Laguna Seca: Robertson Racing preview

Laguna Seca lies in wait for Robertson Racing 19/05/2010 - Following a five week break, the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron returns to action at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend (May 20-22) where Robertson Racing will be ...

Laguna Seca lies in wait for Robertson Racing

19/05/2010 - Following a five week break, the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron returns to action at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend (May 20-22) where Robertson Racing will be targeting another top ten finish.

The demanding 11-turn, 2.238-mile venue located on the Monterey Peninsula, California, is a favourite amongst drivers and fans alike thanks, in part, to the plunging Corkscrew chicane. Traditionally the Series' end of season finale, 2010 sees the race moved forward from October to May and increased in distance from four to six hours, making it the third longest event on the calendar behind Sebring (12) and Petit Le Mans (10).

Robertson Racing meanwhile are hoping their string of top ten finishes continues at the championship's third round. The Atlanta-based team has competed twice before at Laguna Seca, scoring 11th place finishes on both occasions in the face of stiff factory GT opposition from the likes of Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche and BMW.

As at Long Beach last time out, their Ford GT will be driven by Team Owner David Robertson and David Murry, as well as Andrea Robertson, who was part of the squad's driving trio at the season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring.

David Robertson, Team Owner: "The sizable gap between races thanks to not visiting St Petersburg has allowed us to work on the car and test improvements that will be more visible in July. Indeed, I believe that we'll be much stronger in the second half of the season. As for this weekend, I'm really looking forward to racing again, especially as we don't usually visit Laguna Seca in the springtime. The Monterey coastline is so beautiful! I applaud the decision to lengthen the race to 6 hours. We love it and the fans will love it too!"

Andrew "H" Smith, Team Manager: "Our aim is to just keep on nibbling away at the other teams out there. We recently joined the Dunlop tyre test out at Miller Motorsports Park where we did some running which led to the sort of set-up changes that have helped improve the car's handling. Those two days of testing should be of benefit to us at Laguna because it's a difficult circuit to extract grip from. On a slightly different note, the California race sees us racing into dusk which is the sort of setting that has become synonymous with endurance racing."