BRASELTON, Ga. (September 29, 2015) - Michelin will look to close out a highly successful 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season at Petit Le Mans, October 3, at Road Atlanta.
The battles to claim the respective GT Le Mans (GTLM) driver, team and manufacturer championships will be decided amongst three Michelin technical partner teams with a fourth riding a streak of three consecutive podiums.
The Porsche North America factory team and driver Patrick Pilet currently lead the championships on the strength of three victories. Pilet and co-driver Nick Tandy reeled off consecutive wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Road America and VIRginia International Raceway.
Tandy missed two TUDOR Championship races while helping Porsche prepare for its overall victory at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans. He co-drove the winning car with fellow Porsche North America factory driver Earl Bamber and Formula 1’s Nico Hulkenberg.
BMW Team RLL has also celebrated three GTLM class victories in the 2015 TUDOR Championship: Long Beach, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Circuit of the Americas. Drivers Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner claimed the latter two wins and are now just three points adrift of Pilet and the Porsche North America team.
Corvette Racing and drivers Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, the 2013 champions, opened the 2015 TUDOR Championship season with victories at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Horus of Sebring. They are currently 10 points back in the championship.
Their Corvette Racing teammates Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor completed a Corvette Racing endurance triple crown by taking GTE-Pro honors at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans. Corvette Racing has eight victories at Petit Le Mans.
The Houston based Risi Competizione Ferrari team and drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer have scored five podium finishes in the first nine races of the 2015 TUDOR Championship, including the last three consecutive events.
Michelin teams have swept the GTLM class podiums at seven of the nine TUDOR Championship races to date.
“Road Atlanta is a fast, high energy track and places a lot of demands on tires,” said Chris Baker, director of motorsports for Michelin North America. “Racing for 10 hours opens up a lot of strategic options for the teams. Our objective for Petit Le Mans is the same as always; to help our drivers, teams and manufacturers be successful.”
TUDOR Championship Driver Championship Standings:
|
1
|
Patrick Pilet
|
279
|
|
2
|
Dirk Werner & Bill Auberlen
|
276
|
|
3
|
Antonio Garcia & Jan Magnussen
|
269
|
|
4
|
Giancarlo Fisichella & Pierre Kaffer
|
266
|
TUDOR Championship Team Championship Standings:
|
1
|
No. 911 Porsche North America
|
279
|
|
2
|
No. 25 BMW Team RLL
|
276
|
|
3
|
No. 3 Corvette Racing
|
269
|
|
4
|
No. 62 Risi Competizione
|
266
|
TUDOR Championship Manufacturer Championship Standings:
|
1
|
Porsche
|
290
|
|
2
|
BMW
|
287
|
|
3
|
Chevrolet
|
274
|
|
3
|
Ferrari
|
274
|