Franchitti teams up with Scott Tucker and Level 5 Motorsports

By Jim Tobin


Scott Tucker-owned Level 5 Motorsports stands out as the 1st American Le Mans Prototype (LMP) entry from the Le Mans circuit in Twenty-five years, and learning he's somewhat of a pioneer, Tucker makes absolutely sure the team's-and the country's-debut from the series is set up for success.

As soon as Tucker and mentor/co-driver Christophe Bouchut gained the chance to be involved in the LMP class of American Le Mans and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in 2010, they carried out the season with a class championship win, of which bumped them to the LMP2 class for the current yr. To start off the season strong, Tucker added LMP2 expert Luis Diaz to the mix. Diax, of Mexico, had been auto racing LMP2s since 2007, whenever he raced a Lola B06/43-Acura for Fernandez Racing and acquired the class championship in '09.

With this, Level 5 Motorsports tore on the ALMS schedule, placing wins on the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Long Beach Circuit and 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as outstanding performances at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Infineon and Imola in Italy. Solely increasing from that point, Tucker as well as Level 5 team bought the latest Honda chassis prototype-the HPD ARX-01g-just in time for the American Le Mans Series Monterey at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. They made a podium finish using the unique prototype, and it was technically established as an LMP2 powerhouse.

These days, Tucker yet again piles his deck for LMP2 competitors with Marino Franchitti, to become the fifth and last driver for the two-car entry in the 14th annual Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda. Franchitti will join Tucker, Diaz and Bouchut in the team's No. 055 Microsoft Office-sponsored HPD ARX-01g during the 1,000-mile, 10-hour showdown at Road Atlanta, which is the top of the ALMS provided by Tequila Patron.

"I'm very excited to be joining Level 5 Motorsports for Petit Le Mans," Franchitti claimed. "Having driven every iteration of the HPD up until this new model, I can't wait to get in the new car. Level 5 is no doubt a top team that's putting all of the resources they need behind this program."

And Tucker continues impress with just how far his sources can go. Franchitti is a major supplement with the presently stocked team-as part of the development stages of the ARX-01a, he was the first drivers driving the HPD family's wheels. Then he spent 2 years racing LMP2s with Dyson Racing ahead of rejoining HPD models with Highcroft Racing as the 3 rd driver for its ALMS voyage. He received the pole position at the 12 Hours of Sebring and won at Laguna Seca and Petit Le Mans, together with driver and team championship for Highcroft. During this year's 12 Hours of Sebring, Franchitti was runner-up with Highcroft's LMP1 car, the very best prototype class.

Franchitti isn't totally new to Level 5, either; he has dealt with engineers Rick Mayer and Jeff Braun. "A car is a car, and guys like Scott, Christophe and Joao [Barbosa] are good to drive it to the maximum that it's capable of," Franchitti reported. With Level 5 Motorsports, the chance is perfect for Franchitti attaining a hat trick of LMP2 wins in Petit Le Mans.

"We're ecstatic to have Marino on board," Tucker claimed. "With the momentum we've built up to this point in the season, with the boost of our new prototype, we're optimistic for a strong performance at Petit Le Mans. Marino is an obvious choice for this team, and we're glad to have him."

In a month's time, Franchitti will officially grab the wheel as a Level 5 driver during the two-day test at Road Atlanta. They also expects to have its 2nd vehicle on the track, an ILMC-designated No. 33 HPD. The Petit Le Mans revs up on Oct. 1.




About the Author:



Comments (0)

Posting Komentar