Muscle Milk Team Cytosport and Corvette Racing Secure Repeat Wins
August 9, 2011
Muscle Milk Team Cytosport and Corvette Racing continued their domination of the 2011 Green Racing season with repeat Michelin Green X Challenge (MGXC) wins in the American Le Mans Series this past weekend at the wet and rainy Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge.
Muscle Milk, which won the overall race for the second time in a row, also scored its fourth straight MGXC win by having the lowest total of the clean, fast and efficient scores in the Prototype category. The Lola Aston Martin had the best combination of the three scoring factors and finished 21% ahead of the second place number 16 Dyson Racing Lola Mazda. The key to victory was Team Cytosport’s lowest-in-class clean score, which was attributed to its use of E85 fuel and its 22% better energy efficiency. The Aston Martin weighed 50 kg more the Dyson Lola Mazda and had greater race speed, which gave it an energy efficiency advantage.
The Corvette Racing number 4 car scored its second consecutive win in the MGXC for GT category by showing outstanding efficiency, solid race speed and excellent environmental performance. It scored best in the Efficiency category for GTs, and best-in-class for the clean category due to its energy efficiency and choice of cellulosic E85 fuel. Second place in the MGXC went to the number 56 BMW M3 of Rahal Letterman Racing, finishing 11% behind the winning Corvette. Car 04, the Ford Doran GT, took third in the MGXC only 0.33 points behind the second place BMW. The top five GT MGXC finishers all took advantage of the environmental benefits of E85 fuel.
“Manufacturers use the ALMS and the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge to accelerate the development of new technologies and test new energy sources in competition,” said Silvia Mammone, motorsports manager, Michelin North America. “Weather played a major role in today’s race, and race cars, like consumer cars, must perform in a wide range of conditions. The fact that the two MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge winners finished first and second in their respective classes once again reinforces that Clean, Fast, and Efficient cars can still deliver excellent performance.”
The scores for the MGXC measure the environmental performance of American Le Mans Series (ALMS) cars in the Prototype and GT categories on an equitable and accurate basis. Clean, fast, and efficient define the three scoring factors developed by the ALMS in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The scores allow the ALMS to identify and reward the cars that find the best balance between these factors for endurance racing and in the real world. The clean factor is based on the amount of oil used and greenhouse gas emitted by the cars, the fast factor is based on the car’s speed to cover the race distance and the efficiency factor measures the energy needed to complete the race distance adjusted for the car’s mass.
The Mid-Ohio race saw a significant 46% of oil replaced by renewable fuels in the Prototype and GT categories compared to traditional all-petroleum racing fuel. This achievement is an important indicator of the impact of ALMS’s commitment to Green Racing, demonstrating that the United States can dramatically reduce its oil dependence while also retaining outstanding vehicle performance. ALMS surpasses the national goal of a 16.5% reduction in imported oil by 2025 by nearly 2.8 times.
Photos courtesy of American Le Mans Series
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