Muscle Milk Pickett team decides against 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours bid
The US Muscle Milk/Pickett Racing team has opted against taking up its guaranteed entry for the Le Mans 24 Hours
The team gained one of two entry spots for the French enduro in June allocated by the American Le Mans Series, which Muscle Milk won outright last year with an LMP1 HPD ARX-03 shared by Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr.
Muscle Milk initially talked about going to the race, without committing to taking part, but has now decided to focus on its assault on the new United SportsCar Championship with its LMP2 ORECA-Nissan 03.
Team boss Greg Pickett, who would have returned to the cockpit for the 24 Hours alongside Graf and Luhr, said: "We've gone to Le Mans in the past and we know how much work it takes to get to and be well prepared for that race.
"We also know how much work it takes to fight for a championship, especially with a new car, which is why we've decided to solely focus on the USC this season."
Pickett added that his team, which finished fifth in the USC-opening Daytona 24 Hours last month, wanted "to ensure that we're not leaving anything on the table in the championship fight".
He said he hoped that Muscle Milk would be able to return to Le Mans, at which it competed in 2008 in conjunction with Charouz and Jota, at some unspecified point in the future.
Risi Competizione has the other guaranteed Le Mans entry awarded by the ALMS and it is understood that it has taken up the spot for a Ferrari 458 Italia to be raced by drivers from Krohn Racing, which is based at Risi's workshops.
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