VOICES OF ST. PETERSBURG: THE GT CLASSES

Darren Law finished fourth in GT2 last year at St. Petersburg and will team with Seth Neiman this weekend.

The American Le Mans Series returns to the streets of St. Petersburg this weekend for the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by XM Satellite Radio with new teams, new drivers, new cars and even new fuel throughout its GT classes. For one, there is Corvette Racing's debut race with cellulosic E85 to think about. Then there are a score of new entries in GT2 to consider: an Aston Martin DBRS9, Ford GT, Corvette C6, Dodge Viper Competition Coupe and even a new version of Porsche's 911 GT3 RSR. It should add up to a fantastic weekend, judging by commentary from Series drivers.

Darren Law, Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (GT2) "Actually, I love going to the area. The fans are really great down there. Last year was the first year I did St. Pete and it was a really great event. It was good racing; I really enjoyed it."

Jonny Cocker, Drayson-Barwell Aston Martin DBRS9 (GT2) "It's going be awesome. Obviously I've never been to America racing before, so all the circuits are going to be new to me. And it's just going be a case of how it (was) at Sebring really - using the testing to learn the tracks and then getting a good test run in the car. Hopefully by qualifying and the race, we're going to be enough up to speed to get a good result."

Tafel Racing's Dirk Mueller will make his fifth career street-circuit start in the Series this weekend in St. Petersburg. Click here for Hi-Res Dirk Mueller, Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GT (GT2) "I have never been to St. Pete. It was one of the first races actually I was watching last year in Europe because I was doing mainly FIA GT last year. I saw that massive shunt from Tomas Enge, and later on I replaced him. So I'm pretty much looking forward."

Oliver Gavin, Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R (GT1) "Street courses are fantastic fun. It's going be great to go back there. It's a classic sort of street circuit. The layout of it is a little bit unconventional. It has a big, long front straight, quite wide. But then you go into some narrower streets but none of it is nasty. It's not really super bumpy; the grip level is quite high. It seems to gain grip through the weekend. I really liked it, and I think that a lot of the teams and the drivers like going there. It's quite picturesque as well, you're right along the harbor front. So I think it's got a lot going for it, and I really enjoyed it last year."

The next race for the American Le Mans Series is the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by XM Satellite Radio. The green flag is scheduled for 1:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 5 from the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The race will be broadcast on ABC from 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET on April 5. American Le Mans Radio coverage will be available on XM Satellite Radio Channel 144 from 5 to 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 6. Live American Le Mans Radio coverage will be available at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.