Titantic Green Performances In Season's First Half

Braselton, June 8, 2009: Acura leads the prototype competition in the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge, and de Ferran Motorsports has claimed the last two trophies among prototypes. A break in the schedule for the American Le Mans Series means the same for the inaugural MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. The revolutionary ‘race-within-a-race’ rewards all Series manufacturers and teams on their overall performance and energy efficiency at each event. The championship standings are extremely tight with five manufacturers and seven teams having tasted victory so far. Heading into the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, Acura and Porsche lead the manufacturer standings with Patrón Highcroft Racing and Flying Lizard Motorsports on top in the team rankings.

MANUFACTURER STANDINGS

Throughout the young history of this race-within-a-race competition, perennial leaders Acura and Porsche have been the marques to beat. Both manufacturers, running on E10, have set their sights on winning the manufacturer trophy at the season finale; however, in the prototype class Mazda-Lola and in the GT class Panoz are close contenders.

With a several weeks before the teams compete at Lime Rock Park, a select few are competing this week in the 77th 24 Hours of Le Mans where the ACO has adopted the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. Drivers will be able to test their eco-friendly practices and technology on the tracks in Europe before returning to stateside and to New England to continue the push toward a faster and more efficient tomorrow.

Porsche and Flying Lizard Motorsports are the GT leaders in the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. TEAM STANDINGS Heading into the season’s second half, David Brabham and Scott Sharp, driving for Acura’s Patrón Highcroft Racing, lead the prototype standings followed by the remaining two Acura prototypes - Lowe’s Fernandez Racing from LMP2 and de Ferran Motorsports. Dyson Racing and Audi Sport stand fourth and fifth.

In the GT category, Flying Lizard and its Porsche pairing of Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long lead over Farnbacher Loles Racing, another team running with Porsche power. In third place sits Panoz Team PTG’s Dominik Farnbacher and Ian James with their Panoz Esperante GTLM. A second Flying Lizard Porsche is fourth with Risi Competizione’s Ferrari F430 GT in fifth.