ALMS: Michelin Quick Facts - Leather Center Grand Prix of Texas

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

* Top Teams Ride On Michelin Tires In Texas - The top prototype teams will be riding on Michelin tires at the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) 2000 season opener, the Leather Center Grand Prix of Texas at the Texas Motor Speedway on March 4. They include: the factory-supported efforts from Audi and Panoz as well as the Champion Audi team. In the GT category, the factory-supported Alex Job and Peterson teams will run Michelin-shod Porsches while BMW will field an M3 equipped with Michelin tires. In total, 10 cars will be riding on Michelin tires.

* Last Year At Texas - Michelin-shod cars led all 127 laps in the race and won both the prototype and GT categories. Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela drove their Michelin-equipped Audi to the prototype victory while Randy Pobst and Bruno Lambert won the GT category in their Porsche.

* Who Could Forget The Heat In 2000? - No one will forget the sweltering heat at the Texas ALMS race on Labor Day weekend last year, including Michelin engineers.

"No one at Michelin remembers racing in such heat before," said Jerry Rinaldo, Michelin racing manager. "Keeping the tire fitters and engineers cool was a bigger challenge than managing tire temperatures. While the engineers enjoyed the challenge of racing when the track temperatures reached 150-degrees, we are all looking forward to its being a bit cooler this year."

* Tire Choice - Michelin will bring more than 2,000 tires to the Texas event, giving its teams a full repertoire of tires from which to choose, featuring construction techniques and rubber compounds suited for varying weather, temperatures and track conditions.

"Our commitment to our teams is that we will have the right tire for the right condition for each of our cars," said Rinaldo. "While the track temperatures will not be as high, finding just the right tire for the conditions will be just as challenging as it was last year. Each construction and rubber combination has a 'sweet spot' when it comes to optimum operating temperature, so we bring a lot of solutions."

* Sports Car Domination - Michelin has won 19 of 20 ALMS races since the series' inception in 1999, as well as the last four 24 Hour of Le Mans races and the two most recent 12 Hours of Sebring events.

* Michelin manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks, motorcycles and the space shuttle. The company also publishes travel guides, maps and atlases covering Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America (www.michelin.com) employs 26,500 and operates 21 plants in 19 locations.

Text Provided By Bob Andrew

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