Grand Prix of Houston Preview

Grand Prix of Houston Preview

Posted: May 7th, 2006 in American Le Mans
Author: Joe Martin Sr.
Photo By: Joe Martin

The Grand Prix of Houston is almost upon us as the American Le Mans Series starts the engines again in round two. Currently there are twenty-four entries that will battle around the 1.7-mile concrete enclosed course. This will be the only temporary road circuit that the teams will face in 2006. It should be a great spectacle for the fan to see the cars battle in such close quarters.

Fans of the series seemed nervous about the future of the GT1 class with no announcements till recently. With the dominance of the Pratt & Miller team with their mighty Corvettes, it is hard to find competition. It seems like the class has been saved by the Aston Martin, which will continue to battle with the Corvettes in Houston and Mid-Ohio. Rounding out the class will be the Konrad Motorsports team with the Saleen, who will also continue to develop their car to add to the spirit of competition.

Could this be the first time that the Penske Motorsports or Intersport Racing could snag that first overall win in the prototype fields? The P1 division has the new Dyson Racing Lola’s, Autocon Motorsports Lola, and old Audi R8. Dyson has been conducting more testing after Sebring to bring the car up to speed. With the combination of speed of the Porsche RS Spyder and the race being a sprint race, it should be an exciting battle. Remember we will not see the mighty Audi R10 diesel again until Salt Lake City.

Could the most exciting battle of the race be the nine cars that will battle it out in the GT2 class? Sebring had the top three cars running within less then a minute of each other at the end of the twelve-hour race. The Multimatic Panoz will be vying for their second victory in a row with stiff competition stiff on their back. BMW, Porsche, and Ferrari will round out the rest of the GT2 field that will try to stop Panoz from another victory.

We are only in the second race of the 2006 session and excitement is growing as announcements such as Acura coming to the American Le Mans Series in 2007 and rumors floating around that NASCAR will be losing one of the three big Detroit auto makers wanting to claim an overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans arise. One thing is for sure; that PitJournal.com will be here to cover all big announcement for the American Le Mans Series in 2006.

Joe Martin Sr.
PitJournal.com