Lotus Alex Job Racing ready for finale at Road Atlanta

TAVARES, FLA. (Oct. 17, 2012) - Lotus Alex Job Racing (AJR) drivers Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell and Johnny Mowlem are ready for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda to be run Oct. 17-10 at Road Atlanta.

The team took the opportunity to test the car yesterday at the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta track, located 30 minutes northeast of Atlanta. Mowlem (Charvil, UK), the Lotus Factory Driver, joins season long drivers Sweedler (Westport, NY) and Bell (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) behind the wheel of the No. 23 Lotus Alex Job Racing Evora GT. Road Atlanta is viewed by the drivers as one of the more "old style" road courses with high speed turns and a multitude of elevation changes making the 1,000-mile or 10-hours, whatever comes first, a very exciting race. The event will see the second biggest field of the year with 42 cars entered.

"We were able to put in a good day of testing yesterday at Road Atlanta," Sweedler said. "Johnny is fitting right in with the team and is providing some positive feedback on the car and the development that the team has done with the car this season. We have a good baseline set up to tweak on for the rest of the week and a few additions to our to-do list for the off season. Our partners Battery Tender, William Rast, Schecter Guitars and Yokohama are behind us all the way and I am looking forward to closing out the season very strong on Saturday."

Bell will run Road Atlanta for the first time since a second place run in Indy Lights 11 years ago.

"My last visit to Road Atlanta was in 2001," Bell said. "I was leading by 16 seconds with three laps to go in the Indy Lights race. It started to rain. The yellow came out. It went green, white, checker and Wheldon (Dan) passed me in last corner. I finished second. Dan was a fierce competitor and it's been one year since we lost him, he was a good friend. I am looking forward to racing the Lotus there this weekend, especially through the Esses - the fast twisty section from Turn Two to Turn Five. We have a great contingent of Lotus enthusiasts coming to the race and I hope we can have them celebrating with us come 9 p.m. on Saturday evening."

Mowlem returns to Petit Le Mans, where he also raced one year ago in a Lotus.

"I raced the Evora at Petit Le Mans last year in the World Endurance Championship," Mowlem said. "The Road Atlanta circuit really suits the chassis. I am optimistic that with the great preparation of AJR behind it, and the advantage of a 10 hour race where reliability and strategy can really play a part, that we have a chance at a strong performance in the final results."

Alex Job, team principal, had his team put the car through its paces on Monday at Road Atlanta.

"The test went well," Job said. "Johnny got acclimated to the car and the team. We were able to put some quality miles on the Lotus and get a good baseline set up heading into the official weekend which starts on Wednesday. We are looking to prove out our updates on the car, so we can go into the off season knowing exactly where to put our development efforts for 2013."

On Friday the team will be donating one of the limited-edition Lotus Alex Job Racing Schecter Guitars to the Austin Hatcher Foundation auction. The live auction will take place at 1:15 p.m. on Friday at the Flying Lizard Motorsports' Team Transporter in the paddock.

Source: Lotus Alex Job Racing