Muscle Milk AMR: Hoping for a happy ending
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Muscle Milk team will be putting an end to its winningest season yet at this weekend's American Le Mans Series finale at Road Atlanta.
Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing, who has scored four wins this season, - the most of the prototype teams - is looking to Petit Le Mans to end the season on a high note after a run of bad luck in the past couple of rounds ended their hopes of winning the LMP1 Championship.
Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr will be facing even tougher competition than usual with the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup entries making the trip overseas to take part in the famous 1000-mile/10-hour race this week.
The LMP1 class will feature 13 car and driver combinations including the diesel-powered factory teams of Peugeot and Audi, who are the favorites to take top honors.
Knowing that they will be at a disadvantage to the diesel-powered cars, the Muscle Milk squad is aiming to be the 'best of the rest' and, most importantly, hoping for their luck to turnaround as the season comes to a close.
Graf and Luhr will be on track starting Wednesday, September 28 for a two-hour test session in which they will be joined by team owner Greg Pickett who has decided to get back behind the wheel and turn a few more laps aboard the team's Aston Martin LMP1 car during the test day.
The German duo will then be back on track for the start of official practice on Thursday, September 29th. Qualifying for the season finale will take place on Friday afternoon with the race going green at 11:30 am ET on Saturday, October 1.
The race will be streamed live in its entirety on ESPN3.com starting at 11:15 am ET and will be broadcast on tape-delay on ABC, Sunday, October 2 at 4:00 pm ET.
Klaus Graf, co-driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing
"Petit Le Mans has become one of the biggest sports car races in the world and I'm really looking forward to it. The teams from Europe will meet with the regular ALMS participants and that should make for some great racing.
"I think the circuit suits our Muscle Milk Aston Martin car and we had some very productive test days there earlier in the year. I like the track a lot as I called Atlanta my home town for three years during my early days in sports car racing in the United States and it's always great to return there.
"With the championship already decided, it's all about winning this one within the ALMS competitors and with a little bit of luck we could maybe even sneak up on the overall podium. That's what we'll be pushing for."
Lucas Luhr, co-driver Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing
"After our strong performance at Laguna Seca but the bad luck that consequently ended our championship hopes, we just want to have a good result at Petit Le Mans and end the season with a happy ending.
"Road Atlanta is a good track but with the diesel cars coming in for this race it will be tough. That said, if we can be the best of the non-diesel cars, I think that would be like a win for us.
"The Muscle Milk team has done a great job all year long and I hope we can give them a good result before we head into the off-season."