In front of a record crowd and under the Californian sun, Harold Primat and Jamie Campbell-Walter drove brilliantly to take British team Creation Autosportif's second consecutive American Le Mans Series (ALMS) podium finish at Laguna Seca Raceway (Monetrey, CA) this past weekend, beating off stiff opposition in the form of the Arena Motorsport Zytek of Darren Manning and Tom Chilton.
Creation Team Principal Ian Bickerton: "I love America! I think two trophies from two races in the ALMS, we can't ask for more than that. The competition is well stiff out here at the moment and we need to up our game to match theirs. I think we know how to now. We have learnt a lot in the last three weeks out here and hopefully we can pull together a deal to go to Interlagos (Brazil) and finish the season off there. I think we've done a great job, and look forward to being back here next year."
Jamie Campbell-Walter: "What is incredible is that last year P1 and P2 on the grid was the Zytek and the Creation and that, after four hours of racing, Darren Manning (#10 Zytek) and I were still racing hard again this year. But the pace of the manufacturers such as the Acuras, the Porsche Spyders and Audi is incredible. While we improved by seven or eight tenths from last year, they've moved on by about three seconds. But all credit to the team; we've come here and got two podiums from two races and well done to all the sponsors that helped this US campaign happen, Market 500.com, Bank Baring Brothers Suisse, ClickCulture, Piedmont Triad Partnership, Arsenik, Alphabet, the team and the Dunlop tyres.
Harold Primat, who started the race for the Creation team and completed almost two hours in the car, was equally pleased with his two-race stay in the United States. "It feels really good to be back on the podium here at Laguna Seca, and to finish the season on a high. It's been a lot of work to get through this race; it's obviously a very competitive series and it's really difficult to compete with Manufacturers now. We have been working hard and trying out best and luckily our best today made the podium in the P1 class. We have been very fortunate and I'm delighted to have had two podiums in the two ALMS races with Creation. They seem to know my face a little bit as every time I come here I've been on the podium, and with Creation, so it's a really good ratio. Hopefully I can keep it up. I have one more race to go in Brazil, this time with Pescarolo, and hopefully I can end up with a similar result. I've been very happy with the time with Creation and have enjoyed spending the time driving with Jamie as well. It's been a very good campaign, like last year."
Jamie continued "We had a bit of a problem getting our tyres up to temperature after the safety car periods. While everyone suffered from this a bit, us and Zytek seemed to suffer more than most. In the last stint, we had to stop under green and the Zytek had got in front of us, we were lucky because we put a new set of tyres on just at the crucial moment. Mine came in quicker than his, as a new tyre, and I was able to overtake him in a do or die move at the Corkscrew. I hadn't come all this way to finish 4th. I wasn't really into that! I'm really pleased."
RALEIGH, N.C. &ndash Lloyd Jacobs, CEO of ClickCulture, Inc., has announced that the firm is sponsoring the Creation Autosportif racing team, based in Oxford, England and with offices in Winston Salem, NC. The team competes in International Sports Car races such as the Le Mans Endurance Series (www.lmes.net) and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) where teams compete in hi-tech two-seat sports cars for up to 24 hours at a time. These racing series were inspired by the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France and have been in existence since the 1950's.
Andy Woolgar, Commercial Manager for Creation's US operations commented "It's an absolute pleasure to have the support and dedication of Click Culture. Lloyd was able to identify with the form of motor sport we are involved with, and relate that to his business. Our sport is very much high-end, hi-tech, similar to Formula 1, using similar technology and materials, and Click Culture's business relates directly, using many hi-tech cutting edge methods in their every day business activity, thus making a perfect match. Creation races globally and Click Culture benefits directly from that in awareness and new business".
The Creation team will compete in the final race of the ALMS, the Monterey Sports Car Championships, on Saturday, Oct. 20 at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. The race will be televised live on the Speed Channel at 2:30 p.m. PST, 5.30pm EST, and globally via satellite TV. The team finished second in the LMP Class and fifth overall in the prestigious Petit Le Mans 10 hour/1000 mile event at Road Atlanta in Georgia on Oct. 6.
"We are pleased to sponsor the Creation Autosportif team," said Jacobs. "The team had a great finish at the Petit Le Mans, and I am looking forward to watching Saturday's race at Laguna Seca."