This weekend will mark several firsts for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports as Ken Dobson and Butch Leitzinger will enjoy the benefit of an all-new car this weekend at the two hour and forty-five minute American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix. Additionally, adorning the new car will be an all redesigned livery highlighting PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team sponsor, Quest Software, that is sure to become a fan and paddock favorite. The #52 Quest Software/ Aviation Gin Oreca FLM09 will join six other LMPC cars in the second largest class making up the 31 car field taking to the highly technical layout featuring 10 turns, pronounced elevation changes, and a quick half-mile front straight making up a classic 1.5 mile layout in the beautiful northeastern country side. Another point of interest, directly contrasting the all-new car and livery, is team driver Butch Leitzinger will be making his one-hunderdth start in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón.
“I wasn’t keeping track of how many starts I’ve made, so it was a bit of a surprise that my one hundredth race was coming up,” Leitzinger exclaimed. “It’s very appropriate that I’m making my hundredth at Lime Rock though. The track is very special to me having watched my father race there with my whole family while growing up and then taking my wife and kids throughout the years. It’s a very special track to me and I’m very proud to be making my hundredth start there this weekend.”
“I always look forward to Lime Rock as the circuit itself is very high speed, and because it is only a mile and a half long, you are constantly having to slash through traffic,” Leitzinger continued. “But the thing that I enjoy the most is the atmosphere. It is such a civilized place to experience sports car racing. There are no grandstands, just lovely hillsides to spread a blanket out and enjoy the day. We go into this weekend following a very good test at VIR, where we learned quite a few things with the set-up that will help us at Lime Rock. Bobby Oergel and everyone at PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports is very hungry to earn our first win of the year.”
Dobson has vowed to do everything he can to help his teammate get a top result during his milestone race.
“I’m very motivated to put in my best effort in for Butch this weekend,” Dobson said. “It’s amazing what he’s accomplished, so I know that everyone on the team, myself definitely included, is pushing hard to come through for him. I’m especially confident going into the weekend having done a few races in touring cars at Lime Rock as well as some instructing at the track. I feel that I know the layout pretty well, and after my off-season gains, and our recent strong pace at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, I’m very excited to get back in the #52 Quest Software/ Aviation Gin machine.”
With an all new car making its race debut, and the team’s usual race winning car at the ready, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Team Principal, Bobby Oergel, has his team poised to make a multiple LMPC car entry in the near future.
“The benefits of running a multiple car operation are well documented,” Oergel said. “The competition in the LMPC class is as tough as its ever been and having multiple cars, multiple drivers providing feedback, and multiple engineers on the team crunching data is fast becoming an important part of competing for poles and wins every race week. We tested the new car recently utilizing everything that we’ve learned from our original #52 and while every chassis has its own personality, I’m happy to report that we were on pace pretty much right off the truck. Butch and Rudy did the testing duties, but Ken always adapts quickly, so I see no reason why we can’t compete up front this week. On a personal note, I think it would be awesome to see Butch on the top step in his one hundredth race! In the meantime, we’re exploring all opportunities to field the second car. We’ve got a lot of interest which, to me, just goes to show that the paddock has recognized the strength of our program that everyone on the team has worked so hard for.”
Source : PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports