Petit Le Mans 2014 Viewer Guide

Tudor United SportsCar Championship 2014 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (Photo Credit: Ken Stouffer)

It’s finally here! Today’s the culmination of the inaugural Tudor United SportsCar Championship season with Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The year wasn’t without problems and we’re now beginning to hear what 2015 will have in store, but at least we know for sure (at this point) that there will be one. For those who will be tuning in to Fox Sports to watch for the very first time, here’s a rundown on what you’re to expect. The TUSCC features two basic types of cars: prototypes (open wheel and coupes) and GT models. Each type is split into two classes, PRO and PRO-AM, making four classes in all. The PRO classes feature professional drivers only while the PRO-AM classes have a mixed team of amateur and professional drivers.

The number of drivers on a team usually varies depending on a race’s length. To make it easy for everybody to keep track of which is which, the PRO cars have white numbering with a red background, and the PRO-AM cars have white numbering with a blue background. There is a nifty Leader Light System that displays each car’s track position in LED lights. Of course, PRO cars are red and PRO-AM cars are blue.

Now here’s where things get a bit complicated. There are four prototype cars: Daytona Prototype, LMP2, Delta Wing and Prototype Challenge. Thankfully all the Prototype Challenge cars are ORECA FLM09 models and in the PRO-AM class. All the other Prototypes are PRO. Similarly the GT cars are either GT Le Mans (all PRO) or GT Daytona (all PRO-AM). There are a variety of manufacturers represented in the GT classes: Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Audi, Dodge, Corvette and Aston Martin. The color codes will go a long way to help you keep track of who’s who.

PROTOTYPES

visitflorida.com Racing’s Corvette DP #90 to be driven by Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiente and Mike Rockenfeller

SpeedSource’s Mazda #70 to be driven by Sylvain Tremblay, Tom Long and Ben Devlin

The DeltaWing DWC13 #0 which to be driven by Andy Meyrick, Katherine Legge and Gabby Chaves

PROTOTYPE CHALLENGE

Core Autosport’s ORECA FLM09 #54 to be driven by Jon Bennett, Colin Braun and James Gue

GT LE MANS:

Corvette Racing’s Chevrolet Corvette C7.R #3 to be driven by Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Ryan Briscoe

SRT Motorsports’ Dodge Viper SRT #93 to be driven by Jonathan Bomarito, Rob Bell and Dominik Farnbacher

Porsche North America’s Porsche 911 GT America #912 to be driven by Michael Christensen, Patrick Long, Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet.

BMW Team RLL’s BMW Z4 GTE #56 to be driven by Dirk Müller, John Edwards and Dirk Werner

Risi Competizione’s Ferrari 458 Italia to be driven by Giancarlo Fisichella, Pierre Kaffer and Olivier Beretta

GT DAYTONA:

Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Audi R8 LMS #45 to be driven by Nelson Canache Jr., Spencer Pumpelly and Andrew Palmer

AIM Autosport’s Ferrari 458 Italia #555 to be driven by Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bella and Conrad Grunewald

Dempsey Racing’s Porsche 911 GT America #27 to be driven by Patrick Dempsey, Andrew Davis and Joe Foster

Turner Motorsport’s BMW Z4 #94 to be driven by Dane Cameron, Markus Palttala and Christoffer Nygaard.

TRG-AMR’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage #007 to be driven by David Block, Christina Nielsen and James Davison

A Final Word

The race will be airing live today on Fox Sports 2 from 3:00pm EST and again on Fox tomorrow at 4:30pm EST. You can also stream the race at http://www.foxsports.com/speed/stream/tudor or follow along with the Fox Sports Live Blog. We’ll bring you the entire broadcast as soon as it becomes available on the official YouTube channel. Don’t forget to download the official Petit Le Mans 2014 Raceday Viewing Guide especially since some of the cars have different liveries and Petit Le Mans 2014 Drivers Entry List. You can also connect with the TUSCC via social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Marsha Haneiph

Born and raised in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Marsha aka "One Opinionated Woman" has been a race fan from childhood. Despite a soft spot for rallycross, she finds interest in all forms of motorsport and enjoys learning about exciting, new varieties. Her personal blog 'One Opinionated Woman' focuses on fitness, food and fast cars.