SEBRING FL, Tuesday, 23 February, 2010: Patrón Highcroft Racing has completed an ideal preparation for the 2010 season after recording the fastest LMP2 class time at the annual "Wheels Down" Winter Test at Sebring International Raceway.
The trio of David Brabham, Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti finished in the top three in all four test sessions over the two days - Franchitti setting the fastest time for the team aboard the Honda Performance Development ARX-01c chassis this morning at 1 minute, 48.263 seconds for the historic 3.7 mile Sebring circuit.
While the majority of races in the newly-renamed American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón will combine the LMP1 and LMP2 prototype classes in 2010, the iconic Sebring and Petit Le Mans enduros will run to the separate 24 Hours of Le Mans rules.
The #1 Highcroft squad outpaced its key opposition over the two day test in the LMP2 class which will also feature the Porsche RS Spyder and Lola Mazda machines. The team completed 202 laps over the two-day test.
The reigning American Le Mans Series LMP1 champion will now return to its Danbury, CT base to prepare for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 20.
Testing for the Sebring race week kicks off on Monday, March 15 and continues throughout the week with qualifying for the 58th running of America's old endurance race scheduled for Thursday, March 18.
DAVID BRABHAM
"The car ran very reliably and we certainly learned a lot of things over the past two days which will not only help us in preparation for Sebring, but the entire season.
"I think we are in good shape and the cars feels really strong and consistent. Everyone is really looking forward to getting started on the 2010 season.
"The ARX-01c is very different from the P1 car from last year. The tires, the engine, the chassis - the entire car is a completely different design. We've gone back to the P2 car which we know well as drivers and there is some great things about this car which we really enjoy.
"It has a lot of downforce and it's much lighter than last year's car. We'd always want a little bit more time to go over certain scenarios but so far from what we have seen in the past couple of days, the car was very reliable.
"Getting more laps is critical to collect lots of data and information for Michelin for the tires, and HPD for the engine. I think we are in reasonable shape."
SIMON PAGENAUD
"We had a good day today. Yesterday was a bit hectic because the weather was changing a lot.
"It was difficult to be 100% confident on all the reads we had on the set-up.
"Overnight the engineers came up with some really good answers and the car was very good straight away in the morning.
"We kept making improvments during the day. I'm very happy with the pace of the car. We still have some improvements to make for the race itself, but overall it is looking very strong.
"We have all the answers to the questions we were asking when the test started. I'm very confident now. We were able to react quickly to a difficult day yesterday which is great."
MARINO FRANCHITTI
"We had really positive day and all three drivers got to get behind the wheel today.
"We achieved a lot and ticked a lot of the boxes we were looking to do before we come back for the race in a couple of weeks.
"This was our final chance to put a lot of things to bed and today allowed us to try a lot of other radical set-up changes on the car.
"We made some major changes with different set-up theories to make sure when we left, we have all the bases covered.
"Overall it has been a very positive test and everyone is leaving here extremely happy."
The team has also confirmed that GE Capital has become one of the team's sponsors for 2010, while Highcroft Racing has also formed a technical partnership with GE Global Research, GE's technology development arm.
The teams will work closely together to develop additional new technologies to further enhance the performance of the Honda Performance Development, factory backed ARX-01c chassis.
Highcroft's engineering team will work in conjunction with GE Global Research engineers to identify new applications utilizing a a variety of existing GE technologies. At the same time, GE scientists will have the opportunity to gain new insights that will benefit key research programs in aviation, transportation and energy.
GE Global Research is one of the world's largest and most diversified industrial research labs, with more than 2,600 scientists and engineers from around the world driving innovative technology in major industries such as energy, aviation, transportation, healthcare and lighting.
Technology expertise at Global Research covers virtually every scientific and engineering discipline. In particular, the Research Lab has core expertise in motor technologies, power electronics, drive systems and battery technologies that are broadly applied to support its aviation, transportation and energy businesses but which are also well aligned with advanced vehicle applications.
"The American Le Mans Series remains as one of the last international motorsports championships that truly reward innovation and allow technical development," Highcroft Racing President, Duncan Dayton said.
"Unlike many other championships, we compete against multiple different chassis, different tires and different fuel and engine technologies.
"We already have outstanding partners with HPD for engine technology and Wirth Research for chassis development. Our new partnership with GE will provide us with the tools to develop new enhancements to increase performance, and improve reliability and allow us to investigate new innovations to keep our team at the forefront of international motorsport competition.
"We're hoping these developments will not only enhance the performance of our team, but provide technological advances that we will one day see on the cars we drive on the road."
Eric Butterfield, Global Technology Leader, Electronics Systems and Controls, GE Global Research, said, "We're excited to join the Highcroft Racing 'Pit Crew' and see how we can apply advanced GE technology to improve the team's performance while gaining new insights to benefit our research for aviation, transportation and energy businesses.It's an incredible technical proving ground. With the ALMS focus on "Green Racing" and eager adoption of advanced technology, this is an excellent technology development platform. You would be surprised what you can learn under the hood of a race car."
Highcroft's technical expertise has already been boosted in 2010 by the recruitment of Will Phillips as the team's new Engineering Director. Phillips will also work in conjunction with Technical Director Dave Luckett on helping David Brabham (pictured right) and new drivers Simon Pagenaud and Marino Franchitti retain the ALMS championship crown.
Lead Engineer Jordan Eber has been assigned to coordinate and liaise with the GE Global Research team.
The GE logo will now adorn the team's #1 chassis for the ALMS title defense. Patrón Highcroft Racing has returned to Sebring for one final test this week at the annual American Le Mans Series "Wheels Down" winter test yesteday and today (February 22 & 23).
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring kicks off the nine-race 2010 championship on March 20 - broadcast live on SPEED TV.
About GE Global Research
GE Global Research is the hub of technology development for all of GE's businesses. Our scientists and engineers redefine what's possible, drive growth for our businesses and find answers to some of the world's toughest problems.
We innovate 24 hours a day, with sites in Niskayuna, New York; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China; and Munich, Germany. Visit GE Global Research on the web at www.ge.com/research. Connect with our technologists at http://edisonsdesk.com and twitter.com/edisonsdesk.
About GE Capital
GE Capital offers consumers and businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services. For more information, visit gecapital.com or follow company news via Twitter (@GECapitalNews). GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work - a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world's toughest problems. Visit ge.com.
