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Lotus Alex Job Racing 11th in GT at Petit Le Mans ALMS Finale October 20, 2012 - Braselton, GA - Lotus Alex Job Racing (AJR) finished the 2012 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season by coming across the line in 11th place in GT at Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta today. Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell and Johnny Mowlem fended off early trouble to run the remainder of the race trouble free. Townsend Bell had the controls of the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Lotus Evora GT for the start of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at the challenging 2.54-mile,12-turn Road Atlanta circuit. On lap ten the Californian reported "unnecessary contact" with the No. 17 Porsche. Thirteen laps later the contact manifested itself into a right rear lower control arm failure. Bell pitted, under green, and it took the Lotus AJR crew 10 laps to make the repairs and return him to the race. From lap 33 forward the Lotus Evora ran flawlessly in the hands of the AJR trio. "It was a tough race," Bell said. "Just ten laps into a 10-hour race I got hit by the Falken Porsche for no reason. It took its toll on the car as I had to pit a few laps later and the team had to make repairs. That cost us 10 laps and that was our race. After that the car ran well. Johnny and Bill did a nice job behind the wheel, and the team was performing in the pits. It makes you think what might have been. It has been a development year, and we are already well into the planning for next year. I really like this kind of racing and the series races at some great tracks." Bill Sweedler likes the way the car ran and is optimistic for the future. "It was unfortunate that Townsend got hit early on," Sweedler said. "The Falken car just assaulted the rear of our Lotus. We had to make repairs, which put us 10 laps down. That is a little upsetting, without that incident we had a fifth or sixth-place car. After that the car ran great. I am proud of the team and all our sponsor partners. It is tough not racing for a podium or win, but they did a great job helping us to develop this car all year. That we can be proud of and take onto to 2013." Johnny Mowlem is not happy with the result, but is proud of the effort. "It is such a shame we had the rear right track rod break," Mowlem said. "The car ran like clockwork all day, and that is a testament to all of the hard work that Alex, and the team have done this season. I have to say that Townsend and Bill drove an absolutely phenomenal race today. The team definitely deserved better than an eleventh for sure. My first stint was very hot. I struggled with a drink's bottle, and I doubled stinted. My second run was really good. I had a long yellow, so I ran most of my laps in the darkness. In the evening our lap times were a second closer to the top GT competitors. Although the result didn't show it, I am happy with the overall effort today." Alex Job, team principal, put a cap on a development year with the Lotus Evora GT. "We had a tough start to the race," Job said. "Townsend had contact with the Falken car and that broke the tow rod on the right rear. It took a few laps to get the car back out, but once we did it ran flawlessly to the end. We would have been further up the finishing order by at least five or six places if not for that incident. But, the car ran great the rest of the race and went all ten hours today. That is a testament to the development work we've done the car and a motivator for next year." Petit Le Mans will be broadcast today Oct. 21, on ABC starting at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Lotus Alex Job Racing took another development step with the Lotus Evora GT in Saturday’s ALMS race at Mid-Ohio. Bill Sweedler started on the fifth row. Turning strong lap times and doing a near hour-and-a-half stint Sweedler had the Lotus solidly in the top ten. Handing over to Townsend Bell on lap 59, the Californian continued the strong run in the Saturday afternoon heat of near 90-degree temperatures. In the closing minutes, with Bell running ninth, the team pitted him for a splash of fuel. The splash was brief, too brief, and the Lotus ran out of fuel with just one lap remaining. "We know what we have with the Lotus," Sweedler said. "We need to some serious downforce on the car, which really can't be done by trial and error. The car handled well in the tight spots and always has the measure the GT field under braking. We also ran well through the back twisty section of the track. We took another step in the development of the car today, and that is goal - keep moving forward." Bell had to get a tow back to the paddock as he ran out of fuel going down the back straight. "The team called me in with a few laps to go for a splash, but we didn't get quite enough in the tank," Bell said. "I tried to shake it around and use the slower engine maps, but just couldn't nurse it to the finish line. Again, we had a good handling car in the tight stuff, and the Lotus really stops well. We just need the kind of development that we can't do on the road." Alex Job, team principal, knows the team has a class measuring stick now for the Lotus Evora GT. "Running out of fuel at the end of race is a tough way not to finish," Job said. "That is totally in our control, and we needed just a few seconds of fuel to get us to the checker. With the new Vipers coming to the series this weekend it gives us a development measuring stick. They have a big budget, so it will be interesting to see how that team progresses with those cars from this weekend to Petit Le Mans in October. The bar just got higher in GT."

Lotus Alex Job Racing completed a full weekend without any major hiccups in Ontario to finish ninth, and gaining valuable data in the process in order to develop the car. The Canadian Tyre Motorsport Park gave the team of Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler their first chance to put the Evora GT through its paces around properly high-speed turns. Bill Sweedler: “Once again we did maximum laps and took another step in the development of this very promising car. As we go to ever track that is new to this car we are coming up with more items to improve handling and overall performance. This week it was aero balance. The guys are doing a great job.” Townsend Bell: “We are getting faster. It is a lot of work for a ninth-place finish. We ran as high as sixth and were able to be respectable, while running what is essentially a test program on TV. We know what our goals are for the season, and we are right on pace with development of the car.” Claudio Berro, director of Lotus Racing: “Some good results this weekend, with a win in GP2 and podiums in both Formula One and GP3. Once again the Lotus F1 Team showed strong pace in the race, but as Kimi says qualifying is important too and Saturday ultimately kept the team off the top spot again in Hockenheim. We all know the team, the drivers and the E20 car has the ability to win and we must wait patiently for everything to come together. Winning something we’re looking forward to, and it’s only a couple of days until Lotus arrives in Hungary to try just that.”

Lotus Alex Job Racing finished tenth at Lime Rock at the weekend. The team is developing its Lotus Evora GT and managed to get a lot of miles under their belts during the two month ALMS break, and a top ten GT class finish is a steady step in the right direction. Townsend Bell qualified the Evora 23rd overall and tenth in class, and handed the car to team-mate Bill Sweedler for the start. Racing in his home state of Connecticut, Sweedler is something of a local hero. Unfortunately, he was pushed off, costing the team positions, but he managed to get it back on track without damage. Bell took over on Lap 88 and showed very consistent pace to help return the car to where it started, tenth in this highly competitive class and 18th overall. Bill Sweedler: “Our goal today was run hard all race, and we did. We are developing the car and we are showing a lot of promise. Townsend and I were really close in speed. Townsend was a bit quicker, but we had a good day with the Lotus. It was unfortunate, I got pushed off the track by one of the Ferrari's on the downhill and cost me a few laps, but the car was fine, and we kept it going. We had good pace, diced with some RSRs and passed a few competitors. It was a good day for our development program.” Townsend Bell: “I am really proud of this team. We ran pretty strong all weekend. The team has worked really hard on the development of the car since Laguna Seca, and it is paying off. We have come, literally thousands of miles development wise. The guys have put in a lot of hours on the car. The car ran flawlessly. We are starting to close on the competition.”