2006 American Le Mans Series Explained

The 2006 American Le Mans Series season was the 36th season for the IMSA GT Championship, with the eighth as the American Le Mans Series. It was a series for Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and Grand Touring (GT) race cars divided into 4 classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2. It began March 18, 2006, and ended October 21, 2006 after 10 races.

Pre-season

Among the biggest announcements prior to the start of the 2006 season was that Audi would continue their involvement in the ALMS with their new R10 TDI diesel engined LMP1 with the car making its international racing debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring in preparation for Le Mans. Audi followed up this announcement with plans for a single Audi R8 to go on a farewell tour for the first few races after Sebring, and then be replaced by two new R10 TDI after Le Mans for the rest of the ALMS season.

Fellow LMP1 competitors Dyson Racing also announced an upgrade from their troublesome Lola EX257s to brand new B06/10s with the new AER Turbo V8 engine unit. As part of their purchase, Dyson in turn sold off their EX257s. Occasional ALMS entrant Autocon Motorsports bought one chassis, while former Intersport partner Highcroft Racing bought the other, leading to an enlarged LMP1 field for 2006.

In LMP2 the teams of Miracle Motorsports, B-K Motorsports, Intersport Racing, and Penske Racing all planned to make a return to the series. Penske's initial one-car effort towards the end of 2005 was expanded to two cars for 2006, while the four other teams kept their efforts the same.

In GT1, the field appeared to be shrinking. Corvette Racing's commitment was certain, but Aston Martin Racing, now running Pirelli tyres instead of Michelin, was only able to promise Sebring in the beginning, later stating they'd also run Houston and Mid-Ohio in preparation for Le Mans. Their involvement for the rest of the season was left as merely a rumor. ACEMCO Motorsports's future in ALMS was also uncertain, with the team scrounging for cash to be able to continue racing. Former GT1 team Carsport America finally folded following the 2005 season, with their Dodge Viper GTS-R greatly outdated. The involvement of Maserati in the series was also pulled due to the cancelling of the project by the corporate heads since it never reached its initial plans, and the continued restrictions put in place by IMSA.

The GT2 class was also more of the same, with returning favorites Flying Lizard Motorsports, J3 Racing, Petersen/White Lightning, Panoz Motorsports, and Alex Job, although Alex Job's effort was now brought down to a single entry due to his expanded involvement in Grand-Am. Risi Competizione, who had run the Maserati in 2005, promised to return to GT2 with Ferrari's upcoming replacement to the Ferrari 360, the new F430.

The ALMS also created a new class of competitors, known as GT2S, designed to allow racing cars based on production vehicles which had seats for four in a coupe or sedan body style. Cars of this type were now allowed by ACO rules, but IMSA agreed that these cars would not be eligible for Le Mans entry even if they won Petit Le Mans or the season championship. These cars however would be competitively equal to the GT2 class and would compete accordingly with them. The long time BMW factory supported effort of Team PTG announced their return of the BMW M3 to the series, while Lexus announced their intentions to bring a new purpose built racing car built off of the IS. Rumors also speculated that Cadillac could bring their CTS-V SpeedGT program to the series. However, come the beginning of the season, neither Lexus nor Cadillac showed, leaving the BMW M3 as the only true GT2S competitor. The GT2S notion was shelved midseason.

From the standpoint of the 2006 schedule, two major changes were made. First, to replace the earlier round at Road Atlanta held soon after Sebring, a new temporary street circuit near Houston's Reliant Park was announced in cooperation with Champ Car. The round at Infineon Raceway was replaced with Miller Motorsports Park, a new racing facility near Salt Lake City.

Schedule

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Date
1	Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring	Sebring International Raceway	March 18
2	Lone Star Grand Prix	Reliant Park	May 12
3	American Le Mans at Mid-Ohio	Mid-Ohio	May 21
4	New England Grand Prix	Lime Rock Park	July 1
5	Utah Grand Prix	Miller Motorsports Park	July 15
6	Portland Grand Prix	Portland International Raceway	July 22
7	Generac 500 at Road America	Road America	August 20
8	Grand Prix of Mosport	Mosport	September 3
9	Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda CX-7	Road Atlanta	September 30
10	Monterey Sports Car Championships	Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	October 21
Sources:^[1] ^[2]

All races are 2 Hours and 45 Minutes except for Sebring (12 Hours), Petit Le Mans (10 Hours or 1000 Miles), and Laguna Seca (4 Hours).^[1]

Season results

Overall winner in bold.

Rnd	Circuit	LMP1 Winning Team	LMP2 Winning Team	GT1 Winning Team	GT2 Winning Team	Results
Rnd	Circuit	LMP1 Winning Drivers	LMP2 Winning Drivers	GT1 Winning Drivers	GT2 Winning Drivers	Results
1	Sebring	#2 Audi Sport North America	#37 Intersport Racing	#4 Corvette Racing	#50 Multimatic Motorsports	Results
1	Sebring	Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	Clint Field Liz Halliday Jon Field	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Jan Magnussen	Scott Maxwell David Brabham Sébastien Bourdais	Results
2	Reliant Park	#2 Audi Sport North America	#37 Intersport Racing	#4 Corvette Racing	#23 Alex Job Racing	Results
2	Reliant Park	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Clint Field Liz Halliday	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	Mike Rockenfeller Klaus Graf	Results
3	Mid-Ohio	#2 Audi Sport North America	#7 Penske Racing	#4 Corvette Racing	#45 Flying Lizard Motorsports	Results
3	Mid-Ohio	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	Johannes van Overbeek Wolf Henzler	Results
4	Lime Rock	#2 Audi Sport North America	#7 Penske Racing	#009 Aston Martin Racing	#31 Petersen/White Lightning	Results
4	Lime Rock	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas	Stéphane Sarrazin Pedro Lamy	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long	Results
5	Miller	#1 Audi Sport North America	#6 Penske Racing	#007 Aston Martin Racing	#62 Risi Competizione	Results
5	Miller	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Sascha Maassen Lucas Luhr	Darren Turner Tomáš Enge	Jaime Melo Mika Salo	Results
6	Portland	#2 Audi Sport North America	#37 Intersport Racing	#4 Corvette Racing	#62 Risi Competizione	Results
6	Portland	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Clint Field Liz Halliday	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	Jaime Melo Mika Salo	Results
7	Road America	#1 Audi Sport North America	#6 Penske Racing	#3 Corvette Racing	#31 Petersen/White Lightning	Results
7	Road America	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Sascha Maassen Timo Bernhard	Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Michael Petersen	Results
8	Mosport	#2 Audi Sport North America	#7 Penske Racing	#009 Aston Martin Racing	#62 Risi Competizione	Results
8	Mosport	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Lucas Luhr Romain Dumas	Stéphane Sarrazin Pedro Lamy	Stephane Ortelli Johnny Mowlem	Results
9	Road Atlanta	#2 Audi Sport North America	#6 Penske Racing	#007 Aston Martin Racing	#31 Petersen/White Lightning	Results
9	Road Atlanta	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Sascha Maassen Timo Bernhard Emmanuel Collard	Tomáš Enge Darren Turner	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Niclas Jönsson	Results
10	Laguna Seca	#2 Audi Sport North America	#7 Penske Racing	#009 Aston Martin Racing	#62 Risi Competizione	Results
10	Laguna Seca	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Lucas Luhr Romain Dumas	Stéphane Sarrazin Pedro Lamy	Mika Salo Stephane Ortelli	Results
Source:^[3]

Teams championship

Points are awarded to the top 10 finishers in the following order:^[4]

20-16-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1

Exceptions were for the 4 Hour Monterey Sports Car Championships was scored in the following order:

23-19-16-13-11-9-7-6-5-4

And for the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans which award the top 10 finishers in the following order:

26-22-19-16-14-12-10-9-8-7

Cars failing to complete 70% of the winner's distance are not awarded points. Teams only score the points of their highest finishing entry in each race.

LMP1 standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total
1	Audi Sport North America	Audi R8 Audi R10 TDI	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8 Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	26	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	26	23	215
2	Dyson Racing Team	Lola B06/10	AER P32T 3.6L Turbo V8	22	16	16		16	13	13	16		13	125
3	Autocon Motorsports	MG-Lola EX257	AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4			13	16	6	6	6			9	56
4	Highcroft Racing	MG-Lola EX257	AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4					8	8	10		19		45
5	Zytek Engineering	Zytek 06S	Zytek 2ZG408 4.0L V8									22	11	33
6	Creation Autosportif	Creation CA06/H	Judd GV5 5.0L V10									16	16	32

LMP2 standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total
1	Penske Racing	Porsche RS Spyder	Porsche MR6 3.4L V8	22	13	20	20	20	16	20	20	26	23	200
2	Intersport Racing	Lola B05/40	AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4	26	20	13	13	16	20	13	13	16	16	166
3	B-K Motorsport	Courage C65	Mazda R20B 2.0L 3-Rotor	14	16	10						14	13	67
4	Horag Lista Racing	Lola B05/40	Judd XV675 3.4L V8									19		19
5=	Binnie Motorsports	Lola B05/42	Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8	18										18
5=	Van der Steur Racing	Lola B2K/40 Radical SR9	AER P14 3.0L V6 AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4		10	8								18
7	Barazi-Epsilon	Courage C65	AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4	16										16
8	Team Bruichladdich Radical	Radical SR9	AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4										11	11

GT1 standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total
1	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	26	20	20	16	13	20	20	16	19	19	189
2	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	22	13	13	20	20	16	13	20	26	23	186
3	Konrad Motorsport	Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0L V8	14										14

GT2 standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total
1	Risi Competizione	Ferrari F430 GT2	Ferrari 4.0L V8	19	13	6	8	20	20	10	20	22	23	161
2	Petersen/White Lightning	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6	10	10	4	20	16	16	20	6	26	19	147
3	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6	22	16	20	16	13	10	8	13	14	13	145
4	Multimatic Motorsports	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Ford (Élan) 5.0L V8	26	6	16	6	8	6	3	10	19	11	111
5	Alex Job Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	12	20		2	10	4	13	3	9	16	89
4	BMW Team PTG	BMW M3	BMW 3.4L I6			10	13	6	13	16	8	12	6	84
7	Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Ford (Élan) 5.0L V8	14										14
8	Spyker Squadron	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R	Audi 3.8L V8	9										9
9	J-3 Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	8										8

Drivers championship

Points are awarded to the top 10 finishers in the following order:^[4]

20-16-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1

Exceptions were for the 4 Hour Monterey Sports Car Championships was scored in the following order:

23-19-16-13-11-9-7-6-5-4

And for the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Petit Le Mans, which award the top 10 finishers in the following order:

26-22-19-16-14-12-10-9-8-7

Cars failing to complete 70% of the winner's distance are not awarded points. Drivers failing to drive for at least 45 minutes in the race are not awarded points.

LMP1 standings

Pos	Driver	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Total
1=	Rinaldo Capello	Audi Sport North America	26	20	20	20	13	20	16	20	26	23	204
1=	Allan McNish	Audi Sport North America	26	20	20	20	13	20	16	20	26	23	204
3=	James Weaver	Dyson Racing	22	16	16		16	10	13	13		13	119
3=	Butch Leitzinger	Dyson Racing	22	16	16		16	10	13	13			106
5=	Frank Biela	Audi Sport North America					20	16	20	10	14	19	99
5=	Emanuele Pirro	Audi Sport North America					20	16	20	10	14	19	99
7=	Chris Dyson	Dyson Racing		13			10	13	8	16		13	73
7=	Guy Smith	Dyson Racing		13			10	13	8	16			60
9	Mike Lewis	Autocon Motorsports			13	16	6		6			9	50
10	Andy Wallace	Dyson Racing Highcroft Racing	22				8	8	10				48
11	Duncan Dayton	Highcroft Racing					8	8	10		19		45
12	Chris McMurry	Autocon Motorsports			13	16		6	6				41
13=	Stefan Johansson	Zytek Engineering									22	11	33
13=	Johnny Mowlem	Zytek Engineering									22	11	33
15=	Nicolas Minassian	Creation Autosportif									16	16	32
15=	Harold Primat	Creation Autosportif									16	16	32
17	Tom Kristensen	Audi Sport North America	26										26
18	Haruki Kurosawa	Zytek Engineering									22		22
19	Bryan Willman	Autocon Motorsports					6	6				9	21
20=	Vítor Meira	Highcroft Racing									19		19
20=	Memo Gidley	Highcroft Racing									19		19
22	Jamie Campbell-Walter	Creation Autosportif									16		16
23	Marco Werner	Audi Sport North America									14		14
24	Rob Dyson	Dyson Racing								13			13
25	John Graham	Autocon Motorsports										9	9

LMP2 standings

Pos	Driver	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Total
1=	Sascha Maassen	Penske Racing	22	13	16	16	20	16	20	16	26	19	184
1=	Lucas Luhr	Penske Racing	22	13	16	16	20	16	16	20	22	23	184
3=	Clint Field	Intersport Racing	26	20	13	13	16	20	13	13	16	16	166
3=	Liz Halliday	Intersport Racing	26	20	13	13	16	20	13	13	16	16	166
5	Timo Bernhard	Penske Racing		8	20	20	13	13	20	16	26	19	155
6	Romain Dumas	Penske Racing		8	20	20	13	13	16	20	22	23	155
7	Jon Field	Intersport Racing	26						13	13	16	16	84
8=	Guy Cosmo	B-K Motorsport	14	16	10						14	13	67
8=	Jamie Bach	B-K Motorsports	14	16	10						14	13	67
10	Emmanuel Collard	Penske Racing	22								26		48
11	Michael Vergers	Barazi-Epsilon Team Bruichladdich Radical	16									11	27
12	Mike Rockenfeller	Penske Racing									22		22
13=	William Binnie	Binnie Motorsports	19										19
13=	Allen Timpany	Binnie Motorsports	19										19
13=	Rick Sutherland	Binnie Motorsports	19										19
13=	Fredy Lienhard	Horag-Lista Racing									19		19
13=	Didier Theys	Horag-Lista Racing									19		19
13=	Eric van de Poele	Horag-Lista Racing									19		19
19=	Gunnar van der Steur	Van der Steur Racing		10	8								18
19=	Ben Devlin	Van der Steur Racing		10	8								18
21=	Juan Barazi	Barazi-Epsilon	16										16
21=	Elton Julian	Barazi-Epsilon	16										16
23=	Elliott Forbes-Robinson	B-K Motorsport									14		14
23=	Raphael Matos	B-K Motorsport	14										14
25=	Stuart Moseley	Team Bruichladdich Radical										11	11

GT1 standings

Pos	Driver	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Total
1=	Oliver Gavin	Corvette Racing	26	20	20	10	10	20	16	16	19	19	176
1=	Olivier Beretta	Corvette Racing	26	20	20	10	10	20	16	16	19	19	176
3	Stéphane Sarrazin	Aston Martin Racing	22	10	10	20	16	10	10	20	22	23	163
4	Tomáš Enge	Aston Martin Racing	19	13	13	13	20	16	13	13	26	13	159
5=	Ron Fellows	Corvette Racing	16	16	16	16	13	13	20	10	16	16	152
5=	Johnny O'Connell	Corvette Racing	16	16	16	16	13	13	20	10	16	16	152
7	Pedro Lamy	Aston Martin Racing	22	10	10	20		10	10	20	22	23	147
8	Darren Turner	Aston Martin Racing	19	13	13	13	20	16	13		26	13	146
9	Jan Magnussen	Corvette Racing	26								16		42
10	Max Papis	Corvette Racing	16								19		35
11	Jason Bright	Aston Martin Racing	22										22
12	Nicolas Kiesa	Aston Martin Racing	19										19
13	Andrea Piccini	Aston Martin Racing					16						16
14=	Terry Borcheller	Konrad Motorsport	14										14
14=	Tom Weickardt	Konrad Motorsport	14										14
14=	Jean-Philippe Belloc	Konrad Motorsport	14										14
17	Peter Kox	Aston Martin Racing								13			13

GT2 standings

Pos	Driver	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Total
1	Jörg Bergmeister	Petersen/White Lightning	10	10	4	20	16	16	20	6	26	19	147
2	Johannes van Overbeek	Flying Lizard Motorsports	22	16	20	16	13	10	8	13	14	9	141
3	Patrick Long	Petersen/White Lightning		10	4	20	16	16	20	6	26	19	137
4	Wolf Henzler	J-3 Racing Flying Lizard Motorsports	8	16	20	16	13	10	8		14	9	114
5=	Scott Maxwell	Multimatic Motorsports	26	6	16	6	8	2	3		19		86
5=	David Brabham	Multimatic Motorsports	26	6	16	6	8	2	3		19		86
7=	Bill Auberlen	BMW Team PTG			10	13	6	13	6	8	12	6	84
7=	Joey Hand	BMW Team PTG			10	13	6	13	6	8	12	6	84
9	Mika Salo	Risi Competizione		13	6		20	20				23	82
10	Mike Rockenfeller	Alex Job Racing	12	20		2	10	4	3	3		16	80
11=	Jaime Melo	Risi Competizione	19	13	6		20	20					78
11=	Seth Neiman	Flying Lizard Motorsports	16	8	13	3	3	8		4	10	13	78
13	Darren Law	Flying Lizard Motorsports	16		13		3	8			10	13	63
14=	Gunnar Jeannette	Multimatic Motorsports				4	4	6	2	10	16	11	53
14=	Tommy Milner	Multimatic Motorsports				4	4	6	2	10	16	11	53
16	Marc Lieb	Flying Lizard Motorsports	22							13	14		49
17	Stéphane Ortelli	Risi Competizione							4	20		23	47
18=	Sébastien Bourdais	Multimatic Motorsports	26								19		45
18=	Maurizio Mediani	Risi Competizione								16	22	7	45
20	Klaus Graf	Alex Job Racing	12	20		2	10						44
21=	Lonnie Pechnik	Flying Lizard Motorsports	16	8		3				4	10		41
21=	Anthony Lazzaro	Risi Competizione	19								22		41
21=	Marcel Tiemann	Alex Job Racing							13	3	9	16	41
24=	Justin Marks	BMW Team PTG			8	10	2	3	6		8		37
24=	Bryan Sellers	BMW Team PTG			8	10	2	3	6		8		37
26	Niclas Jönsson	Petersen/White Lightning	10								26		36
27	Toni Vilander	Risi Competizione							10	16			26
28=	Marino Franchitti	Risi Competizione									22		22
28=	Jon Fogarty	Flying Lizard Motorsports	22										22
30	Johnny Mowlem	Risi Competizione								20			20
31	Ralf Kelleners	Risi Competizione	19										19
32	Marc Gené	Risi Competizione				8			10				18
33=	Tim Bergmeister	Petersen/White Lightning	10							6			16
33=	Andy Lally	Maxwell Motorsports									16		16
35=	Lawrence Tomlinson	Team LNT	14										14
35=	Richard Dean	Team LNT	14										14
35=	Tom Kimber-Smith	Team LNT	14										14
38	Robin Liddell	Alex Job Racing						4			9		13
39=	Graham Rahal	Alex Job Racing	12										12
39=	Mario Domínguez	Risi Competizione				8			4				12
39=	Boris Said	BMW Team PTG									12		12
42=	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Spyker Squadron	9										9
42=	Mike Hezemans	Spyker Squadron	9										9
42=	Dominik Farnbacher	Farnbacher Loles Racing Alex Job Racing									9		9
45=	Tim Sugden	J-3 Racing	8										8
45=	Jim Matthews	J-3 Racing	8										8
45=	Ian James	BMW Team PTG									8		8
48=	Spencer Pumpelly	J-3 Racing	7										7
48=	Jep Thorton	J-3 Racing	7										7
48=	Mark Patterson	J-3 Racing	7										7
48=	Andrea Bertolini	Risi Competizione										7	7

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Kjos. Tom. IMSA Announces 2006 ALMS Schedule – Sonoma Off, Houston and Salt Lake City On Lime Rock 'Returns'. DailySportsCar. September 30, 2005. January 21, 2024.
Web site: American LeMans Series - 2006: Racing Calendar. Speedsport Magazine. January 21, 2024.
Web site: American LeMans Series - Season 2006: Results. Speedsport Magazine. January 21, 2024.
Web site: American LeMans Series - 2006: Point standings. Speedsport Magazine. January 21, 2024.