With just 30 days left now until the Le Mans 24 Hours 2013 we continue our alphabet preview with Graham Goodwin fromDailysportscar.com. Today we are looking at letters P through to R.

P is for Porsche

With their first factory team since 1998 Porsche are back with a vengeance and their new 991 based 911 RSR looks the biggest step forward for many a year.

The factory team will cp test the whole FIA WEC, including the Le Mans 24 Hours before 2014 sees customer versions of this car and the launch of a brand new LMP1 programme to take on the might of Audi and Toyota

P is for Paul Ricard

Not really new but more than ever becoming an integral part of the racing scene once again after years of being a strictly ‘behind closed doors’ spectator venue.

Whilst spectator facilities are few and far between this is a place worth visiting with unmatched track quality, the immensely quick Mistral straight and fabled Signes corner and a very good cup of expresso available in the paddock!

Q is for Quattro

The hybrid regulations last year gave the LMP1 factory tems the option of delivering their very considerable hybrid punch, energy collected under braking and then released, either via the rear or front wheels.  

Toyota evaluated both options and went for rear wheel delivery but Audi went the 4wd route with many observers feeling that they had taken a marketing-led decision to more closely align their racing hardware to their premium road car product – The iconic Quattro moniker then could justifiably be applied to the 2012 and 2013 R18s.

R is for RAM Racing

A significant new addition to the European Le Mans Series grid, Silverstone based RAM Racing have brought a pair of brand new Ferrari 458 GTE cars to the Series and are looking to bring home the title.

Their lead car sees Johnny Mowlem and Matt Griffin form an Anglo-Irish alliance that should see their car right at the sharp end of the action.

R is for Rebellion Racing

The reigning WEC LMP1 Privateer Champions are back with a more than mildly upgraded version of their already impressive Lola Toyota package.

The crew for their full season WEC car is a hugely convincing one with ex F1 ace Nick Heidfeld teamed with the super quick Neel Jani and F1 test driver Nicolas Prost.

Their aim will be to retain their title, and to take advantage of any fumbles from the factory boys. That will be a tall order but don’t bet against them finding their way mighty close to an overall podium at some point this year.

It’s just a month now to the big one. If you still need tickets for the Le Mans 24 Hours 2013 then call us now on 0844 873 0203. We have a limited availability in tickets for on-circuit camping and rooms off-circuit.

Here we are nearly at the end of May and the Le Mans 24 Hours is just a month or so away, so all our thoughts are turning to La Sarthe and that weekend in June. To keep you going until then, we have the next chapter of our alphabet series on what is new in sportscar racing for 2013. This time Graham Goodwin from Dailysportscar.com looks at letter M to O.

M is for Makowiecki

Known colloquially as ‘Mako’, the young Frenchman is rated by many as one of the fastest GT drivers on the planet after impressing mightily in GT1 GTE (aka GT2 and GT3 cars in recent seasons.

2013 sees him join Aston Martin Racing and contesting the full FIA World Endurance Championship in one of the teams squadron of plucky V8 Vantages, taking on the factory Porsches and factory backed Ferraris – He’s one to watch in that class.

M is for Manthey

Olaf Manthey is a racing legend, multiple winner with his immaculately prepped Porsches of the Nurburgring 24 Hours, 2013 sees him in charge of the first Porsche factory entered team in international racing since 1998.

He’s a quiet, considered sort, but that exterior masks a steely determination, an eye for detail that is second to none and a track record that should have the opposition putting the Porsche effort in their list marked ‘threat’.

M is for Morgan

Once badged as a Pescarolo the Oak Racing outfit bought the manufacturing rights to Henri’s baby some years ago and have been refining it ever since.

The cars were badged as Morgans in 2012 as part of the commemoration of the famous English make’s 50th anniversary of a Le Mans class win. The cars keep the famous badge in 2013 and the season will see no fewer than five contesting the Le Mans 24 Hours with single entries from Morand Racing and Hong Kong based KCMG plus a trio of factory entered cars.

N is for New Teams

There are a healthy number of new teams around in 2013.  The ELMS is particularly well populated with LMP2 cars from Morand Racing and DKR Engineering and a pair of brand new Ferraris from new UK outfit RAM Racing.

The WEC meanwhile sees 8Star Motorsport enter a bright orange Ferrari for the Venuzuelan driver Enzo Potolicchio.

N is for Nissan

No DeltaWing in 2013 for the men in black but there are still going to be some eye catching set pieces from the cleverest marketers in the paddock. They are entering a pair of the GT Academy graduates, now dubbed NISMO Athletes, alongside top pro Michael Krumm at Le Mans with Lucas Ordonez joined by the mercurial Jann Mardenborough.

O is for Osterreichring

Or the Red Bull Ring as it’s now known, reopened in 2011 after being bought by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz after several years out of business.

It’s rated by many as one of the nicest tracks in Europe, certainly the surrounding Austrian countryside is wonderful and a race weekend here can easily be extended with a driving break that could take in see of the best driving roads in Europe

DTM races here and in 2013 so too will the ELMS.

O is for Openness

Ask for a close look at an F1 car at a Grand Prix or even a chat with a driver or mechanic and you WILL end up disappointed. Do the same at a major sportscar event and you’re highly likely to get a very pleasantly different response.

Openness is at the core of the culture of endurance racing, a place where many a hardened motorsport cynic has found their smile again!

Le Mans is not far away now. We are processing all your tickets for your travel packs in the office right now. So they will be with you soon. Graham will also be returning soon to continue this alphabet preview with letters P through to R.

The big shock from the 2nd round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend was the weather. After wet practice and damp qualifying the 6 hours race took place on Saturday under nearly cloudless skies.

The race result was, as many had predicted, a clean sweep for Audi, but the in the early stages of the race the 2013 specification Toyota showed that it had the pace to get amongst the Audis. It was unfortunate that the Toyota were forced to withdraw the car later in the race when it experienced problems with its brakes and hybrid system.

The No.1 Audi experienced problems at the start and in fact dropped back further when it suffered a puncture and so was forced to pit out of sync with the other 2 vehicles. However, the young driver squad of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer & Benoît Treluyer, the current World Champions, fought back to claim victory, and avenge the defeat they suffered at Silverstone.

Toyota’s other car, still running on 2012 specification, could not challenge the pace of the Audis and finished fourth, whilst the Rebbellion Racing team once again showed that they have a reliable and fast car by finishing fifth and sixth, and so were the first privateers home.

The victory in the LMP2 class went to Pecom Racing, improving on their third place finish at Silverstone. The team had a relatively untroubled race and showed consistent pace to keep any challengers at bay.  Oak Racing battled with British Jota racing throughout the race, with the Morgan Nissan finishing ahead of the Zytek Nissan on this occasion.

In the LMGTE Pro class, the No. 51 Ferrari 458 Italia of AF Corse recovered from a series of penalties for track infringements, to win by just 9 seconds from the No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8. The other AF Corse car took the third step on the podium having been leading the race for much of the six hours.

The LMGTE Am class was not so close at the front of the field, where the orange Ferrari of 8 Star Motorsports was unchallenged, once it took the lead about three laps in to the race. The Ferrari even managed to survive a minor collision with a prototype, to take the chequered flag. Aston Martin Racing again had to settle for second in class after winning the battle with the Corvette from Larbre Competition who finished third.

All eyes now turn to the big one; The Le Mans 24 Hours. Toyota has some catching up to do if they are to challenge Audi for the trophy that they all really want.

Words: Richard Webb
Photography: Dailysportscar

With the return of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa this weekend, in what is the traditional warm-up act before we all move on to Le Mans, we continue our look at the sports car racing alphabet with Graham Goodwin from Dailysportscar.com 

J is for Jota

The Kent based Jota team have a new look lineup for 2013 with Simon Dolan joined by rapid young Brit Oliver Turvey. Former FIA GT1 World Champion, Porsche and Audi factory driver Lucas Luhr joins the team for Le Mans too.

Expect them to be in real contention in the ELMS and at Le Mans, particularly after a first round ELMS victory at Silverstone

J is for Japan

The past few years have seen a major resurgence of interest in international sportscar racing from Japan – Whether it is the major factories ( Nissan, Toyota and Honda), the drivers, Takuma Sato, Kazuki Nakajima, Satoshi Motoyama and now Kamui Kobayashi to name but a few, but if you want to really treat yourself, take a look at the WEC race at Fuji Speedway, a great track, close to Tokyo with great atmosphere and where you can be guaranteed a large crowd, a festival atmosphere and, all told, an entirely different racing experience.

K is for Kobayashi

Kamui Kobayashi didn’t take long to become a firm favourite with Formula One fans, a highly skilled exponent of the racing art who shrugged away talk of difficulties in overtaking with some truly fantastic displays of heads-up aggressive racing.

When the F1 musical chairs for 2013 stopped Kobayashi was left standing, bad news for his single seater career, good news for endurance racing as he arrives, no doubt feeling he has a point or two to prove, at AF Corse for the FIA WEC. He’ll want to win, and he’ll REALLY want the GTE World title – Stand by for fireworks.

L is For LMP1

Its a season of nips, tucks and tweaks rather than brand new machinery though you can be sure that the seemingly similar to last year’s Audis and Toyotas are anything but.

Spa will see the first appearance of the 2013 Toyota and of the new long tail Audi.

The privateer LMP1s from Rebellion and Strakka meanwhile have been sprouting, respectively, a new rear and a new front end.  Racers never stand still!

L is for LMP2

There are new teams, new drivers, but the cost capped formula for the junior LMP class means that most of the cars are very similar indeed to those we saw in 2013, there is though one major newcomer on that front

L is for Lotus

The major new addition to the LMP2 roster is the brand new Lotus T128, brought to the WEC by the Kodewa based Lotus LMP2 team.

The new coupe replaces the team’s pair of Lola coupes from 2012 but retains the BMW-based Judd engines. Another ‘L’ ex F1 man Vitantonio Liuzzi is amongst a strong driver line-up.

If we don’t see you at the FIA WEC Six Hours of Spa this weekend, then be sure to revist us here as we will bring you more of our sportscar alphabet next week.

On the eve of the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone this weekend, Graham Goodwin, editor of Dailysportscar.com,  reaches letters G through to I, on our Alphabet of what’s new in Sportscar racing in 2013.

G is for G-Drive

The branding that sat on a Signatech Oreca Nissan last year moves to Delta-ADR for 2013 with the Silverstone based team expanding to a 2 car effort as a result.

The team gains Nissan technical partner backing status too for the WEC and will be looking to translate the form that saw them take the title fight to the final round in 2012 into a Championship win this year.

G is for Green GT

G could just as easily here have been for Garage 56, the ACO initiative that encourages new technology in racing by offering a start slot at Le Mans for a car outside the current regulations.

In 2012 that slot was awarded to the Nissan DeltaWing but in 2013 it has gone to the GreenGT. In mocked up form at least the car looked like a primary school pupils Hot Wheels fantasy, huge, wings and slots everywhere and anything but subtle.

The news though, asides from the challenging looks, is in the propulsion source, because GreenGT is fuelled by hydrogen.  Will it work? Will it be quick – questions like that are the whole point of the initiative, but news since the cars launch has been scarce. The car has yet to make it’s debut on track and the clock is ticking on the run down to Le Mans.

H is for Honda

And astonishingly there’s only one Honda powered car in the FIA WEC this year, despite the domination of the LMP2 class by the Starworks car there are no takers in the junior class.

In LMP1, JRM are giving the Championship a miss this year which leaves the only all-British team in the Championship, Strakka Racing as the only representatives of the marque.

Strakka Racing will field a fully updated ARX 03c with a radically different front end from the 2012 version of the car.

H is for Hungaroring

The European Le Mans Series has an interesting collection of circuits on their calendar including the Hungaroring, famous for being the first circuit behind the Iron Curtain to host a Formula One Grand Prix.  The place is 1980s concrete-tastic but nearby Budapest is a stunning place to enjoy a long weekend.

I is for Imola

The European Le Mans Series is also visiting the Imola circuit, infamous as the place that Ayrton Senna met his maker, but a circuit with a long history and much more positive atmosphere than the statue and shrines at the point of Senna’s accident.

It’s a circuit much changed since that dark weekend when Roland Ratzenburger also perished but it produces great racing and has some truly wonderful spectator viewing areas as well as some great hotels and restaurants nearby.

I is for Irish

Murphy Prototypes made their debut in 2012 but will be running their own team in 2013’s ELMS rather than the Team RLR effort of last year.

They are a team that understand how to have fun, but are deadly serious about winning!
Look out too for Mercedes F1 tester Brendan Hartley, one of the quickest men in LMP2.

Our look at 2013’s sportscar news will continue next week.

If you are at Silverstone this weekend, be sure to come and visit the Travel Destinations stand in the FIA WEC Fanzone. We are running an exclusive competition as well as handing out some unique giveaways. Be sure to come by and say hello.

If you can’t make it to Silverstone this weekend, then you can keep up with what we are doing on twitter with@lemansrace and @TravelDest.

Audi began the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in great style. The two Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars dominated the Silverstone 6 Hours and deservingly clinched a one-two victory. For Audi, following the one-two result in the (non-WEC) 12 Hours of Sebring in last month, this marked their second sports car success this year. 

For the first time, Audi also won the famous RAC Tourist Trophy. The tradition-steeped trophy that has been awarded since 1905, was the main prize for the 2013 WEC opening event. Allan McNish was pleased to win this important motorsport trophy at his “home” round. Together with Tom Kristensen he was on the grid for the first time with his new Audi team-mate Loïc Duval. The trio is now leading the WEC drivers’ standings with a seven-point advantage after one race. It took until the fifth hour of the race, after 151 laps, for them to take the lead. Despite an excursion while lapping another car and an additional tyre change McNish went on to recover the lead and crossed the finish line with a 3.4-second advantage.

From the start, a thrilling battle had ensued with Audi’s nearest challenger Toyota. However, Allan McNish, in the number 2 Audi, grabbed the lead for the first time on the sixth lap. The sister car – number 1 – driven by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer completed Audi’s one-two lead at an early stage. On lap 77, the Swiss fought his way to the very front. However, a defect on the left front driveshaft after four hours of racing though meant that the hybrid system of car number 1 was no longer able to deliver its power to the front wheels. With that, the current World Champions had to admit defeat. 

The two R18 e-tron quattro cars had been set up for particularly high aerodynamic downforce. The smaller air restrictor prescribed by the regulations this year was to reduce the output of Audi’s LMP sports cars. The engineers from Audi Sport worked on compensating for this disadvantage, which also included a power-oriented engine development. Furthermore, the 58-litre fuel tank capacity of the diesel hybrid sports car being around 20 percent smaller than that of the petrol engine sports car of competitor Toyota resulted in shorter refuelling intervals for Audi. Despite an additional refuelling stop Audi managed to win with a one-lap advantage in front of the best Toyota finishing in third place.

The McNish, Kristensen & Duval factory Audi averaged 120.17mph throughout the 721-mile, 197-lap race staged in mainly dry but blustery weather conditions marking the Scotsman’s fourth and Audi’s fifth victory in the annual Silverstone race.

Allan McNish commented: “It was very important to start off the year with big points and for the second consecutive season, we’ve made a good start to the WEC by taking maximum points. There’s another seven races but we’re in the best position heading to Belgium early next month.”

Allan added; “We knew it was going to be a tough race from start to finish, due to the weather and of course the competition from Toyota and also internally at Audi with our two cars going flat out. But I believe it surpassed all expectations. The race quickly came down to a fight between the two ‘sister’ Audis. I spun avoiding a GT car when lapping it which ‘flat spotted’ my tyres which meant I had to take on new ones. Then it was just maximum attack until the end – there was no other option if I wanted to lift the RAC Tourist Trophy.”

The second round of the eight-race FIA World Endurance Championship is staged at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Saturday 4th  May.

In front of their home crowd, including hundreds of invited guests, Aston Martin Racing celebrated a dominant double victory in both the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am categories at the 6 Hours of Silverstone.

Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Bruno Senna completed a perfect race to win the Pro category in their No.97 Aston Martin Vantage V8, having led the race from pole position to the chequered flag. They managed to survive early technical issues, rain showers and pressure in the first hour from both its sister No.99 Aston Martin Vantage and the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella. However, as the race progressed the No. 97 stretched out a lead that they were never going to relinquish and finished one lap ahead of their nearest rival in class.

The No. 99 Aston Martin Vantage V8, driven by Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana & Frederic Makowiecki also managed to make the podium in the LMGTE Pro class finishing third behind the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Kamui Kobayashi and Toni Vilander.

Similar to Bruno Senna, Kobayashi was making his debut in the FIA WEC and alongside his driving partner, Toni Vilander, they were thrilled to finish second. The other AF Corse Ferrari driven by Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella (Last year’s leading LMGTE Pro pairing) , had a difficult race and ended up having to make one more pit stop than their rivals which cost them important position. Although the new Porsche 911 RSRs from Manthey Racing were not able to claim a podium finish on this occasion, the car’s performance on track was impressive and it will surely not be long before their results improve.

The race In the LMGTE Am category provided drama right until the end, although fortunately none of it affected the class winners in the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage V8; Christian Nygaard, Kristian Poulsen and Alan Simonsen. The Danish trio, unlike their LMGTE Pro team mates, had to wait until the second hour to take the lead of the class but, once in that position, they didn’t relinquish their grip and finished a resounding three laps ahead of their nearest rival.

A fantastic battle took place between the second and third placed cars – the No.50 Larbre Competition Corvette C6-ZR1 and the No.81 8Star Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia – although the final finishing positions could so easily have been reversed. In the final laps of the race Rui Aguas in the Ferrari was holding second position, closely pursued by Fernando Rees in the Corvette, until the Ferrari was hit from behind by the French car. The contact led to a left rear puncture with just four minutes of the race to go. Although they quickly returned to the race, the orange Ferrari was forced to concede the second step of the podium.

The race-winning No.97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 LMGTE Pro completed 171 laps of the 3.7-mile Silverstone circuit, equating to a total race distance of more than 630 miles at an average speed of 108mph. A great performance from the Aston Martin Racing team.

We continue our preview of the 2013 Sportscar year with the next volume of our “A – Z of what’s new in sportscar racing for 2013”.

This time our good friend Graham Goodwin from Dailysportscar.com takes a look at the alphabet from D through to F.

D is for Duval (and Dindo)

Loic Duval is the full season replacement for the now retired (from LMP racing) Dindo Capello. The fast Frenchman stunned with his pace in a Peugeot and was high on the hotlist when Ingolstadt looked to shuffle their pack.

The chemistry between him and the two established old hands in the No. 2 Audi will be the key to real results this year.

D is for Davidson

Anthony Davidson’s 2012 Le Mans may have been short, but its finale made headlines the world over after his dramatic flip at Mulsanne Corner ended the race for the No. 8 Toyota.

He’s now fully recovered, retained by Toyota for the season and likely very keen to add some silverware to a reputation as one of, if not THE, quickest men out there.

E is for European Le Mans Series

After a disastrous 2012 the European Le Mans Series gets a revamp and a relaunch courtesy of new Series organisers, Gerard Neveu and co.

Shorter races and two day race weekends are designed to help hard pressed teams with the costs and whilst that’s not been without its controversies, the season entry list is already impressive with 25 cars slated to start the season at Silverstone for the five race series.

That’s a massive recovery from 2012’s dismal 13 cars at Donington Park and whilst the prospect of sharing the weekend billing with another series might not be to everyone’s taste it makes for a potentially very interesting fan experience.

E is for Endurance Super Racing Weekend

With a revamped ELMS to support and a North American sportscar scene in some flux, the creation of these two double header weekends with ELMS supporting the FIA WEC at Silverstone and the ALMS on similar duty in Austin, Texas at the fabulous new Circuit of the Americas was something of a no brainer.

That is not to say that these aren’t a very welcome addition to the sportscar racing calendar, they are an important road sign to what the WEC wants to become, a series of big standalone events that combine to be a worthy World Championship.

With 60 or more top quality cars racing over the weekend these really should be on every endurance racing fans calendar.

E is for 8Star

Enzo Potolicchio was set to contest LMP2 in defence of his 2012 WEC title when the Venuzuelan was run by Starworks – funding issues at home though scuppered that plan and instead we’ll see the team name arrive in the WEC on an AF Corse run Ferrari 458 in the hotly contested GTE Am class.

It will be a difficult car to miss, the team’s livery is a very strident orange!

F is for Ferrari

Ferrari arrive for 2013 with a revised version of the 458 GTE that swept the prancing horse to the GTE World title in the WEC’s first season last year.

AF Corse , of course are the standard bearers once again with a revamped driver squad – more of them in a wee while.

With proven pace and reliability plus class leading fuel economy the opposition will have to bring their A Game to wrest the trophy from Maranello’s steely grip.

Our sportscar alphabet season prieview continues…. stay tuned for more news soon.

As we approach the debut race of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone this weekend, we debut a new feauture we are calling “The A-Z of what’s new in sportscar racing for 2013”.

With the help of Graham Goodwin, the editor of Dailysportscar.com we take a look at what we can expect from the season ahead.

A is for Alpine

No not the return of Sunbeam to the track (and in truth not really the return of Renault sub-brand Alpine yet either!)

There are plans afoot for a new Alpine road car with the famous factory collaborating with Caterham on a future model – For now the racing effort is a rebranded Oreca LMP2 with an appropriately Gallic driver line up and a very pretty retro blue and orange livery – Vive Le (not much) difference.

Expect to see the #36 car in the European Le Mans Series and at Le Mans too.

And A is for Audi

Audi took the multiple WEC defeats in the second half of 2012 at the hands of the upstart Toyota team as well as you might expect!

That’s why we have a heavily revised R18 e-tron Quattro and a reshuffled driver line-up.

The rear wing / wheel arch treatment of the Toyota has been ‘re-imagined’ by the Ingolstadt Army, better rear downforce will help to close he gap.

There was allegedly a heavily revised hybrid system too but it seems, at present that this has been outlawed by the powers that be.

Audi have scored a dominant win at Sebring already but Toyota weren’t there to race against and it was actually the #1 car, in 2012 spec, that took the flag – Make no mistake though Audi intend to defend their titles globally and in France with vigour.

It could be a heck of a year!

And for Aston Martin too!

Aston Martin celebrate a birthday in 2013, and it’s a big one too.

The company’s centenary will see a number of celebrations but none more spectacular than an amazing five car attack at Le Mans where the factory team’s quintet of Gulf liveried Vantage GTEs will be looking to bring home class wins in both the GTE Pro and Am classes.

With top quality driver line-ups, and a 2013 version of the car that is designed to add even further pace to the car that took, the final WEC race of 2012 the Vantages will be right in amongst the class leaders in GTe but read on because this is going to be far from a birthday cakewalk!

B is for Brazil

The WEC might have visited Brazil in its first competitive year in 2012 but the Championship organisers, and indeed the race organiser, none other than Emerson Fittipaldi, expect a much better event, and a much bigger crowd in 2013 at Interlagos.

B is for Buemi

Sebastian Buemi is one of a gaggle of recent Formula One refugees to contest the FIA WEC.

The quick Swiss will do so with Toyota, so is likely to be in the mix for race wins at the very least – the driver mix in his #8 Toyota looks ominously fast but will Seb be an ex F1 man of the Davidson or the Villneuve variety?

C is for Circuit of the Americas

Austin Texas is the one new venue on the 2013 FIA WEC calendar, replacing Sebring as North America’s venue of choice for the visit of the World Championship.

The circuit has had rave reviews from the drivers, and the facilities are appropriately World Class.  Better still the weekend welcomes not only the WEC but also a race on Saturday for the American Le Mans Series too – Unmissable.

We will continue this A-Z shortly, so be sure to keep coming back for more sports car and Le Mans news.

NB. If you are at Silverstone for the FIA World Championship this weekend, then don’t forget to pop by the Travel Destinations stand in the Fanzone area, to pick up some exclusive freebies and enter our Le Mans 2013 competition. See you there!

After much anticipation, the new United SportsCar Racing brand was revealed today at the Sebring International Raceway. This new race series results from the merger of GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series. United SportsCar Racing will make its debut in 2014 with the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Travel Destinations staff were present to report live from the press conference where the new brand name and logo were unveiled in front of a large audience both in the room, on-line and live on television.

“The new name says it all,” said GRAND-AM President and CEO Ed Bennett. “In only six months since we announced the merger, GRAND-AM and the ALMS have taken huge strides to become one organization that will redefine sports car racing in North America. United SportsCar Racing reflects the fundamental spirit of how we are working together toward a common goal.”

Today’s announcement ends a four-month project that involved New York-based SME Branding, one of the nation’s leading agencies with a client list that includes the NFL, NHL, UFC, the New York Yankees, Kentucky Derby, Madison Square Garden and NASCAR. SME conducted stakeholder research as well as fan input to develop the series’ name, logo and brand identity.

The selection of United SportsCar Racing was derived from a submission by Cocoa, Fla.’s Louis Satterlee in GRAND-AM’s “Name The Future” fan contest. The logo, with its race helmet-like imagery, was developed to be an icon with a modern feel, representing a part of motorsports that is immediately recognizable.

Bennett, ALMS President and CEO Scott Atherton and SME Senior Partner Ed O’Hara collectively introduced United SportsCar Racing today in the Chateau Elan Hotel and Conference Centre’s Le Mans Ballroom, adjacent to the famed Sebring Hairpin turn.

This Saturday will mark the 61st running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida – the opening race of the 2013 and last ALMS season.

“When it came to the branding of our newly merged entities, we felt we had one chance to get it right – and now we believe we have done just that,” Atherton said. “We began the branding process by listening to everyone – manufacturers, corporate partners, drivers, teams, tracks – and of course, the fans. The input was invaluable and helped lead us to today’s milestone announcement.”

O’Hara said the goal of the new name and logo is “to be modern, aspirational, authentic, unique and obviously, exciting. We want fans and the sports car industry to feel like they ‘own’ this new brand. “We also want them to feel like that ownership is a long-term proposition. This new brand is made to order for the future, without a doubt.”

Also announced was the retaining of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) as the sanctioning body for United SportsCar Racing, with an updated version of the iconic IMSA logo unveiled.

In addition, the new competition class names for 2014 were announced: The lead Prototype (P) class, combining GRAND-AM’s Daytona Prototypes plus the ALMS’ P2 and DeltaWing cars; Prototype Challenge (PC), retained from the current ALMS class structure; GT Le Mans (GTLM), consisting of the ALMS’ current GT class; GT Daytona (GTD), consisting of GRAND-AM’s current GT class and the ALMS’ current GTC class; GX, coming over from the current GRAND-AM structure.

By keeping the “Le Mans” name in the class title, reinforces the hope that links to the ACO and the ultimate goal of the Le Mans 24 Hours will be maintained. Scott Atherton indicated that a further announcement on that subject is due in the near future.