WEC And ALMS Preview – Circuit of the Americas, Austin

With the Brazilian round of the FIA WEC now complete and Audi extending its lead in the Manufacturer’s Championship with another 1-2 finish for the Audi R18 E-tron Quattro, it is now on to Texas and the outstanding Circuit of the Americas.

Sports car racing fans from around the world will be focusing their attention on Austin the weekend of September 20-22, where they will not only get to see the World Endurance Championship cars racing for the FIA World Title, they will also have the opportunity of seeing competition in the American Le Mans Series, which is sharing the bill with the WEC with their own race.

In the WEC, look for Audi to try and extend their winning ways and for Tom Kristensen to try and repeat his Le Mans winning performance as he strives, along with his teammates, for a World Championship. After a disappointing 2nd place in Brazil, you can be sure that he and teammates Allan McNish and Loic Duval will be pulling out all the stops to get to the top step of the podium in Texas.

Don’t discount the effort from Toyota, with their hybrid prototype as well. Always quick, they will give the Audi camp some competition at Austin.

In the American Le Mans Series race, look for the Muscle Milk team of Lucas Luhr and Klas Graf to try and continue their domination of the P1 class. I spoke with Lucas Luhr, who is the winningest driver in the history of ALMS and he is looking forward to racing at the Circuit of the Americas. He tested there last year and said that the facility is one of the greatest race tracks in the world. Lucas is hoping to wear a cowboy hat in victory lane this year.

The ALMS GT class promises exciting and close competition as entries from Corvette, Porsche, BMW, Viper and Ferrari will compete for top honors.

If you are a sports car racing fan, Austin is going to be the place to be for the combined WEC/ALMS race weekend.

Hope to see you there.

Eddie LePine

Eddie has been involved in motorsports for over 30 years as photographer, columnist, and driver. Eddie also is now a retired racer (well, retired unless a good ride pops up).

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