ALMS

Mosport: Pre-event driver quotes

VOICES OF MOSPORT INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY The only thing American Le Mans Series drivers love more than a fast circuit are two consecutive ones. That's what the field is in for this weekend in Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport at historic ...

Published: Aug 22, 2008, 1:31 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

VOICES OF MOSPORT INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

The only thing American Le Mans Series drivers love more than a fast circuit are two consecutive ones. That's what the field is in for this weekend in Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport at historic Mosport International Raceway. The 2.459-mile, 10-turn circuit rivals Road America - the previous Series stop - as the fastest on the schedule, and the enthusiasm of the Mosport fans makes the Series' only annual Canadian stop one of the highlights of the season.

Lucas Luhr, Audi Sport North America
Audi R10 TDI (LMP1)

"Mosport is one of the most challenging tracks there is because you have a lot of uphill and downhill, blind corners, and also some long straights. Overall the average speed is very high. It's very challenging at Mosport for every sports car driver."

Chris McMurry, Autocon Motorsports
Creation CA06H-Judd (LMP1)

"It's always great to go to a different country for a race, that's number one. The Canadian people are wonderful people. They're happy, they're knowledgeable about racing. And just from a driving standpoint, the track is awesome because it is so fast. It's got some very challenging places - Turn 2 is really challenging, even Turn 1. And as a race car driver, you're interested in going fast and there probably isn't a better track for that."

Clint Field, Intersport Racing
Lola B06/10-AER (LMP1)

"It's a quick, really, really fast track, and the atmosphere at that track is awesome, too. You get really good racing. I think it suits itself to the prototype cars and at the end of the day those cars like to be driven fast so we'll be real excited to go back there."

Patrick Long, Penske Racing
Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)

"I think the fans at Mosport are really passionate about their motorsport. They know what is going on in our Series, and what they can expect is the great, season-long battle that we have in the LMP2 class and the GT2 class and in all the other respective categories. They know what's going on and it's always a treat to go up there because they respect and honor their one chance to get up close and personal with the cars and drivers for the season as it's the only time we visit Canada."

Marino Franchitti, Dyson Racing
Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)

"It's like the world's fastest rollercoaster except you're in control. I just love it. I can't wait to get there; I wish we would go there 12 times a year. It's just tremendous. The fans are fantastic; this year they are going to be starved for their motorsport a little bit. It's going to be fun to be able to entertain them and I think we will put on a good show; I'm sure we'll have a lot of new fans coming along to add to the ones we already have. It's just spectacular to watch and to drive."

Ben Devlin, B-K Motorsports
Lola B07/46-Mazda MZR-R (LMP2)

"The Canadian fans in Mosport definitely have something different about them. Last year we had a great run; we finished fourth in class so that was really nice for us. So we're looking forward. It suits our car and we look forward to going there again."

Dirk Müller, Tafel Racing
Ferrari F430 GT (GT2)

"It's the most challenging track I know. If you are scared, please don't go there! Mosport is all about turn-in speed, but with very quick and blind corners this is not so easy. You need to build up your personal limit from below; otherwise your car is missing some parts. There is not one corner to pick up, but for sure one of the most important ones is the hairpin, followed by a long uphill straight. Here you need to have a very good traction."

Jaime Melo, Risi Competizione
Ferrari F430 GT (GT2)

"Last year was my first time and it's a really difficult track - very fast. And I can tell you it was one of the hardest races for me last year. It's weird because a lot of people come to see the race and that makes the race more interesting. I think this year is going to be even better, hopefully, so we'll try to win this year again."

The Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 24 from Mosport International Raceway just outside of Toronto. The eighth round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series will be aired live on SPEED. XM Satellite Radio will air the race live on XM Channel 166. Live radio coverage also will be available from American Le Mans Radio at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.

-credit: alms

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Mosport: Flying Lizard Motorsports preview

Next article Mosport: Risi's Rick Mayer inside track edition

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Hamlin says Chevy teams 'suck at the teat' of Hendrick on superspeedways

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Talladega II

1 h

Hamlin says Chevy teams 'suck at the teat' of Hendrick on superspeedways

Valtteri Bottas denies he might lose his Cadillac seat for F1 2027

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

1 h

Valtteri Bottas denies he might lose his Cadillac seat for F1 2027

AJ Foyt Racing signs Josh Pierson to multi-year deal beginning with 2027 IndyCar season

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 2 h

AJ Foyt Racing signs Josh Pierson to multi-year deal beginning with 2027 IndyCar season

Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle named co-winners of Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 2 h

Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle named co-winners of Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts