Flying Lizard Motorsports will be back on track this week on the streets of Baltimore for the 2-hour Baltimore Grand Prix Presented by SRT. This seventh round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series season will be run on a 2.02 mile, twelve turn temporary circuit through the Inner Harbor neighborhood.
The PR Newswire / eSilicon No 44 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car will be shared by Dion von Moltke (South Africa) and Seth Neiman (USA), with the Venezuela / eSilicon No 45 driven by Spencer Pumpelly (USA) and Nelson Canache Jr. (Venezuela).
Going into the race weekend, Spencer and Nelson share the GTC class driver championship lead by 4 points over Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil of Alex Job Racing, with Flying Lizard leading AJR by the same margin in the team championship.
Seth and Spencer have driven at Baltimore in each of the previous two years of the event. Dion previously raced at Baltimore in 2011, while 2013 will be Nelson’s first time ever at the event. For Spencer, Baltimore has a particular allure as he grew up nearby.
He talked about that connection and the temporary track itself, saying, “Baltimore is one of my favorite events. It is very near my childhood home and I always have a big family contingent coming out to support me for the race.
The track layout is actually great for a street course, although there are some particular features including a railroad track crossing near pit in and another on the front straight which present some unusual challenges to be solved by the series. In 2011 the front straight included a chicane which was very slow, 1st gear, right-left-right, which acted as an hourglass and only allowed one car through at a time.
Unfortunately this meant that the racing just wasn’t as good through that section and the passing zone at the end of the front straight, especially in our spec class, was not as active. In 2012 the chicane was replaced with a very fast left-right that we took in third gear and provided a good passing opportunity.
It sounds like we will be back to the 2011 chicane for this year which is a missed opportunity in my mind. It’s a great track but adding an extra area for passing improves the show for the fans and the challenge for the drivers.”
The Baltimore Grand Prix Presented by SRT gets the green flag at 3:45pm ET on Saturday, August 31st. Qualifying will be broadcast live online on ESPN3.com and ALMS.com on Friday, August 30th starting at 4:20pm ET.
Source : Flying Lizard