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Le Mans / ALMS
LE MANS: Excitement Building For Viper’s LM24 Return
SRT Motorsports looking to continue Viper legacy at 24 Hours of Le Mans...
SRT Motorsports will field a pair of factory Viper GTS-Rs in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Photo: John Dagys)
After more than a decade away from the legendary endurance race, one of most successful brands in GT racing will be returning to the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year.
SRT Motorsports made it official Friday, confirming a two-car factory Viper GTS-R entry for the GTE-Pro category, which will see the American manufacturer take on the world’s toughest competition in the twice-around-the-clock French classic.
Chrysler holds the feat of being one of the few manufacturers to have achieved three consecutive victories at Le Mans, having finished 1-2 in class from 1998-2000 with its ORECA-run factory entries.
“In a way, it’s kind of coming full circle,” said Ralph Gilles, President and CEO of SRT Brand and Motorsports. “I joined the company in ’96 and only a few years later, we went to Le Mans.
“I remember the buzz inside Chrysler at the time. Everyone was so excited to have this company, which was going through a great rebirth at the time, go to France and take on the world. Now, it’s a similar feeling – a lot of pride and a lot of excitement.”
Fast forward 13 years and the new-generation Viper GTS-Rs, built and run in cooperation by Riley Technologies, will take to the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe this June, aiming to emulate the success of its predecessor.
The Vipers made their debut at the Mid-Ohio round of the American Le Mans Series last year and will embark on a full-season program in 2013 with drivers Marc Goossens, Dominik Farnbacher, Kuno Wittmer, Jonathan Bomarito and four-time Trans-Am champion Tommy Kendall, who is set to make his second Le Mans start.
“For me, there aren’t really a lot of things left on my unfinished business list in the road race world,” said Kendall, who returned to professional racing last year. “Le Mans is one of them and I can’t say honestly that I would have gotten off the couch if this wasn’t a possibility.
“[The Viper] set a pretty high benchmark those years when they finished 1-2 three years in a row. Everyone has their head down; we’ve had a lot of ground to cover the last year but we got some encouragement at the end of last year with the pace of the car.
“We’ve been flat-out since then. Now this is a burst of energy and enthusiasm that will be unleashed because of this.”
Fresh off an encouraging pre-season test at Sebring last month, the team has high hopes rolling into the first ALMS rounds of the season, which will undoubtedly serve as a comparable test of what’s to come when the V10 beasts return to Le Mans in a few months' time.
“It’s hugely important,” Gilles said of achieving a top result at Sebring. “Last year at Petit Le Mans, we stretched the team a little bit. We saw little mistakes, little things where the coordination was off.
“The pit (work) can win or lose these kind of races. So it’s between the Riley group, ourselves and our engineers getting everyone calmed down and enjoying it. But you’ve got to start with a good, solid car and I think we have that in the GTS-R.”
It’s unclear how the Vipers will fare at Le Mans, especially when stacked up against the toughest GT competition in the world with factory entries from Corvette, Aston Martin Porsche and a pair of works-supported Ferraris.
But Gilles remains bullish about their chances, not only for Le Mans, but for the squad’s first full ALMS season.
“I’m not going to be so arrogant to sit here and say, ‘Yeah, we’re going to win races.’ We don’t get up in the morning to lose ‘em either,” Gilles said. “We’ve got the drivers, no doubt. We have the speed in terms of talent and the car has shown great moments where we were very close.
“But anything can happen. We don’t know where the teams are at until the first race. We don’t know what they’ve done themselves over the winter. On the other hand we think our Viper is the right format. It has a lot of attributes that make it an ideal GT car.”
SRT is expected to name its sixth and final driver, earmarked for the endurance races, in the coming weeks. It’s believed that 2012 IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, who drove the No. 91 Viper at Petit Le Mans last year, is not in the running due to an IndyCar conflict on the same weekend as Le Mans.
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
SRT Motorsports made it official Friday, confirming a two-car factory Viper GTS-R entry for the GTE-Pro category, which will see the American manufacturer take on the world’s toughest competition in the twice-around-the-clock French classic.
Chrysler holds the feat of being one of the few manufacturers to have achieved three consecutive victories at Le Mans, having finished 1-2 in class from 1998-2000 with its ORECA-run factory entries.
“In a way, it’s kind of coming full circle,” said Ralph Gilles, President and CEO of SRT Brand and Motorsports. “I joined the company in ’96 and only a few years later, we went to Le Mans.
“I remember the buzz inside Chrysler at the time. Everyone was so excited to have this company, which was going through a great rebirth at the time, go to France and take on the world. Now, it’s a similar feeling – a lot of pride and a lot of excitement.”
Fast forward 13 years and the new-generation Viper GTS-Rs, built and run in cooperation by Riley Technologies, will take to the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe this June, aiming to emulate the success of its predecessor.
The Vipers made their debut at the Mid-Ohio round of the American Le Mans Series last year and will embark on a full-season program in 2013 with drivers Marc Goossens, Dominik Farnbacher, Kuno Wittmer, Jonathan Bomarito and four-time Trans-Am champion Tommy Kendall, who is set to make his second Le Mans start.
“For me, there aren’t really a lot of things left on my unfinished business list in the road race world,” said Kendall, who returned to professional racing last year. “Le Mans is one of them and I can’t say honestly that I would have gotten off the couch if this wasn’t a possibility.
“[The Viper] set a pretty high benchmark those years when they finished 1-2 three years in a row. Everyone has their head down; we’ve had a lot of ground to cover the last year but we got some encouragement at the end of last year with the pace of the car.
“We’ve been flat-out since then. Now this is a burst of energy and enthusiasm that will be unleashed because of this.”
Fresh off an encouraging pre-season test at Sebring last month, the team has high hopes rolling into the first ALMS rounds of the season, which will undoubtedly serve as a comparable test of what’s to come when the V10 beasts return to Le Mans in a few months' time.
“It’s hugely important,” Gilles said of achieving a top result at Sebring. “Last year at Petit Le Mans, we stretched the team a little bit. We saw little mistakes, little things where the coordination was off.
“The pit (work) can win or lose these kind of races. So it’s between the Riley group, ourselves and our engineers getting everyone calmed down and enjoying it. But you’ve got to start with a good, solid car and I think we have that in the GTS-R.”
It’s unclear how the Vipers will fare at Le Mans, especially when stacked up against the toughest GT competition in the world with factory entries from Corvette, Aston Martin Porsche and a pair of works-supported Ferraris.
But Gilles remains bullish about their chances, not only for Le Mans, but for the squad’s first full ALMS season.
“I’m not going to be so arrogant to sit here and say, ‘Yeah, we’re going to win races.’ We don’t get up in the morning to lose ‘em either,” Gilles said. “We’ve got the drivers, no doubt. We have the speed in terms of talent and the car has shown great moments where we were very close.
“But anything can happen. We don’t know where the teams are at until the first race. We don’t know what they’ve done themselves over the winter. On the other hand we think our Viper is the right format. It has a lot of attributes that make it an ideal GT car.”
SRT is expected to name its sixth and final driver, earmarked for the endurance races, in the coming weeks. It’s believed that 2012 IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, who drove the No. 91 Viper at Petit Le Mans last year, is not in the running due to an IndyCar conflict on the same weekend as Le Mans.
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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