 news, the team has elected to withdraw its No. 055 entry of Luis Diaz and Scott Tucker in favor of concentrating efforts on its No. 33 Lola coupe of Tucker and Christophe Bouchut in the race. Stone said the car will likely complete two stints of 20 laps, the minimum for each driver to score points, before being parked.
The team had hoped to run the open-top Lola in the race, in order to preserve the coupe for next week’s Le Mans Test Day, but an issue arose with Tucker having already been nominated to score points in the coupe. IMSA denied Level 5’s request to transfer Tucker’s nomination to the open-top entry.
UPDATE ON RILEY LMP2 COUPE— Despite continued interest from a handful of potential customers, Riley’s new 2011-spec LMP2 coupe has yet to go into production, Bill Riley told SPEED.com last weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. While the car is complete on the computer, Riley said he’s still awaiting down payment from any of the six interested customers for the program to be given the green light.
Time is running out for the car to make an appearance this year, though. Riley said the build time would be five to six months. While a run at the Petit Le Mans hasn’t been completely ruled out, he has targeted a more realistic debut for Sebring 2012.
SPOTTER’S GUIDE — Andy Blackmore has released the Long Beach edition of his American Le Mans Series Spotter’s Guide. Featuring all 30 cars for Saturday’s race, including the unmistakable Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘n Waffles-liveried Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, Andy’s guide is a must-have, whether you’re going to the track or will follow the race from home. Download the Spotter’s Guide here: http://spotterguides.com/alms-2011-guide
ONE SPECIAL PHOTO — Everyone remembers their first race, and for Scott Atherton, Thursday evening’s Road Racing Drivers Club dinner, honoring legendary car owner Roger Penske, brought the American Le Mans Series President and CEO back to the very beginning of it all.
During the event’s silent auction, Atherton was the lucky winner of a photo of the Mark Donohue-driven Penske Camaro Z28 from the 1969 Trans-Am race at Seattle International Raceway. It was Atherton’s very first race he attended as a youngster.
“You could literally trace it back to that moment in time when I got affected,” he said. “To have it listed as, ‘Mark Donohue, Kent, Wash., Summer, 1969’, I had to have it!.. It was pretty special to see that.
“To put it into perspective, Roger said that the very first sponsor as a driver he ever had was Sunoco. I think it was $250 on the side of the car. I figure I bought about three seasons worth of sponsorship for Roger [Thursday night] on that picture!”
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at askdagys@gmail.com
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