Dempsey Racing has returned to a two-car Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry for this weekend’s season-ending American Le Mans Series (ALMS) presented by Tequila Patrón Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta where No. 27 Dempsey Racing Porsche drivers Patrick Dempsey, Andy Lally and Joe Foster will be joined by Charlie Putman, Charles Espenlaub and Darren Law in the Dempsey Racing No. 10 PRS Guitars Porsche.

Petit Le Mans is not only the final round of the 2013 ALMS season but also the series finale as well. The 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic has been a highlight event on the ALMS tour since the inaugural running in 1998 and will continue as a premier race event in next year’s inaugural IMSA TUDOR SportsCar Championship season.

“It was definitely a priority to get back to two cars this year,” Dempsey said. “Getting Charlie and Charles with us is great, they are family, and we are looking forward to having Darren join the team too.”

The 1,000-mile (394 laps) or 10-hour Petit Le Mans will be televised live on FOX Sports 2 beginning at 11 a.m. EDT this Saturday, October 19th. Coverage throughout the day alternates between FOX Sports 2 and FOX Sports 1, including a live segment from 6:30 - 8 p.m. EDT on FOX Sports 1. An encore presentation also airs the following day on FOX Sports 1 beginning at 4 p.m. EDT. Live coverage of the entire event is also available on the new FOX Sports mobile application, FOX Sports GO that is available exclusively on iOS devices.

Both Dempsey Racing entries and all six drivers were able to participate in unofficial testing this week at Road Atlanta that concluded today. Dempsey himself even took advantage of Monday’s session before returning to Hollywood to work on the set of Grey’s Anatomy before a scheduled return to Road Atlanta on Thursday.

“I have had a little bit more time to test here than last year,” Dempsey said. “Having the Monday test was great. I got in about 50 laps in the morning alone and that really helped with the conditioning, just working on the line and improving. I picked up a lot of time and I am feeling pretty positive for the weekend, Joe is back in the car, and he always drives well. Hopefully we have a good run and have a great result.”

Dempsey is on the brink of completing his first full season since he started racing in professional sports car categories nearly a decade ago. The majority of those races have been in GT categories, including this season in the ALMS GT Challenge (GTC) class, but he and Foster joined Dane Cameron in the P2 category for Dempsey Racing’s Petit debut last year in a Judd-Lola.

This season Dempsey has partnered with top talent Andy Lally for the full GTC championship, but Foster filled in for Lally at Long Beach and joined the No. 27 regulars as the third driver at Long Beach.

“Coming into the final weekend of the season, we are looking good and feeling optimistic,” Lally said. “Road Atlanta is my home track and I am stoked to have what is arguably the biggest race of the year here. I think we have a good chance, especially with Joe Foster back onboard as our third this weekend, to not only podium but look for the top of the podium.”
Dempsey and Lally finished third two races ago at Circuit of The Americas in Texas and earned their first podium of the year with a second-place finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May. The Laguna race marked the last time Dempsey Racing fielded two Porsches but they are back to full strength this weekend with returning friends and teammates Putman and Espenlaub and debuting team driver Law.

“It’s really a family thing here,” Espenlaub said. “When we first walked into the team transporter on Monday for testing it was kind of like a family reunion at Thanksgiving or something. You get a smile on your face right away, it is great to see everybody, and they welcomed us back just like it was yesterday. It is great to be back with the Dempsey boys and all of our old friends.”

Espenlaub has driven for Dempsey Racing since the team’s inception and was part of the group’s GT debut with Dempsey and Foster in the 2007 season-ending GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. More recently, Espenlaub co-drove the entire 2012 season with longtime teammate Putman in a sister GT entry alongside Dempsey and Foster. Putman makes his Petit Le Mans debut this weekend.

“I have participated in support races at Petit, in fact, one was the first pro race I ever did,” Putman said. “It was about 12 years ago in the Panoz Pro GT Series where I met both Joe and Charles. Years later I ran several World Challenge races in support of Petit, so I have seen it a number of times through the years. It is kind of cool to finally get to drive it, the last one in ALMS, and it is great to be back with Joe, Charles and Patrick and get the whole band back together at Dempsey Racing. The group kind of started here so it is cool that we are here back together doing it.”

Law brings a race and championship-winning resume to the No. 10 team, including an overall victory in the 2009 Rolex 24 At Daytona in a Porsche-powered Riley Daytona Prototype.

"It's great to come on board with this program,” Law said. “Dempsey Racing has really built a competitive program over the last few seasons. It will be fun driving with Charles Espenlaub, as I have known him for a long time and we have worked together, as well. He and Charlie Putman have also been driving together for quite a while and have had great results over the years."

After testing Sunday, Monday and today at Road Atlanta, the official Petit Le Mans schedule begins tomorrow, Thursday, October 17, with morning, afternoon and nighttime practice sessions. Final practice Friday morning will be followed by GTC qualifying that afternoon at 1:45 p.m. Race-day Saturday begins with a final warm-up practice at 9:15 a.m. EDT before the scheduled start of the Petit Le Mans at 11:30 a.m. EDT. Live streaming of qualifying will be available on ALMS.com which also offers a live stream of Saturday’s race to international audiences.

 

Noteworthy

- Dempsey Racing will join the ALMS community at Petit Le Mans in honouring fellow 2013 GTC class competitor Sean Edwards who died earlier this week in an accident during a private driver training session at Queensland Raceway in Australia. “I’m shocked and saddened at the loss of Sean Edwards,” Lally said. “It is obvious to anyone who had ever seen him drive that he was a true talent, but having raced him wheel to wheel many times this year I got an up close appreciation for his ability and huge talent. He was a great driver that had already accomplished so much in such a young career. He was on the path to climb to the very top of the sport in what should have been a long and successful career.”

- Dempsey Racing has achieved its best career team results fielding a pair of GT cars. Then racing in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series with its primary No. 40 entry, the No. 41 sister car was added to the Dempsey stable in 2010 and gave the team its first victory that year on the Watkins Glen short course. The No. 40 then took the spotlight early the following season with a third-place finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona with Dempsey, Foster, Espenlaub and Tom Long as the No. 41 finished 10th for a team top-10 double in the day-long race. Espenlaub and Putman were the last duo to drive the No. 41 in the 2012 Rolex Series GT season.

 

Press release : SaalGood - 16th Ocober 2013