Corvette Racing’s entry had the low score of 20.391 among the GT cars Each had the best score in class for overall performance, fuel efficiency (petroleum displaced) and environmental impact. (Photo: ALMS)
A world debut only happens once. And the following names will go down in history as the inaugural winners of the Green Challenge, part of the American Le Mans Series’ signature endurance race - Petit Le Mans - at Road Atlanta Saturday:
· Porsche … and its Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyder team of Pat Long, Sascha Maassen and Emmanuel Collard
· GM/Chevrolet … and its Corvette Racing team of Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows.
They earned the first Green Challenge trophies in their respective classes - Porsche for prototypes and Corvette among GT entries. Each had the best score in class for overall performance, fuel efficiency (petroleum displaced) and environmental impact (greenhouse gas emissions) in the 1,000-mile race around the 2.54-mile road course. Corvette Racing’s entry had the low score of 20.391 among the GT cars, while Penske’s No. 6 car had the lowest prototype score at 30,690.
The award was created in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy and SAE International, the world’s leading automotive engineering organization. On hand to present each trophy were Margo T. Oge, the EPA’s Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality; Pat Davis, DOE’s leading official for vehicle technologies and renewable energy and efficiencies; and Dave Schutt, SAE International’s COO and Executive Vice President.
The American Le Mans Series is the only major race series in the world in which all cars race on not one, not two, but three alternative “street legal” fuels: clean sulfur-free diesel, E10 and cellulosic E85. “Street legal” refers to fuels that are virtually the same as the consumer purchases at the fuel station. An electric hybrid prototype is scheduled to make its debut shortly, perhaps at the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., on October 18.
