Founded | 2006 |
---|---|
Team principal(s) | Scott Tucker |
Current series | United SportsCar Championship Ferrari Challenge |
Teams' Championships | 4 |
Drivers' Championships | 10 |
Level 5 Motorsports was an American auto racing team founded in 2006 with illegally procured funds by racing driver, money lender and later convicted racketeer Scott Tucker, currently serving a sentence of 16 years and 8 months in federal prison. Level 5 Motorsports competed in the United SportsCar Championship and Ferrari Challenge, having won multiple American Le Mans Series championships and endurance races including the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Level 5 Motorsports began with Tucker competing in the Sports Car Club of America and Ferrari Challenge Series. In 2007, while continuing with SCCA and Ferrari Challenge, Tucker entered several events in the Rolex Sports Car Series and Koni Challenge Series with co-driver Ed Zabinski. Tucker also competed in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge.
In 2008, the team made four starts in the Rolex Series including the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
In 2009, Level 5 Motorsports became a regular in the Rolex Sports Car Series. The team finished 9th in class at the 24 Hours of Daytona driving a BMW Powered Daytona Prototype. Christophe Bouchut finished 23rd and Scott Tucker (racing driver) finished 31st in the Drivers Championship. Tucker also had a record-setting season in the Ferrari Challenge, winning 10 races.[ citation needed ] That year, Tucker also earned his first national title, winning the SCCA Touring 1 Class National Championship. [1]
In 2010, Level 5 Motorsports entered the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The team of Scott Tucker, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Lucas Luhr and Richard Westbrook took a third-place overall finish. [2] Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut entered one more Rolex Series race, finishing 11th overall in Miami. [3]
In 2011, the team started the year at the 24 Hours of Daytona where they competed with two BMW powered Riley Daytona Prototype. The #55 car finished 8th and the #95 car finished 11th.
Level 5 Motorsports also competed in the full 2010 season of the American Le Mans Series. Starting with a class win at the 12 hours of Sebring, Level 5 Motorsports won 5 of 9 races. The team won the LMPC Championship [4] and team owner, Scott Tucker, won the Drivers Championship. [5]
For 2011, Level 5 Motorsports only competed in select rounds of the American Le Mans Series season. The team used an HPD powered Lola B08/80 and a Lola B11/40 to gain victories at the Sebring, Long Beach and Road America. The team used two HPD ARX-01gs to gain victories in the final two races of the season at Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca. Having won every race they entered, Level 5 Motorsports won the LMP2 team championship [6] and drivers Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut won the LMP2 Drivers Championship. [7]
The 2012 season saw Level 5 Motorsports campaign two brand new HPD ARX-03b's for the full season. The #055 car, driven by Scott Tucker, João Barbosa, Christophe Bouchut, took first in class at the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. The team went on to win 7 of the next 9 races, losing only at Mosport and Road America to their main rivals, Conquest Endurance. The Level 5 Motorsports crew was able to secure the LMP2 Team Championship. [8] Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut also claimed the LMP2 Drivers championship. [9]
In 2013, Level 5 Motorsports earned nine class wins out of 10 races with its two HPD ARX-03b's. The team was able to secure its fourth consecutive American Le Mans Series team championship and third straight in the P2 class. Scott Tucker won his fourth American Le Mans Series drivers' 'title.
Level 5 Motorsports won the 2014 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT Daytona class with its No. 555 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Scott Tucker, Townsend Bell, Bill Sweedler, Jeff Segal and Alessandro Pier Guidi, despite the car having initially been handed a penalty for late-race avoidable contact. IMSA reversed the call more than four hours after the race, declaring the No. 555 car the winners in GTD. [10] The win marked Ferrari's 10th in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the first since the Italian manufacturer's overall victory in 1998 with a Ferrari 333SP fielded by Doran-Moretti Racing. On February 26, Level 5 announced that it will withdraw from the series. [11]
In 2011, the Level 5 Motorsports team also competed in 5 of the 7 rounds of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team qualified their #33 Microsoft Office 2010-sponsored Lola 11th in class. Drivers Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and João Barbosa completed 319 laps, finishing 3rd in LMP2 in their first attempt at the famed race.
The team also competed in 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team qualified the #33 car 14th in class. Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Luis Díaz completed 240 laps but did not finish the race. This was the team's second appearance at Le Mans.
In 2013, the #33 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b of Scott Tucker, Ryan Briscoe and Marino Franchitti completed 242 laps after battling engine-related issues. The car was not classified in the final results due to not reaching the minimum 70 percent distance requirement.
Krohn Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Houston, Texas. The team competes in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype class, and has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup GTE-Amateur class; the American Le Mans Series GT2 class; and the Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class.
Luis Miguel "Chapulín" Díaz Castell is a Mexican racing driver who competes in the American Le Mans Series for Level 5 Motorsports. He won the 2009 American Le Mans Series LMP2 class drivers championship alongside team owner Adrián Fernández, and was runner-up in the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Sports Car Series DP drivers championship. Díaz also has an extensive open-wheel racing background.
Ryan Dalziel is a Scottish professional racing driver. Dalziel has seen the most success in his career in the United States, racing in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class and the Champ Car World Series, and winning the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona.
The Acura ARX-01, later known as the HPD ARX-01 is a series of Le Mans Prototype built for sports car racing, specifically in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is the first purpose-built race car by the Acura division of Honda Motor Company, part of their multi-year program to eventually compete in endurance race. The car debuted in 2007 in the American Le mans Series before expanding to customers in Europe. Over the years various specifications of the ARX-01 chassis have been developed, each signified by a letter suffix. In 2010 Acura withdrew their name from the program and Honda Performance Development which developed the car for Acura continued the program into 2011.
Marino Alessandro Cesare Franchitti is a British racing driver, and the younger brother of Dario Franchitti. He has spent the majority of his career racing in sports cars and grand tourers, with a career highlight of winning the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring.
João Ricardo da Silva Coelho Barbosa is a Portuguese auto racing driver. He currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Sean Creech Motorsport in the LMP2 class.
Thomas Kimber-Smith is a British race car driver. He is currently driving the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca FLM09 in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship PC class with Robert Alon.
Scott Tucker is an American convicted racketeer, loan shark, fraudster, and money launderer who used his illegal funds to finance – and drive for – his own sports car endurance racing team.
The 2011 American Le Mans Series season was a multi-event motor racing series for sports racing cars which conform to the technical regulations laid out by the International Motor Sports Association for the American Le Mans Series. It was the thirteenth season of the American Le Mans Series, a sports car racing series that drew original inspiration from the types of racing cars that compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the 41st season for the IMSA GT Championship, as this series traces its lineage to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. The full title of the 2011 series is "the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón" to include the principal sponsor. The season began March 19, 2011 with the 12 Hours of Sebring and ended after nine rounds on October 1 with the Petit Le Mans.
Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) was an American auto racing team based out of Riviera Beach, Florida. Founded by Scott Sharp and Patrón CEO Ed Brown, the team competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Tudor United SportsCar Championship, and American Le Mans Series since 2010 until 2018 when the team sold its equipment and race cars and shut down following an exhaustive sponsor search after the withdrawal of Patrón.
Muscle Milk Pickett Racing was a motorsports group from Indianapolis, Indiana. The team was founded in 2007 by CytoSport co-founder and former IMSA GT Championship driver Greg Pickett. Since 2007, Pickett's team has competed in the United SportsCar Championship, the American Le Mans Series, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge. The team officially closed in 2014.
The HPD ARX-03a, ARX-03b, and ARX-03c are Le Mans Prototypes race cars developed by Honda Performance Development in 2012. The 03a model utilizes a Honda V8 engine for use in the LMP1 category, while the 03b uses a turbocharged V6 engine for the LMP2 category. Three teams have already announced their use of the ARX-03 in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series, as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Muscle Milk Pickett Racing have purchased an 03a for use in the American Le Mans Series, joined by two 03bs for Level 5 Motorsports. In the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, Strakka Racing and JRM Racing campaigned a single 03a each, joined by a single-car 03b entry by Starworks Motorsport in LMP2.
The 60th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was a 12-hour automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each fielding sports prototype and grand touring cars held on March 17, 2012 at the Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida before more than 90,000 spectators. It was the 60th 12 Hours of Sebring and the first round of both the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 2012 American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE), and Grand Touring Challenge (GTC) cars competed in the race.
The 2012 Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport was a multi-class sports car and GT motor race held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario, Canada on July 22, 2012. It was the fifth round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series season and the 30th Grand Prix of Mosport. The race was held a two hour and 45 minute time period, during which 117 laps of the 3.9 kilometre circuit were completed for a race distance of 463 kilometres.
The 2012 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge was a multi-class sports car and GT motor race held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Ohio, United States on August 4, 2012. It was the sixth round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series season and the 41st race in the combined history of sportscar races associated with the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. The race was held over a two-hour-and-45-minute time period, during which 123 laps of the 3.6 kilometre circuit were completed for a race distance of 447 kilometres.
The 2012 Baltimore Sports Car Challenge presented by SRT was a multi-class sports car and GT motor race held on the streets of Baltimore in Maryland, United States on September 1, 2012. It was the eighth round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series season and the second race Baltimore Sports Car Challenge, and event co-located with the Grand Prix of Baltimore IndyCar race. The race was held over a two-hour time period, during which 67 laps of the 3.3 kilometre circuit were completed for a race distance of 218 kilometres.
The 2012 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón VIR 240 was a multi-class sports car and GT motor race held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, United States on September 15, 2012. It was the ninth and penultimate round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series season. It was a new event for the American Le Mans Series but had been held the previous ten years for the Rolex Sports Car Series. The race was held over a four-hour time period, during which 135 laps of the 3.3 kilometre "Full Course" circuit were completed for a race distance of 710 kilometres.
Guy Andrew Cosmo is an American racing driver who competes in the United SportsCar Championship. He is a former American Le Mans Series Rookie-of-the-Year winner who claimed four wins and multiple podium finishes in ALMS competition.
The Ligier JS P2 is a racing car designed and built by French manufacturer Onroak Automotive and named in partnership with French former racing driver Guy Ligier. Designed for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) regulations, it is intended as a second option to Onroak's Morgan LMP2 that has been competing since 2012. As well as being the first closed-cockpit car offered by Onroak, it is also the first car they designed entirely in-house. The JS P2 debuted at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, and has been campaigned in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The HPD ARX-04b is an LMP2 race car designed and built by Wirth Research for Honda Performance Development. The car was designed as the successor to the HPD ARX-03 series of Le Mans Prototypes, however the poor performance of the car meant that the older model outlived the ARX-04b, and the 04b only contested one race, the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona.