LONE STAR GRAND PRIX - AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES - ROUND 2
Sebring 12 Hour P2 class winner and overall podium finisher, Liz Halliday takes a step into the unknown this weekend as she competes in her first ever street circuit event at the downtown Reliant Park circuit in Houston, Texas for round two of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).
Californian Liz, who alongside her race car driving is also an international equestrian in Three Day Eventing, was a three-time winner in last year’s ALMS and continued that form into 2006 with her most important victory to date earlier this year in Sebring. Not only did she and her Intersport Racing team mates, Clint and Jon Field, win their class, but they also finished second overall – right behind the awesome new Audi R10 and in front of arch P2 class rivals, the mighty factory Porsche team.
Despite the long break since that race, the win for Liz has yet to sink in: “I won’t pretend that we didn’t have some serious celebrations right afterwards, but once they were out of the way it was straight back to business and time to focus completely on the next race. If we can repeat that success here in Houston it would be fantastic and I am confident that the team will give Clint and I a great race car for the job."
The awesome street circuit layout has been created especially for this weekend’s Grand Prix of Houston event and will be re-opened to the public in time for their Monday morning commute!
“Street circuits by their very nature are not forgiving,” said Liz, “and I don’t have much experience of them, so my plan is to use the practice sessions to get myself confident and settled in, making sure we get as many laps as possible to arrive on race day fully prepared.”
Uniquely, the Grand Prix of Houston will feature TWO main events – the 2h45min American Le Mans Series race on Friday night and the Champ Car World Series race on Saturday night. This incredible double-bill is sure to excite the fans and, according to Liz, the competitors too:
“I’m really excited to be racing alongside Champ Car – it’s a world-class series and highly complimentary to the ALMS. My only concern is how their rubber on the circuit may affect our cars throughout the weekend, but everyone’s in the same boat so we’ll just deal with it as best we can.”
Programme of events:
Thursday, 11th May 200611:10 am - 12:00 pm: Practice5:20 pm - 6:10 pm: Practice6:50 pm - 7:10 pm: Qualifying - “LM” P1 and “LM” P2
Friday, 12th May 20061:45 pm - 2:15 pm: Warm Up - All Classes8:00 pm - 10:45 pm: Lone Star Grand Prix for the ALMS - Round 2 - 2 hours 45 minutes
TV coverage:
In the US, CBS Sports on May 13th, 1pm EDTIn Europe, Motors TV
