ALMS gains weight for Laguna

I'm certainly not a fan of either the Indy Racing League or the Rolex Sportscar Series, but having them race less than 40 miles away from me this weekend and not be able to go is more than a bit irritating. So instead I have to look to October 21st when the ALMS returns to Laguna Seca.

I haven't been to the Laguna ALMS event in three years since it always falls on the same weekend as the street fair I help organize, but this year it will be on the following weekend. This is great news, because it looks like there might actually be an ALMS grid worth watching for once, bigger than the paltry 22 cars that have started all the non-Sebring races this year. So in addition to the Audis, Dysons, Autocon, Highcroft and Intersport Lolas, Penske Porsches, Corvettes, Astons, Panozes, PTG BMWs, and sundry Porsche GT3s and Ferrari F430s, we'll have some "interlopers":

• Creation are bringing over one, possibly two, of their LMP1 cars, perhaps to showcase them for sale as turnkey racecars for the '07 ALMS season (they won't be legal in Europe next year, but will be in the US)
• Van der Steur Racing will have their fab new Radical for Ben Devlin
• Horag Racing has a new Lola LMP2 to play with
• BK Motorsport will be back with their Mazda-powered Courage LMP2 (even though many were predicting their demise due to alleged unpaid bills)
• There's talk of Oreca bringing over one of their lightning-fast Saleens
• Apparently a couple of teams have Ferrari F430s ready to race, in addition to the 2-3 currently in the ALMS
• Tracy Krohn is said to be entering a 2-car Aston Martin team in 2007, but might have one ready for Laguna. YES PLEASE!!!
  
• Zytek were said to be bringing their 06S for Johnny Herbert but that may fall through

All in all, it's shaping up to be quite a race, and given that it's four hours long and runs into the night, will be well worth the trip. Can't wait!