Grand Prix of Mosport Fact Sheet

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GRAND PRIX OF MOSPORT NEWS & NOTES

The 2006 Mobil 1 presents Labour Day Weekend Grand Prix of Mosport marks the eighth consecutive visit to historic Mosport International Raceway. The circuit is one of four race tracks to have played host to American Le Mans Series events during each year of its existence since 1999 (Sebring, Road Atlanta and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are the others).

Mosport is the home of Canadian road-racing ace Ron Fellows, a three-time GT1 class Series champion and winner of the most recent round at Road America (with Corvette Racing teammate Johnny O'Connell). Fellows' popularity, and the continuing growth of the Series, led to the largest crowd in track history, dating back to the track's Formula 1 days in the 1970s.

Fellows is tied with Sascha Maassen and teammate O'Connell for second place for most Series career victories (23) behind Corvette stablemate Olivier Beretta (28) and is also one of only four drivers in American Le Mans Series history to have won at least one race in seven of the eight seasons of the Series. He has won three times at Mosport (2003, 2002, 2001).

· Seventeen previous Mosport American Le Mans Series winners with a total of 34 Mosport Series victories are entered for the 2006 Grand Prix of Mosport 2006: Olivier Beretta (four wins), Jorg Bergmeister (three wins), Timo Bernhard (two wins), Frank Biela (two wins), Rinaldo Capello (two wins), Chris Dyson (one win), Ron Fellows (three wins), Clint Field (two wins), Oliver Gavin (two wins), Liz Halliday (one win), Butch Leitzinger (two wins), Patrick Long (one win), Chris McMurry (one win), Allan McNish (one win), Johnny O'Connell (four wins), Emanuele Pirro (one win) and James Weaver (two wins).

· Mosport International Raceway is the site of the closest finish ever in the American Le Mans Series. In 2000, current LMP1 championship leaders Allan McNish and Dindo Capello drove an Audi R8 to a 0.148-second victory over JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller in a BMW V12 LMR on a drying track. Both Capello and McNish are making their return to Mosport after lengthy absences (McNish since 2001, Capello since 2002).

· Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver for Dyson Racing are seeking their third straight overall win at Mosport. Dyson Racing also won in LMP675 in 2003 and is trying for its fourth straight class win.

· Historically, Mosport International Raceway (pronounced Moe-sport - a contraction of the word motorsport) first opened in 1961. Stirling Moss won the inaugural sports car race at the 2.459-mile, 10-turn facility driving a Lotus 19 sports car. Since it's opening, Mosport has played host to the Canadian Grand Prix F1 race (1967-77), a round of the World Sports Car Championship (1985), Indy Car events (1967-68, 1977-78) as well as the IMSA Can-Am cars prior to the debut season of the American Le Mans Series (1999). The Panoz Motor Sports Group acquired the facility in 1998.

· Mosport holds the distinction of being the second-fastest American Le Mans Series venue along the world-class sports car trail behind Road America, where Allan McNish blasted to a 133.474 mph around the 4.048 mile facility in the last Series round. At Mosport in August of 2002, Audi R8 pilot Frank Biela established the qualifying mark of 131.793 mph.

· All eight winning drivers from last year's Mosport race are seeking repeats: Dyson Racing's James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger, Intersport's Clint Field and Liz Halliday, Corvette Racing's Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin, and Petersen/White Lightning's Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long.

· Corvette's Johnny O'Connell and Olivier Beretta each are trying for their fifth Series wins at Mosport which would tie a record for most wins at the same venue. Wins by either driver would make GM the first marque to win six consecutive Series races at Mosport.

· In seven 2006 American Le Mans Series races to date, five different GT2 entrants have posted class victories in 2006: Multimatic Motorsports Team Panoz, Alex Job Racing, Flying Lizard Motorsports, Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing and most recently Risi Competizione. The Risi Ferrari F430GT had its two-race winning streak snapped at Road America as Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister won for the second time this year for Petersen/White Lightning.

Bergmeister is now within 9 points over the GT2 drivers championship lead held by Johannes van Overbeek of Flying Lizard Motorsports, who leads Petersen/White Lightning and Risi by the same margin in the team standings.



AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES ALL-TIME 'BY-THE-NUMBERS'
In eight-years of American Le Mans Series competition to date (1999-2006) and its 73 all-time races:
· 674 drivers have started at least one race.
· 116 drivers have won at last one race.
· 256 drivers have at least one top 3 finish.
· 382 drivers have at least one top 5 finish.
· 567 drivers have at least one top 10 finish.
· 57 drivers have at least one pole position (Fast Qualifier).
· 65 drivers have at least one Fast Lap.