Fresh off of the team’s podium finish at the brutal Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports returns to their home state of California to contest the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach this Saturday. At only two hours long, the 11 turn 1.968 mile-based street circuit sprint race is in stark contrast to the twelve hour endurance event that it follows on the schedule. Drivers will have to contend with another full field as 33 cars will cram their way into the narrow So-Cal street course located just 40 minutes from glamorous Beverly Hills. One of eight LMPC class entries, the #52 Aviation Gin/ Quest Software Oreca FLM09 will retain 2/3 of its Sebring lineup with Rudy Junco, of Monterrey, Mexico, and Butch Leitzinger, of Rebersburg, PA. Ken Dobson, of Sonoma, CA, will be returning to the driving lineup during the third race of the season in Monterey, CA in May.
Making his Long Beach ALMS series debut, Junco will not be entirely unfamiliar with the track having contested two Firestone Indy Lights races there in 2000-2001.
“It’s been over ten years since I’ve driven at Long Beach, so in a lot of ways, the track will be nearly all-new to me,” Junco explained. “However, I have a lot of time in the LMPC car, I’m very familiar with the chassis and engine package, and PR1/Mathiasen always builds and sets up the fastest car in the class. Butch has a lot of experience here as well, so I know that we’ll have everything we’ll need to get up to speed quickly and position ourselves to fight for the victory. Being so close to Mexico, this is a bit of a home race for me, so I’m looking forward to competing again in front of all of the great fans that attend this historical race.”
The Long Beach street circuit is one of Leitzinger’s favorite courses on the calendar.
“Just like Sebring, Long Beach is another one of those classic races that have so much history and legend behind them,” Leitzinger said. “It’s also an amazing track, a real street circuit located right in the middle of an exciting city’s downtown. I really enjoy that there is an interesting mix of corners as well. It’s not just a collection of gas – mash the brake – turn 90 degrees and repeat, like so many other street courses. The short format really puts a premium on qualifying, which in turn puts a premium on Fridays two-hour practice session, the only session we get before qualifying. When you add all these factors up, it makes for a great sprint race with everyone pushing as hard as they can as soon as the green flag flies.”
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Team Principal, Bobby Oergel, will be looking to maximize the team’s on-track program on Friday leading up to Saturday’s main event.
“Track time at Long Beach is a scarce commodity,” Oergel said. “This forces the drivers, crew, and engineers to be on their game as quickly as possible. Then you add in Long Beach’s prestige, all the fans in the stands, the congested paddock, and the two-hour sprint format, the whole weekend can get pretty intense even before the race starts. The key to performing in these high-pressure environments is to shut out all unnecessary distractions and to focus on doing your job the same way you would do it anywhere else. We’ve had a fast car the past two years here, but we’ve yet to get the finishes that the team deserves. With Rudy and Butch in the car, and with the team fired up over our podium finish at Sebring, I feel that we’ll finally get the luck we’ve been looking for in Long Beach.”
Source : PR1 Mathiasen