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Scott Tucker, A Year In Review: The Road Before The 24

By Brent Arends

Scott Tucker and his Level 5 Motorsports teammates recently began the final quarter of a racing year that has included numerous podium appearances, multiple car changes, incredible accomplishments and yet still room for improvement. Tucker, owner and driver for Level 5, has been a leader for the team despite the rookie status he maintained just months ago. His tight, balanced driving has earned him top honors in the American Le Mans Series as Rookie of the Year and Champion Driver in 2010. His races often end with stints on the podium, and his career has only just begun.

As Tucker, his co-drivers Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz and team manager David Stone prepare to close the calendar year with the all-important Petit Le Mans and the Ferrari International Finals, the stakes are high—the team has woven itself a reputation of excellence that is best understood by looking back at what has made 2011 a stunning year for Level 5 Motorsports.

In January, the Level 5 team began its 2011 race schedule with the GRAND-AM The Roar before the 24 test sessions, in Daytona, Florida. Its two Microsoft Office-sponsored entries proved themselves powerful vehicles for their drivers’ talents. During the final test session the No. 055 Microsoft Office BMW Riley and the No. 95 Microsoft Office BMW Riley finished 2-3. Tucker, Bouchut, Diaz and Mark Wilkins drove the No. 55 and sped through a 127.533 mph lap, just a half-second behind Starworks Motorsports Ford Riley, No. 8. Tucker also drove the No. 95, along with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Raphael Matos and Richard Westbrook. The drivers completed a lap of 127.465 mph, a time less than one-tenth of a second off of the No. 55 BMW Riley.

The Level 5 team proved its versatility as the season opened up with rule changes and a freshly paved racetrack at Daytona International Speedway. The three-day test session for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series was an indicator of things to come for the team. During the practiced sessions, the team gradually built momentum by making small changes with every run, eventually building up to the point that the drivers were barely off the top speed by weekend’s end.

In the fourth test session, the No. 95 rose to 5th on the speed chart with a lap of 125.898 mph. Its counterpart, the No. 55, earned its way to a second-place position by the sixth session with a lap of 126.9189 mph.

Not only did Tucker drive both cars for the Roar before the 24, he was also a participant in the Sports Car Club of America’s Double National event at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida. He finished second both days of the race. “I want as much time on the track as possible,” he said at the time. “Getting in tune with the car is paramount to setting up for a successful season.”

The Roar before the 24 is much like preseason games in other sports; it gives drivers a chance to shake off any lingering problems from the previous year and preview the type of year that is to come. Many big motorsports names are on hand at the Roar before the 24, and many of the stars who test at the Roar are enrolled in the Rolex 24 at Daytona during subsequent weekends.

The results of the Roar before the 24 set Level 5 Motorsports in a perfect position for season’s start: beating the competition, but with some room for improvement. By exhibiting talent, control and skill on the raceway, Tucker and his teammates immediately established Level 5 Motorsports as a frontrunner for the coming races. Next up: the Rolex 24.

Brent Arends has been keeping a close eye on Scott Tucker, owner and driver, of Level 5 Motorsports throughout the past year. To get more information about Tucker, check out http://www.motorsport.com/#/all/search/?q=scott%252520tucker

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Posted on October 18, 2011 by , Reply

Scott Tucker, A Year In Review: Infineon Challenge

By Kaitlyn Tillman

Scott Tucker and his Level 5 Motorsports teammates recently began the final quarter of a racing year that has included numerous podium appearances, multiple car changes, incredible accomplishments and yet still room for improvement. Tucker, owner and driver for Level 5, has been a leader for the team despite the rookie status he maintained merely months ago. His tight, balanced driving has earned him top honors in the American Le Mans Series as Rookie of the Year and Champion Driver in 2010. His races often end with stints on the podium, and his career has only just begun.

As Tucker, his co-drivers Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz and team manager David Stone prepare to close the calendar year with the all-important Petit Le Mans and the Ferrari International Finals, the stakes are high—the team has woven itself a reputation of excellence that is best understood by looking back at what has made 2011 a stunning year for Level 5 Motorsports.

Scott Tucker is undoubtedly a good race car driver, but when you add the fact that he competes not only in the ALMS and the ILMS but also the Ferrari Challenge series, Tucker becomes an unbelievable race car driver—unbelievable not only because of the schedule he keeps, but because of his continual success on the track. The first FC race of the 2011 year for Tucker and his Level 5 Motorsports team was the debut of the Ferrari 458 Challenge—the 5th model to be used since the series began in the early 90s—at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

The 458 model was new to the race, but Tucker and the car were old friends. He tested the car exclusively in Spain the previous fall and again at the 12 Hours of Sebring weekend in the spring of 2011. The Ferrari 458 model is lighter and faster compared to its Italia 458 counterpart. The vehicle boasts 570 horsepower; 9,000 RPM direct injection V8 engine, and its gearbox is modified to increase torque at lower revolutions. The car is also equipped with a top-quality traction control system that was developed by Ferrari. The system is based on logic and strategies from Ferrari’s experience in the Formula One series.

Tucker entered the 2011 FC season with four wins on the Infineon course, which covers approximately 2.5 miles with 12 turns. Overall, the Level 5 team fared well in the weekend’s pair of FC races. “We came out with two cars, but because we were trying a new product with a new seat, it caused some issues with technical people here, so we pulled out one car,” said team manager David Stone. “The car we were able to run didn’t get the new gearbox update, so we’ve been tentative about that.”

But a race car is only as good as the sum of all its parts—and one of those parts is the driver. Tucker started the first race in fifth place. After some contact around the first corner, he bunkered down and worked his way up the rankings. His smart driving earned Level 5 a first-place ranking. “We extremely happy we got the win here with our 458 car,” said one engineer.

“I was trying to get up as fast as I could without making contact or being too aggressive,” said Tucker. “We had a good car, and fortunately it worked out for us in the end.”

The second of the FC pair wasn’t as seamless as its predecessor; Level 5 decided not to qualify because of a first-lap penalty the day before. “We have a double whammy where we started in the back and we had another penalty,” Stone said. “Scott will have his work cut out for him. Getting on the podium is a tall order on this track.”

In addition to the penalties and race placement, Tucker and the Level 5 team had to face the challenge of a shorter race—the clock ran approximately 10 minutes short in 2011 compared to previous years. “There will be a little less time to work toward the front, but it is what it is, and the goal will be to come out of here with as many points as we can,” Stone said.

Tucker delivered a stellar performance despite the hiccups, weaving through traffic efficiently with the front of the line his unwavering goal. Although the 458 car started last, Tucker brought it across the line sixth, no small feat considering the circumstances. “It was a good race; we started last and finished sixth with no damage to the car,” Tucker said. “It’s about as good as you can do.”

With a solid performance again in May at the first FC series race of the year, Tucker continued on his whirlwind race schedule with an ILMC stop in Belgium for the Spa.

Kaitlyn Tillman has been keeping a close eye on Scott Tucker, owner and driver, of Level 5 Motorsports throughout the past year to keep you posted about the success of the dream team. To get more information about Tucker, check out http://www.planetlemans.com/?s=scott+tucker

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Posted on October 15, 2011 by , Reply

Strategy Integral To Level 5 Motorsports’ Continued Success

By Kaitlyn Tillman

When private equity investor-turned motorsports rising star Scott Tucker placed his order for the new Honda Performance Development/Wirth Research cost-capped prototype car, under “quantity,” it said 2. Tucker reserved the first two chassis for his Level 5 Motorsports team to use as soon as possible, which turned out to be last weekend in the HPD ARX-01g’s debut appearance, at ModSpace American Le Mans in Monterey, Calif. The race was yet another victory for the David Stone-managed, Microsoft Office-sponsored team of Tucker, Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz; the team has made a decisive sweep through the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series and the American Le Mans Series, making podium at numerous races and winning at several others, including Imola.

Of course, not just luck brought two veteran drivers together with a rookie and made them win races. Each of the drivers specializes in a different area and comes from a different background, but they all share a profound passion for racing sports cars and a depth of knowledge and experience that lends itself to precise, controlled, balanced driving at maximum speed. They key to the team’s collective success is finding the right equation for driver order and race strategy—part of which involves Tucker reserving two of the Honda chassis prototypes.

Tucker and Bouchut, who was his driving coach at the time, decided to enter the Le Mans Prototype class after looking at the car in 2010. The make of the car was intriguing enough, but given the fact that the series would have Class A and Class B drivers race together at the championship, Tucker wanted in. Bouchut, one of the most successful endurance drivers in the world and an industry veteran, had been helping Tucker improve since his Grand-Am debut, and the two entered the LMPC program together full-time in 2010.

Another attractive element of the new prototype class was that a new IMSA rule allowed gentleman drivers in LMPC or GTC class to drive two cars, with the scoring driver in the higher-placed entry. That allowance spawned Level 5 Motorsports’ winning Nos. 55 and 95 cars, which carried the team through the next year to win the LMP championship, which bumped Level 5 into the LMP2 class, for which the HPD ARX-01g cars will take over starting last weekend.

The strategy involved with two cars worked for Level 5 Motorsports, with an exceptionally seasoned veteran in Christophe Bouchut and another coming at the start of 2011 in Luis Diaz. Tucker, who was a rookie at age 44 in 2006, got practice through the two-car strategy Level 5 uses, saving himself time and energy and improving the team’s infrastructure all the while.

Tucker had mostly kept out of the limelight, though he rapidly built a winning record after his racing debut. But Le Mans had always been one of his goals, and so when the time was right enough, he added high-profile racing veterans to his inner circle and set about leaving the Level 5 mark on every ALMS and ILMC track he could.

Kaitlyn Tillman has been keeping a close eye on Scott Tucker, owner and driver, of Level 5 Motorsports throughout the past year to keep you posted about the success of the dream team. To get more information about Tucker, check out http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395452654498336.html

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Posted on October 13, 2011 by , Reply

Level 5 Motorsports’ Impressive HPD ARX-01g Debut, Wirth Research Inks A Long-term Deal With Honda

By Brent Arends

There has been no shortage of publicity regarding the Scott Tucker-owned Level 5 Motorsports racing team’s mid-season decision to switch cars. Despite the risks the change brought of interrupting the explosive momentum the team has maintained since the season’s open, as well as the potential points lost by withdrawing from races while the car was being finished, the change has been nothing but positive. The marriage Level 5’s skillful and talented drivers; the integrity, innovation and reputation of Honda Performance Development; and the precision and technique of Wirth Research has benefited all three groups.

When the wait for Level 5’s new LMP2 Lola Honda Spyder was over, it was obvious the car was well worth it. Not that Level 5 had too much to worry about, with wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Grand Prix of Long Beach, along with podium finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Six Hours of Imola, all during the team’s debut LMP2 season. When the team ignited the engine on the raceway for the first time at ModSpace American Le Mans Monterey presented by Patron, they bettered their season in the only way to better an already winning season: They made history. Tucker and co-drivers Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz earned their highest overall finish of the season at the Laguna Seca race. The car didn’t require a single unscheduled pit stop or encounter any unexpected issues, which easily secured the team’s fourth LMP2 victory of the season and Tucker and Bouchut’s drivers’ championships.

Bouchut nailed a best time of 1: 16.867 in the new HPD ARX-01g, which is just a second behind the LMP1 winning car’s fastest lap. With this being the first iteration of the HPD ARX-01g, with development still in early stages for cost-capped configurations, the pace was impressive, especially considering the model had less than three hours of run time prior to the endurance test.

The lofty expectations for the new Honda before it was finished were valid enough that Tucker had reserved the first two chassis that were produced, and the team waited patiently for its new and improved car, even withdrawing from competitions in order to have it in time for Petit Le Mans. The hype surrounding the car, both before it was proven and following its tenacious debut, solidified the partnership between Wirth Research and Honda Performance Development (HPD), as Wirth announced Sept. 9 the beginning of a new long-term technical partnership with Honda.

Wirth and HPD have been working together since 2003, but the new relationship extends the companies’ sports prototype programs and includes a new IndyCar project. In an official Wirth press release, the company notes that the unyielding success of its LMP1 and LMP2 cars in the past year have opened the opportunity to build on the achievements and begin to evaluate several new projects for high-profile clients.

“We looked through the numbers, inside and out, and from our perspective, there’s no doubt the Honda package in the new cost-capped configuration will be a front-runner in LMP2,” Tucker said, after making the mid-season decision to switch cars. “We’ve seen gains with the engine all year, and the exciting thing is that there’s still room for improvement.” Members of the Level 5 team even visited the Wirth Research center to check out their new set of wheels in production.

It’s not just any car that can evoke so much anticipation out of an already dominant racing team. It can be expected that as long as there’s improvement in the prototypes, teams like Level 5—which constantly strategizes and evaluates situations to optimize the chance of a victory—will keep HPD and Wirth high on their radars. The new long-term partnership between the companies is the exciting beginning of an era of innovation and ultimate performance ability in motorsports.

Brent Arends has been keeping a close eye on Scott Tucker, owner and driver, of Level 5 Motorsports throughout the past year. To get more information about Tucker, check out http://www.motorsport.com/#/all/search/?q=scott%252520tucker

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Posted on September 24, 2011 by , 1 comment