SRT Motorsports -SRT Viper ALMS Race Advance - Long Beach  

April 15, 2013 , LONG BEACH, Calif., -  THE VIPER GTS-R IS BACK IN 2013
· SRT Motorsports will field two SRT Viper GTS-Rs in Saturday’s two-hour race at the 1.986-mile Long Beach Street Circuit, the second event on the 2013 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron schedule.
· In addition to a full-time ALMS schedule in 2013 in the GT Class, SRT Motorsports has also accepted an invitation for both cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
· The driver lineup for Long Beach: Kuno Wittmer and Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 93 SRT Viper GTS-R; Marc Goossens and Dominik Farnbacher in the No. 91 SRT Viper GTS-R.

SRT VIPER RACING HERITAGE
· In 1996, the Viper GTS-R made its debut and competed in a limited schedule in the GT1 class of the European and Asian BPR Global GT Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
· Finished 1-2 at 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GTS class for three consecutive years (1998-2000).
· Five international GT championships.
· Three-consecutive FIA GT championships (1997-1999).
· Won the ALMS GTS class, manufacturer’s and driver’s championship in 2000.
· In 2000, became the first production-based American car to capture the overall win at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.
· Retired from ALMS factory-backed competition in 2001.
· Returned to ALMS for four races in 2012.
· Two previous starts on the Long Beach Street Circuit in the GTS Class.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
· Race Broadcast – 4/21/13, 1:00 p.m. (EDT) on ABC
· Live Streaming – 4/20/13, 7:15 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN3
· Live Qualifying – 4/19/13, 8:00 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN3
· Live Timing and Scoring available at ALMS.com.

DID YOU KNOW?
· Production SRT Vipers are built at the Chrysler Group’s Connor Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit.
SRT Motorsports website: www:driveSRT.com/racing

FROM THE TEAM LEADERS
“Long Beach is extra tough because our track time is minimal. We’ve done everything we can to be as prepared as possible when we unload. When we get on the track, we may find that we need to go a different direction with the setup. We’re prepared to go either way on setups. Weather could be a factor. The grip level of the track is going to change a lot during the weekend. We start with a green track on Friday and end up with a rubbered-up surface on Saturday night. All those factors go into the plan.”
--Bill Riley, VP and Chief Engineer – Riley Technologies

“The difference between Long Beach and other street courses is the corner layouts are pretty low speed corners. There aren’t a lot of high speed corners involved. You have a lot of heavy braking, 90-degree corners and heavy acceleration. It’s especially important to make sure that you put down the power coming out of the corners because they’re so low speed.”
-- Matt Bejnarowicz, Lead Engineer – SRT Motorsports

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We’re really looking forward to getting back to the race track. We learned some things from the race at Baltimore last year that will transfer to our Long Beach setup. Qualifying on a street course is very important; it’s more difficult to pass and you have to take bigger chances to gain positions. One of the biggest challenges for Long Beach will be the setup. It’s not as bumpy as Baltimore but still has a lot of similar characteristics. And of course the drivers need to make sure that they keep the car in one piece. There are very few runoff spots and lots of concrete walls.
--Gary Johnson, SRT Motorsports Racing Manager

DRIVER QUOTES:
“Long Beach is very tight, not too wide. It’s very hard to overtake a car there. The strategy needs to be very good. The pit stops need to be very good. The key is to qualify well. It’s important to have a strong car on the straightaways because the easy way to overtake another car is by out accelerating it and then out-braking it going into a corner. Traffic will be another key in the race. There will be a lot of traffic with the prototypes. For them, it will be tricky to get by the GT cars. We need to be very patient. We also need to be very careful overtaking other cars and getting overtaken by the prototypes. We have to drive with one eye to the back and one eye to the front with lots of concentration.”
--Dominik Farnbacher – No. 91 Fast & Furious 6 SRT Viper GTS-R

“I’ve never been to Long Beach. My biggest challenge is to learn the track is the shortest period of time. We’ve been studying videos from previous races, from onboard cameras and stuff like that. I’m working very hard to learn as much about the track as I can before we get there. We have a time on Thursday where drivers get the opportunity to walk around the race track. I’m sure my teammates will be able to help me quite a bit there. It’s now a challenge to go and repeat what we did at Sebring. I keep telling people it’s very had to get to the highest level but to stay there, it’s even harder. What we showed at Sebring is we have two competitive race cars. Now, we have to continue to repeat it race after race. Long Beach is a street circuit and a lot of things can go wrong on a street circuit that doesn’t happen anywhere else. This is a two-hour race compared to 12 hours at Sebring. It’s a sprint race and things happen quickly.”
--Marc Goossens – No. 91 Fast & Furious 6 SRT Viper GTS-R

“When you put a Viper GTS-R powered by Pennzoil and some sticky Michelin tires on the streets of Long Beach, that combination is pretty lethal. The momentum that we’re carrying into Long Beach is good. This street course is difficult compared to many others. It’s bumpy, it’s tight and narrow. Unfortunately, we do not get very much track time. We have is a two-hour practice session Friday morning and then that leads us right into qualifying that same afternoon. It’s pretty straight forward. It’s a tight schedule so we need to get everything dialed in right way.”
--Kuno Wittmer – No. 93 Pennzoil Ultra SRT Viper GTS-R

“The break between Sebring and Long Beach has definitely been good for the team to prep the cars and get them back in tip-top shape again. We’re really optimistic and looking forward to Long Beach. I’ve always been very quick there. I think the key there is working with the engineer, getting the car good over the bumps. It’s a street course and only a two-hour race, so it’s definitely a sprint race with higher consequences. We have a two-hour practice first thing Friday at 7:30 in the morning and on a street course, it’s very green meaning very slippery. It’s really slick, there’s no rubber build-up. So, our first practice session is going to be very difficult to do any tuning on the race car. Then we go to qualifying and then we race.”
--Jonathan Bomarito – No. 93 Pennzoil Ultra SRT Viper GTS-R