Drissi heads to the streets of Baltimore

Tomy Drissi Heads To Baltimore for Round 7 of the American Le Mans Series Championship

Tomy Drissi

Photo by: Adriano Manocchia

Tomy Drissi returns to the American Le Mans Series driving the Intersport Racing No. 37 LMPC car in Baltimore, Maryland this weekend for round seven of the Series championship. The inaugural running of the Baltimore Grand Prix will be a two-hour sprint race starting at 4:30pm on Saturday, September 3.

Mid-Ohio winners, Tomy Drissi and Kyle Marcelli will be back together piloting the No. 37 Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked / DynaPrep / Lafarge / Muscle Milk LMPC car. It should also be noted that Drissi and Marcelli combined for a 2nd place finish the last time the Series raced a temporary street circuit in Long Beach California. In addition, the pair made their way to the podium in the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back in the prototype with Kyle," said Tomy Drissi. "I've been off doing a couple of NASCAR Nationwide events and campaigning the No. 47 TruSpeed Motorsports Porsch GT Cup car in World Challenge. ALMS weekends are always good competitive racing and it's even better when you're teamed up with a driver like Kyle and a crew like Intersport."

The Baltimore Grand Prix is the second street race of the 2011 American Le Mans Series season. The newly constructed temporary 2.0-mile race track represents an unknown challenge to the Series' drivers and teams. The circuit will wind through the streets of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area and around Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The former railroad center will serve as the backing to pit row for the 12-turn temporary road course.

With the track being *the* unknown factor for the weekend, the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix has the potential of being the most challenging race of 2011 for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. Team engineers have been trying to find any knowledge or detail that might provide an edge for the weekend event. The drivers got their first full look at the track during a two-hour track walk on Thursday.

Track time will be at a premium with just two hours of practice before qualifying for Saturday's main event. The first practice session for ALMS cars is scheduled for 9:25 a.m. Friday.