Al Carter Road Atlanta Pre-Race Report

Al Carter’s professional racing career started in 2011, and during four full seasons of racing (2011-2014), he has won multiple IMSA-sanctioned races and scored multiple podium finishes, but has not yet won a championship. That could change on Saturday, since Carter is heading to Road Atlanta to compete in the ten-hour Petit Le Mans race, after a three-month break from driving a race car in the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

This season, Carter chose to race in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, which is part of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and encompasses 52 hours of racing, including the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and the Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda, scheduled for next Saturday, Oct. 3.

So far this year, Carter has already raced in three of four Patrón Endurance Cup races with Riley Motorsports. He won two of the three races at Daytona, Fla., and Watkins Glen, N.Y., and finished fifth at Sebring, Fla.  Those results placed him -- with Cameron Lawrence – among the top contenders to win Petit Le Mans on Saturday, but also to clinch the 2015 Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup Driver Championship.

“Winning two of three Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup races so far is a great achievement for my teammate, Cameron Lawrence, and me,” Carter said. “Without a very experienced Bill Riley and his outstanding winning team, managed by Greg Jones, we would not have been able to achieve such a feat and lead the Patrón Endurance Cup before the final race scheduled this weekend.”

“Since Cameron and I tested the Riley Motorsports Viper together last November 2014 and put together our No. 93 ride for the four Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup races, our goal was to compete for the NAEC Driver Championship. The Las Vegas odds would have had us as one of the longer shots to be in position to win the GTD class title, let alone winning the Rolex 24 and the Six Hours of the Glen along the way. But here we are!” Carter said. “Though far from a lock, we are in a good position to take the title. Marc Goossens, Cameron Lawrence, and I have all jelled with the Riley team and as a driver combo. We garnered our strong results thus far by running our Viper hard and close to mistake-free. Our two wins this season came in spite of starting last in the field, blowing a tire in Daytona qualifying, and Watkins Glen qualifying being rained out and aligned by points. Maybe we’ll skip qualifying at Petit. Just kidding!”

The Riley Motorsports team competed in all of the races with its No. 33 Viper. The drivers of the No. 33 Dodge Viper won a total of two races (Road America in Wisconsin, and Circuit of The Americas in Texas) this season. The Riley Motorsports No. 33 team is ranked fourth in the TUDOR United SportsCar Team Championship before Petit Le Mans.

The No. 93 Riley Motorsports TI Automotive/ViperExchange.com/BarVision.com/B+ Foundation Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R of Carter and Lawrence hold a seven-point advantage in GTD over the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia of Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler. For Petit Le Mans, Carter and Lawrence will be joined by a third driver, Marc Goossens, who already raced with the Patrón Endurance Cup GTD leaders at Sebring Florida and Watkins Glen New York.

“The cool thing about the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup challenge is that we’ll have three races within the race on Saturday,” Carter said. .”The NAEC points must be scored at the 4-hour mark, 8-hour mark, and at the finish. All season long, we have focused on the next scoring loop as our objective, so look for us to be charging hard early to score those points. The No. 63 Ferrari has been running strong of late, and they have been spot-on in their strategy to also score NAEC points all season. Basically, they are going to need to lead the whole race to best our points, so it’ll be a battle.”

“It’s been nothing less than a dream season for me. For an older guy out of Delaware, only a few years out of the Skip Barber series, I couldn’t be more proud of moving up through the Continental Tire SportsCar Series, and not only to be a Rolex 24 winner, but also have a chance to be crowned a Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup Patron winner.”

Don’t miss Al Carter on track at Petit Le Mans:

Thursday, Oct. 1:

Practice 1 - TUDOR Championship 11:10 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.

Practice 2 - TUDOR Championship 3:25 - 4:25 p.m.

Practice 3 - TUDOR Championship 7:30 - 9 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 2:

Practice 4 - TUDOR Championship 10:05 - 11:05 a.m.

GTD Class Qualifying - TUDOR Championship 3:35 - 3:50 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 3:

Warm Up - TUDOR Championship 9 - 9:25 a.m.

Race - Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda 11:15 a.m. - 9:15 p.m.

Watch Al Carter on TV at Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda:

11 a.m. - noon (Live) on FOX Sports 2

Noon - 2:30 p.m. (Live) at IMSA.com

2:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. (Live) on FOX Sports 2

7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (Live) at IMSA.com

8:30 - 9:30 p.m. (Live) on FOX Sports 2

All times EDT.