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Le Mans / ALMS
ALMS: Q&A With Level 5’s David Stone
Level 5 Motorsports team manager fills in SPEED.com with details on the team’s decision to put a hold on P2 racing...
Level 5 Motorsports team manager David Stone, center, provides insight into their decision to abandon plans to run in the ALMS P2 class this year. (Photo: John Dagys)
Following Monday’s announcement that Level 5 Motorsports will stand down from the American Le Mans Series’ P2 class for 2013, SPEED.com caught up with team manager David Stone to get further insight into the team’s decision and what could be in the pipeline for the championship-winning squad.
Q: Was there any consideration on Scott’s part to race in another ALMS class, or even move to the WEC, which has stronger P2 competition?
STONE: Since we're so invested in the P2 program with the cars and equipment, we've not seriously looked at competing in any other ALMS classes at this point. And with Scott's 2013 business commitments in China and Russia and the amount of travel needed, it ruled out the possibility of WEC. The other problem with WEC, under the current form of Scott driving, is that there's not enough driving time and opportunities as an ALMS weekend.
Q: Does Scott have any plans to race in 2013?
STONE: Scott is a serious competitor at the highest level. He immensely enjoys racing in ALMS and is very disappointed of how things have shaped up in the 2013 season. If there were two to three fully committed P2 teams, Scott and Level 5 would be front and center to defend his and its championship. As of now, he is assessing what he wants to do. We don't know what's going on [for Pro-Am classes in the future] and don't see anyone committing to ALMS P2 at the moment.
Q: What cars are you able to offer to customers?
STONE: We have two HPD ARX-03bs, one Lola-Honda Spyder and two Lola-Honda Coupes. Dempsey has one of the [Lola] coupes right now, but it's basically our car until they renew [our agreement] for 2013. Since they've gone their separate ways with Mazda, they're not bound by as much certain criteria as they were. We have put out an offer to them as well for a joint venture to run Le Mans. I don't know what they'll decide but that ball is in their court right now.
Q: Is there a drop-dead date for a Level 5 ALMS customer program to go ahead this year?
STONE: In terms of accepting a full-time program for another client, the deadline would be Feb. 28. We will need some time to be ready for Sebring. The upside is that if somebody came along and said the want to run our HPDs, we could flip that switch nearly overnight and be racing because we already have the equipment. I don't see that being a problem.
Q: What is the status of the team’s automatic invite for the 24 Hours of Le Mans?
STONE: We confirmed our entry this evening with the ACO and are planning to race at Le Mans with the HPD. Scott Tucker is the nominated driver for the entry. We will be making further announcements, including the complete driver lineup, at a later date.
Q: Looking ahead to 2014, what do you think needs to be in place for the merger to be successful?
STONE: I had a meeting with Jim France, Ed Bennett, Scott Atherton and Scot Elkins in Daytona a few weeks ago. One of the things I wanted to convey to them what was best for the sport's future. Unlike NASCAR, sports car racing has not created what I call the "American Heroes" of drivers. And what it takes these days to bring cars to the grid is funding, mainly coming from the gentlemen drivers.
I believe the top prototype class, once they get down to it, should be Pro-Am to entice people like Scott Tucker or a lot of the other guys that would have a chance to win overall at the big races because they won't have to be fighting with the all-professional driver lineups.
I think the likelihood is that you'd gain more fresh teams to the grid than you'd possibly lose because you have so few of them that are all-pro anyways. It's not like you're going to lose your "American Heroes" because we don't have them in the first place.
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
Q: Was there any consideration on Scott’s part to race in another ALMS class, or even move to the WEC, which has stronger P2 competition?
STONE: Since we're so invested in the P2 program with the cars and equipment, we've not seriously looked at competing in any other ALMS classes at this point. And with Scott's 2013 business commitments in China and Russia and the amount of travel needed, it ruled out the possibility of WEC. The other problem with WEC, under the current form of Scott driving, is that there's not enough driving time and opportunities as an ALMS weekend.
Q: Does Scott have any plans to race in 2013?
STONE: Scott is a serious competitor at the highest level. He immensely enjoys racing in ALMS and is very disappointed of how things have shaped up in the 2013 season. If there were two to three fully committed P2 teams, Scott and Level 5 would be front and center to defend his and its championship. As of now, he is assessing what he wants to do. We don't know what's going on [for Pro-Am classes in the future] and don't see anyone committing to ALMS P2 at the moment.
Q: What cars are you able to offer to customers?
STONE: We have two HPD ARX-03bs, one Lola-Honda Spyder and two Lola-Honda Coupes. Dempsey has one of the [Lola] coupes right now, but it's basically our car until they renew [our agreement] for 2013. Since they've gone their separate ways with Mazda, they're not bound by as much certain criteria as they were. We have put out an offer to them as well for a joint venture to run Le Mans. I don't know what they'll decide but that ball is in their court right now.
Q: Is there a drop-dead date for a Level 5 ALMS customer program to go ahead this year?
STONE: In terms of accepting a full-time program for another client, the deadline would be Feb. 28. We will need some time to be ready for Sebring. The upside is that if somebody came along and said the want to run our HPDs, we could flip that switch nearly overnight and be racing because we already have the equipment. I don't see that being a problem.
Q: What is the status of the team’s automatic invite for the 24 Hours of Le Mans?
STONE: We confirmed our entry this evening with the ACO and are planning to race at Le Mans with the HPD. Scott Tucker is the nominated driver for the entry. We will be making further announcements, including the complete driver lineup, at a later date.
Q: Looking ahead to 2014, what do you think needs to be in place for the merger to be successful?
STONE: I had a meeting with Jim France, Ed Bennett, Scott Atherton and Scot Elkins in Daytona a few weeks ago. One of the things I wanted to convey to them what was best for the sport's future. Unlike NASCAR, sports car racing has not created what I call the "American Heroes" of drivers. And what it takes these days to bring cars to the grid is funding, mainly coming from the gentlemen drivers.
I believe the top prototype class, once they get down to it, should be Pro-Am to entice people like Scott Tucker or a lot of the other guys that would have a chance to win overall at the big races because they won't have to be fighting with the all-professional driver lineups.
I think the likelihood is that you'd gain more fresh teams to the grid than you'd possibly lose because you have so few of them that are all-pro anyways. It's not like you're going to lose your "American Heroes" because we don't have them in the first place.
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
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