Panoz Pursue Portland Podium
The 1.94 mile (3.12 km) Portland International Raceway was the scene of the Panoz LMP-1's first win in 1999 and is a favorite of the team. The car has been brought back to competition for the remainder of the 2001 season to allow Panoz to develop the troublesome LMP-07 away from the pressures of the race track.
David Brabham, winner of that inaugural victory and 2nd place finisher last year, comments, "The track didn't inspire me when I went there for the first time, but the more I drove it the more I liked it. It's a challenging place because to set a really good lap time you've got to get everything absolutely right.
"It's a very scenic part of the country so we all like going to Oregon, and Portland International Raceway is a very smooth track but it's very difficult to pass - for all the cars, not just the Prototypes. It's tight round most of the track and there's very little room to get past so you've got to grasp every overtaking opportunity that is offered to you with both hands."
Senior Race and Development Engineer, Chris Gorne: "We were delighted if not a little surprised with our 3rd place at Sears, but know that the more we get re-used to working with the cars, the stronger we'll get. It would be unrealistic to expect to be able to beat the factory Audis but we can challenge them more than before and continue to aim to beat the other prototypes. We all have the same excellent Michelin rubber so that gives us a level playing field on one front at least."
Round four of the American Le Mans Series takes place at 1.00pm local time on Sunday 5th August and can be heard live on the American Le Mans Radio Web.
Ends
For further information contact Fiona Miller of Panoz Motor Sports on +44 7770 371 332 or email to fiona@panozmotorsports.com