'02 schedule adds US cities, cans Europe

In a 10-race calendar announced at the season-closing Petit Le Mans event, street races at Miami, Washington DC and the classic Trois-Rivieres course in Quebec, plus a first visit to the Road America track at Elkhart Lake, mean the series has ditched all its races on oval/infield facilities in favour of road and street circuits.

Additionally, in a move described as a 'consolidation' by Panoz Motorsports Group president Scott Atherton, the ALMS will no longer sandwich a pair of European races in the slot between the Le Mans test day in May and the 24 Hours itself in mid-June. In 2001, the series raced at Donington Park in the UK and the Nurburgring in Germany.

"We wanted premier natural terrain road courses with a history of road racing, plus strategically important street courses," said Atherton. "We also wanted our series contested solely in North America."

Series founder Don Panoz added: "We will not be racing at ovals, because the fans and the competitors told us it wasn't good for us. Washington and Miami chose us above another major road race organisation (CART), so that's good."

The end of year non-points race scheduled for Sepang, Malaysia, has been rescheduled for January 11-13 and will also appear on the 2002 calendar on November 1-3.

The stand-alone ELMS series, which has struggled for top-line entries this season, is under discussion. Atherton says that a decision is expected soon.

Atherton called aspects of the ALMS's 2002 programme a 'back to the future' philosophy, and this was compounded by the re-adoption of the IMSA name by sanctioning body Professional Sports Car. Panoz admitted that it had taken a while for the charisma and history of the IMSA name to sink in, but said he believed the decision was a good one.

Panoz also said that it was the ALMS's intention to take up a further five-year option with Le Mans name-holder ACO at the conclusion of the present contract at the end of 2003.


Mar 13-16, 12 Hours of Sebring
Apr 5-7, Miami (3 hours)
May 17-19, Sears Point (4 hours)
Jun 28-30, Mid-Ohio (4 hours)
Jul 5-7, Road America (500 miles)
Jul 19-21, Washington DC (3 hours)
Aug 2-3, Trois-Rivieres (CAN) (3 hours)
Aug 16-18, Mosport Raceway (CAN) (4 hours)
Sep 20-22, Laguna Seca (4 hours)
Oct 10-12, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta (1000 miles/10 hours)

Non-points race:
Nov 1-3, Sepang (MAL) (6 hours)

N.B. dates for Le Mans are May 5 for test day and June 15-16 for the 24 Hours itself.