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Le: Le Mans
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The American Le Mans Series is the premium brand of motorsport in North America, featuring high-tech, sports cars from the most prestigious automobile manufacturers in the world. With its direct link to the world famous 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, its unique four classes of competition showcase exotic, prototypes (LMP1 and LMP2 classes) and sophisticated production-based GT cars (GT1 and GT2 classes), all competing on the track at the same time. With a 12- race schedule in 2008, the American Le Mans Series competes at premier road racing tracks across North America and at selected temporary street circuits in major urban markets. With a television package that includes five network broadcasts on ABC and NBC as well as seven live telecasts on SPEED, plus live broadcasts across Europe, the Series delivers a global marketing platform that is unmatched in motorsports. The Series, founded in 1999 by Georgia entrepreneur Don Panoz, represents a mirror image to the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's most famous and authentic automobile race. The American Le Mans Series features elite marques such as Acura, Audi, Aston Martin, Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari, Mazda and Panoz, and premium brands such as Michelin, Yokohama, Kumho, Lowe's, EPIC, Shell, DHL, Hyatt Hotels, XM Radio and many others.
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The first use of what would become Le Mans Prototypes was at the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. In an attempt to increase the number of entrants beyond the small field of Group C competitors that the World Sportscar Championship had to offer, older Porsche 962s were allowed entry in Category 3. To further increase the size of the field, small open-cockpit race cars using production road car engines which were raced in small national championships were allowed in Category 4. Few cars were entered, with all failing to run more than a few hours.
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"The auto manufacturers competing in the American Le Mans Series have made it very clear that this is a direction and an overall initiative that is important to them," said Scott Atherton, president and CEO of the Series. "The opportunity to formally align with the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy and SAE International makes our platform very special and unique -- to auto manufacturers and ultimately to consumers. At a time when nearly all of motorsports has lost its relevance regarding progressive technology or any connection from the race track to the showroom floor, the American Le Mans Series stands alone in providing a platform of solutions for our nation's automotive, transportation and energy needs."
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TOLEDO, Ohio, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- When Chrysler Corporation's Team ORECA Vipers dominated today's qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans road race, Dana Corporation and its people ... took a measure of pride. Dana designed and manufactured the axles, driveshafts, transmissions, piston rings, cylinder liners, and gaskets that helped power ORECA Vipers to the top two spots in GT2 class qualifying. The pole qualifying position is a first for the Viper at Le Mans. Altogether, a record five Vipers qualified for the legendary endurance race scheduled to take place Saturday and Sunday. "We take great pride in our customers' successes, whether they are on the race track or on the world's roadways," said Dana President and Chief Operating Officer Joe Magliochetti. "We congratulate the Chrysler Viper teams on their qualifying achievements and wish them every success in this weekend's competition at Le Mans."
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A Le Mans Prototype (commonly abbreviated as LMP) is a type of custom-built race car intended for sports car racing and endurance racing, most notably used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), they are the fastest closed-wheel racing cars used in circuit racing today, considered a class above production-based grand tourer cars which ... compete alongside them. Their cost and technology makes them comparable to Formula One cars, including reaching higher maximum speeds than Formula One.
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