2005 Infineon Grand Prix of Sonoma – Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif., July 15-17
No. 31 Westward Ho Casino/ MMPIE/ PAWS/ Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
Drivers: Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld, Germany),
Patrick Long (Las Vegas, Nev.),
Michael Petersen (Las Vegas)
Owner: Michael Petersen Team Manager: Dale White Crew Chief: Stefan Pfeiffer
marks the mid-point of the 2005 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season- five of ten races. It also marks a stretch of five races in the last nine weeks— including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Test Day that proceeded it— for Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing. In that time, the team has been on the road approximately 48 of a possible 63 days. The 20 days spent in Le Mans is the longest streak of consecutive days in one location- including their own homes- the team has enjoyed. Overall, the crew has stayed at one 13th Century chateau in France, one Connecticut Bed & Breakfast dating to the mid-1800s and two motels dating to approximately the 1960s. Before all is said and done, the team will complete a string of seven races over 14 weeks before they can enjoy any appreciable time at their homes. Even then, three races will remain on the ALMS schedule.
I Heard I Was In Town
Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing is a Las Vegas-based operation. However, members of the team come from all over the United States. Longtime Petersen/ White Lightning crew member Nico Castellaccio lives here in the Bay Area, in Tracy, Calif. and was born in San Francisco. Castellaccio, who considers Infineon his home track, joined the GT2 class points leading team in 2000 and has been a part of the effort longer than any other current member beyond Petersen and White themselves. Others with Bay Area and California ties include Drew Cushman (Columbia, Calif.), driver and California-native, now living in Las Vegas, Patrick Long and owner/ driver Mike Petersen who splits his time between Southern California and Las Vegas. Technician Joey Seely (Seattle, Wash.) spent much of his life in California and while crew chief/ engineer Stefan Pfeiffer now lives in Croatia, the natural born German spent many years racing out of and living in Southern California.
A Pirate Looks at 40
The New England Grand Prix, the most recent round of the season, marked Petersen/ White Lightning’s 40th career start in the ALMS – all in GT/GT2 class. Over that time, the team that carries the “Jolly Roger” skull and cross bones on the rear window of its Porsche, has won two events, earned 14 podiums, 21 top-fives and 38 top-tens! They have qualified in the top-ten 35 times, including two pole positions, and have achieved a phenomenal finish rate of 90% (36 races). In the five ALMS races of 2005 they have one win- the prestigious Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring- two second places and one third. They also finished second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans while attempting to go for an unprecedented third-consecutive victory by an American, privateer entrant in the class.
History
Petersen/ White Lightning has enjoyed the trip west to the Sonoma Valley. In fact, the Infineon facility is one of only two tracks that the team has entered every season since 2000, the other being Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans. In that time the Michael Petersen-owned effort has earned top-ten finishes in each start including a fifth in 2003. In 2004, the team finished 10th after an incident while racing for second-place cost them several laps in the pits. They soldiered on from a third-place start to continue the streak of race finishes.
