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ALMS: Michelin tops Texas American Le Mans Series race

4 September 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Audi and Porsche Score Victories on Michelin Pilots

(Ft. Worth, Texas) - The Michelin-shod Audi R8 driven by Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro overcame the extreme heat to win the American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Texas at Texas Motor Speedway this evening. Ambient emperatures were consistently over 105-degrees Fahrenheit throughout practice and qualifying...by sundown, about an hour into the race, the ambient temperature dropped to under 100-degrees Fahrenheit for the first time during the weekend.

Despite track temperatures in excess of 100-degrees Fahrenheit, five of the top-six cars, all on Michelin tires, were able to double-stint the tires (not change tires on the first pit stop).

"No one at Michelin remembers racing in such heat," said Jerry Rinaldo, Michelin Racing Manager. "Keeping the tire fitters and engineers cool was a bigger challenge than managing tire temperatures. Building tires for the extreme heat is a technical exercise that our engineers enjoy...being able to double stint proves that. The Michelin tires performed flawlessly all weekend, even when the track temperatures reached almost 150-degrees."

Each Michelin team used Michelin's hot weather racing tires, which feature construction techniques and rubber compounds suited for high temperatures. Each construction and rubber combination has a "sweet spot" when it comes to optimum operating temperature. While engineers will not disclose the exact temperature for the tires used today, they did reveal that they were far in excess of 200-degrees Fahrenheit. Michelin engineers jokingly referred to these tires as "hot, hot tires."

Biela and Pirro took the lead from teammates Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello, who eventually finished second, in the final laps of the race to score their third victory of the season (the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans being the others). Jan Magnussen and David Brabham drove their Michelin-shod Panoz to a third-place finish.

Michelin has won the three biggest sportscar endurance races in the world in 2000. Dodge Viper won the 24 Hours of Daytona while Audi won the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Additionally, Michelin has won every other ALMS race this season...Charlotte (BMW), Silverstone (BMW), Germany (Panoz), Sears Point (Audi), Mosport (Audi) and Texas (Audi).

Michelin-shod Porsches swept the podium in the GT category. Randy Pobst and Bruno Lambert scored the win in a convincing manner, their second consecutive ALMS win driving an Alex Job Racing Porsche. Bob Wollek and Sascha Maassen finished second while Dirk Muller and Lucas Luhr finished third in Dick Barbour Racing Porsches.

Olivier Beretta and Karl Wendlinger recorded a second-place finish in their Michelin-shod Dodge Viper. Ron Fellows and David Pilgrim scored the victory in a Corvette.

Michelin cars have led 1,102 of the 1,103 laps in 2000 ALMS competition. Michelin cars also led every one of the 368 laps at the 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Text Provided By Bob Andrew

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.