RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (Sept. 28, 2006) — Kumho Tire U.S.A. Inc. is returning to racing in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Sept. 30 following a three-month hiatus after a crash in early July by its partner team B-K Motorsports.
Kumho said B-K Motorsports has worked since the crash at Lime Rock Park (Lime Rock, Conn.) in July to repair its Mazda-powered Courage C-65 prototype in time for this weekend's Petit Le Mans 10-hour endurance race at Road Atlanta near Braselton, Ga. The vehicle will be driven at the Petit Le Mans this weekend by drivers Guy Cosmo, Jamie Bach and Elliott Forbes-Robinson.
In addition, Kumho has taken on a second ALMS team, van der Steur Racing, in the ALMS' LMP2 category. Van der Steur Racing will debut its AER-powered Radical SR9 prototype at the Petit Le Mans, the next-to-last race in the 2006 ALMS season. Team drivers Gunnar van der Steur and Ben Devlin will be joined this weekend by Radical Sportscars' Tim Greaves for the 10-hour event.
“We developed some new tires for Le Mans and had a great result there,” said Rudy Consolacion, motorsports manager for Kumho. “We were looking forward to more development work this summer with B-K, but the Lime Rock shunt delayed our plans a bit. We're glad to have the B-K team—and our tires—back on track.
“Having a second car in the LMP2 field will accelerate our tire development program,” Mr. Consolacion said.