2010 News

EAST LANSING, Michigan (July 21, 2010) - The RSR team and Ryan Dalziel both possess podium results at Lime Rock Park this year; this weekend JaguarRSR will try for success with the XKR GT when they take the green flag for Round 5 of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón.

JaguarRSR had a reasonable run in Utah once it overcame an early incident, and hopes to build on that momentum heading into the next race. While every venue the team heads to presents a new challenge - being the team and car's inaugural year in the ALMS - the Lakeville, Connecticut track will offer its own unique claim. Lime Rock is the shortest track on the schedule at 1.5 miles long with 10-turns. Laps will be short and quick, and with a 30-car field, traffic will be tight. 

One of the keys to success at any track is familiarity. Earlier this month, RSR  ran at Lime Rock for competition in the SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series. Tomy Drissi was behind the wheel of a V8 Jaguar XKR and finished second. Piloting the #75 JaguarRSR XKR GT this weekend will see the return of the dynamic duo of Dalziel and Marc Goossens. Dalziel has two starts at Lime Rock: in 2005 he drove a GT1 Corvette in the ALMS to a forth place finish, and most recently, finished second in a Grand-Am Daytona Prototype. His experience will prove to be valuable to the driver lineup, as this will be the first time that Goossens competes at this track.

This will be a big event for Jaguar North America, whose headquarters are in Mahwah, New Jersey, making this their "home track". Numerous employees, guests and fans will be on hand to see the XKR GT racer make its seventh start.

Round 5 of 9 in the 2010 ALMS season gets right down to business on Friday ahead of Saturday's race. There will be two practice sessions before qualifying takes place for the GT class at 4:10 pm EST. There will be a 20 minute warm-up session on Saturday before the green flag at 2:05 p.m. kicks off the American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix, a 2 hour and 45 minute race.

WHAT THE DRIVERS HAVE TO SAY
Ryan Dalziel, co-Driver of the #75 JaguarRSR XKR GT
"I love Lime Rock. It's a very challenging track, but I always feel that I do well. I finished second there earlier this season and I hope I can carry some of that experience and get the JaguarRSR XKR GT a solid finish. Our car seems to work well in high-speed corners and Lime Rock has this in the mix. I think we can do well there. Recently we have made some noticeable gains to the Jaguar and nobody deserves a good result ahead of our crew. We will have many Jaguar guests at the race so we will have extra motivation to do well for our fans."
 
Marc Goossens, co-Driver of the #75 JaguarRSR XKR GT
"I think we had a pretty good run in Utah after the repairs, so that should be an interesting starting point in continuing to gather as much data as possible as we head into our next race weekend. It is going to get very busy for us; we have several races coming up in a short period of time. We need to gather as much info as possible from one track to go to the next one. I can't wait to take the JaguarRSR XKR GT to another level again this weekend at Lime Rock. From studying on-board footage, it seems like a nice race track with elevation changes and a combination of some faster corners and some tighter chicanes. I look forward to competing there for the first time and doing the best we can to put on a good show for all our guests and fans." 
 
LAP AROUND LIME ROCK PARK by Ryan Dalziel
Turn 1 - The brake zone into Turn 1, or Big Bend, is crucial. You have to have a good car on the brakes as there is so much time to be gained or lost here. You approach from the left side of the track, but turn in very early to maximize your braking in as straight a manner as possible. Rolling speed across the middle of the corner and staying as tight as the car allows you on exit will gain you lap time. Generally the car will have a decent amount of push here.

Turn 2 - The Esses are in two parts. A long left with an ever decreasing entry radius and an almost 90 degree right leading onto the "No name straight". The left is a little bit of a throw away corner, as it's the only left hand corner on the track. There are many different techniques and lines, but I tend to go into the corner fairly conservative and try to make sure I am set up to the left on the exit so I can get a good run through the right onto "No Name straight".

No Name Straight - It's a sweeping right/left straight where you have to be careful of faster Prototypes coming past you on either side.

Uphill Right - This corner is again crucial to get a good exit to lead you onto another straight. You can turn in early and use some inside curbing. The car must ride the curbs well and put the traction down over the crest.

West Bend - I have not used the ALMS configuration here but from what I understand it will now be a tight right, into a tight left chicane. From the race last year it looks similar to Uphill where the car must ride the curbs well as you have to utilize maximum amounts of them to square off the tightness of the turns. A good exit out of here is probably the most important aspect of Lime Rock Park as it leads you down the steep hill, very quickly into Diving Turn.

Diving Turn - This separates the men from the boys. An extremely fast and challenging corner where I believe if the car is set up well should be flat in 5th gear. Getting through here as fast as possible makes huge lap time and will help you overtake or defend come race time.

FOLLOW THE RACE
The American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix from Lime Rock Park is a 2 hour and 45 minute race set for 2:05 p.m. EST on Saturday, July 24. SPEED will broadcast the event live beginning at 2:05 p.m. EST Live radio coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche - a production of Radio Show Limited - as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242. Visit the Series' schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.
 
International coverage: MotorsTV - tape delayed on Sunday, August 1 beginning at 5:00 p.m. (UK); 6:00 p.m. CET.
 
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