Muscle Milk Pickett Racing ready for California street fight

Each year one of the favorite stops on the American Le Mans Series calendar for Muscle Milk Pickett Racing is Long Beach, California. In addition to being considered a home race by the California-based team, they have known much success on the city's streets, taking victory the last two seasons.

The team will be looking to keep that streak alive next week when they take part in the ALMS Long Beach race April 20th.

Last year, Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr became the first driver pairing to become repeat overall winners at Long Beach. The duo will once again be paired up, as they look for their third consecutive win together at the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street course.

Both drivers and team are looking to bounce back after what was a trying race at Sebring where, despite their speed, they were left off the podium for the first time in a year.

However, the Greg Pickett-led team did pick up second place points for their finish at the 12-hour race which means they are entering the second round of the season sitting four points back in the P1 Championship standings behind newcomers to the ALMS, Rebellion Racing.

The team was in the same situation last season after the first race of the year and they struck back with five consecutive wins.

Next week's race will be the fourth appearance for Pickett Racing on the streets of Long Beach. In addition to its two victories the team has a third place finish in 2010.

The action gets underway early Friday morning at 7:30 am local time with the lone practice session of the weekend. Qualifying will take place Friday afternoon from 5:05 pm local time and will be streamed live on ESPN and ALMS.com.

The green flag will drop at 4:30 pm local time with tape-delayed coverage on ABC Sunday, April 21 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The race will be streamed live on ESPN3 and ALMS.com.

Muscle Milk Quotes

 Klaus Graf - driver #6 Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a"The break between Sebring and Long Beach just feels too long. Especially after our tough ending at Sebring, I'm eager to get back behind the wheel of our Muscle Milk Pickett Racing car."The mindset going into Long Beach will be completely different than a few of weeks ago, since we go from our longest race of the year to our shortest."Long Beach is a great place with a unique atmosphere being so close to Hollywood and the fact that it's a street course."We had a very good car there last year and Lucas and I were able to capture our first win of the 2012 season. This has to be the goal again for this year as we continue our final ALMS season."Traffic will play a major part again with 34 entries, so to be patient and make the right decisions in strategy and traffic will be key. I know Brandon (Fry) and the team has worked very hard in the last couple of weeks and I hope we can deliver the team a win in our home state."

 Lucas Luhr - driver #6 Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a"Long Beach is my favorite place we go to with the ALMS because of the history and because it is a city circuit."We won there the last two years and to make it three in a row would be great for Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, Klaus and myself. Also, because it is a home race for the team or at least home state race for them. "It should be a good race for the fans with Rebellion and Dyson and I hope we come out on top. We're only four points behind Rebellion but we hope to cut into that lead as our big goal for the season is to defend our Championship."

Race Facts:American Le Mans at Long BeachStreets of Long Beach, 1.968-mile, 11-turn street course, Long Beach, CAApril 19 - 20, 2013

American Le Mans Series: Round #2 of 10Race Duration:  2 HoursALMS TV Broadcast:Race (USA): ABCTape-delayed, Sunday, April 21 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm ETInternational: Live on MotorsTVALMS live online coverage:www.ESPN3.comQualifying - Friday, April 19, 2013: 5:00 pm - 9:30 pm ETRace - Saturday, April 20, 2013: 7:15 pm - 9:45 pm ET(International) www.alms.com - Saturday, April 20, 2013: 7:15 pm - 9:45 pm ET

Schedule (All times Pacific):

Friday, April 19, 2013:Practice 1: 7:30 am - 9:30 am (All Classes)Qualifying: 5:05 pm - 5:20 pm (GTC)Qualifying: 5:25 pm - 5:40 pm (GT)Qualifying: 5:50 pm - 6:05 pm (PC)Qualifying: 6:10 pm - 6:25 pm (P1/P2)

Saturday, April 20, 2013:Autograph Session: 11:30 am - 12:15 pmALMS Race: 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm (2 hours)


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