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Coming off exciting test finishes in the Roar prior to the 24, Scott Tucker-owned Level 5 Motorsports had only one thing planned: Make Daytona count. One of the biggest races of the year, the Daytona 24 also happened to be the first on Level 5’s schedule, and the team wasted no time entering a winning mindset.

“We brought the dogs to the hunt,” said team manager David Stone. “Hopefully they’ll do a great job; it’d be huge for this team to come off the start of the year with a huge win at a race like Daytona.”

The Microsoft Office-sponsored Level 5 entered its No. 95 and No. 55 in the race, which began at 3:30 in the afternoon, running during the night and to the following day. Temperature variation and daylight are additional circumstances a team must consider past the usual race checklist at a 24-hour stint.

To obtain an idea of the winning mindset of Level 5 Motorsports, consider this: Tucker remarkable team declined to qualify both cars in the race, accepting the dead-last start position over spending pre-race time in a qualifier. Said an auto mechanic: “Qualifying for a 24-hour race is completely meaningless. Anything that’s not directly related to winning this race, we’re going to opt out of.”

Early in the race, Tucker’s No. 95 got caught in a stack-up near the end of the pack, forcing it to go to pit. Cornered in with no exit available, the bump couldn’t be avoided-a frustrating turn of events for the Level 5 team. Tucker got back on the track in plenty of time to make up some for any loss before passing the wheel to his teammates.

Christophe Bouchut maneuvered the Level 5 car to the front of the pack and held there for a couple of laps. “Things were running very well, and lap after lap was great,” Bouchut said. Bouchut is one of the most successful endurance drivers and a past winner of the Daytona 24. He’s been with the Level 5 team since its 2008 season and earned his 100th career victory this past year.

Just before Luis Diaz took over just after the sun went down, he told commentators he was getting excited about the lap. The initial driver of the team to relish the lower temperatures , Luis entered the track after a great pit stop. The race was his debut with Level 5 Motorsports. Previously, he had been voted “Most Popular Driver” in 2009. “Scott Tucker really puts together a great driver lineup,” said a commentator. Not just is the roster stacked with talent and skill, but the driver order maximizes the Level 5 team’s achievement, with consistency throughout.

Although Tucker’s entire team delivered outstanding performances, it wasn’t quite enough to get Level 5 on the podium. The Madison, Wisc.-based team finished 8th overall. “This team has really grown,” said a commenter. “[The finish] doesn’t show any lack of determination, mechanical ability or driving ability. It’s just a tough race to win, and we’re looking forward to a great season.”

After wrapping up the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Level 5 Motorsports team looked ahead to a race half its time, the 12 Hours of Sebring.

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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 merely a second behind the LMP1 winning car’s fastest lap. With this being the very first iteration of the HPD ARX-01g, with development still in the beginning for cost-capped configurations, the pace was impressive, especially with the model had lower than three hours of run time ahead of the endurance test.

The lofty expectations with the new Honda prior to being finished were valid enough that Tucker had reserved the very first two chassis which 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 around 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 start of a brand 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 only any car that could evoke a lot anticipation out of an already dominant racing team. It may 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 possibility of a victory-will keep HPD and Wirth high on their radars. The brand new long-term partnership involving the companies is the exciting beginning of an era of innovation and ultimate performance ability in motorsports.

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Scott Tucker, owner and driver for Level 5 Motorsports, creates history earlier this week at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. Through the victory lap, he nabbed his 3rd straight SCCA titles, an historical accomplishment that merely a limited number of drivers have ever achieved.

In 2009, the Runoffs classic was held for the first time in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., its sixth location since it began. The location was close to Level 5 Motorsports’ home base in Madison, Wisc. The team, which Tucker founded in 2008, was still young but had enjoyed some good success already in the 2009 season. Tucker competed and won in the Hawk Performance Touring 1 race.

His No. 55 Ferrari 430 Challenge had the pole position to begin, and then he led the T1 field through turn one. In turn 2, he lost the top placement to rival John Buttermore, of Pontiac, Mich., who eventually makes podium behind Tucker. Tucker was hot on the tail of Buttermore’s Nearbrook Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette, keeping his 2nd place standing even with pressure from behind in driver Lance Knupp of Fenton, Mich., the 3rd driver to eventually reach the podium that day.

The very best 3 drivers fought it out through the race. Tucker followed Buttermore carefully, awaiting a chance to surpass him. In turn 5, Buttermore’s error became Tucker’s window, and Tucker passed him to regain charge in lap 4, right before turn six.

Tucker didn’t look back through out the 13-lap, 52-mile race. Once he crossed the checkered flag, Tucker had sped to a 1.42-second lead for the first place finish in his first Runoffs appearance. Along the way, he recorded the quickest lap of the race, with a 2:22.000 lap in the competition.

“Both Buttermore and Knupp were formidable competitors for the duration of the race,” Tucker said. “I was caught sleeping for a second there, when Buttermore overtook me, but he got a little wide in turn five, and I was able to take advantage of that. It really could have been anyone’s podium today; both of those guys put up strong, consistent races. I had to be continuously focused because I knew if I made a mistake, either one of them would be right there to pick it up.”

Shortly after Tucker overtook Buttermore, the Chevrolet lost stability because of braking, which helped Knupp’s No. 37 Dodge Viper to operate into the second-place spot. Even as Buttermore decelerated the pace, he still achieved the third-place podium finish.

In ‘09, Tucker had been in the middle of proving himself a top-notch driver in just his 3rd yr of professional racing. His decisive victory at the Runoffs, considered one of the very best sports vehicle races on the planet, added to his growing number of victories in ‘09. Going into this year’s Runoffs, Tucker was a different driver; he had not only two Runoffs wins under his belt, but a variety of other first-place and podium finishes from 5 various racing series. The 2009 SCCA Runoffs at Elkhart Lake, Wisc., were the start of 2 years of intense achievements for Tucker and the Level 5 Motorsports team.

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Level 5 Motorsports, one of the world’s most legendary auto racing organizations, is in the middle of rounding out the 2011 racing schedule, with only about three short-but very important-races left to undertake. The SCCA Runoffs, the ALMS Petit Le Mans and the Six hours of Zhuhai in China instantly be high-profile, extreme competition races. Only one thing they’re not: a whole day long.

The mother of all endurance races is the 24-hour enduro. With 2 on the 2011 books for Level 5 Motorsports, belonging to Scott Tucker, the team must be ready for a hard day-and night-of racing. The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series offered the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, in June, and the Grand-Am Rolex sets up the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, which was Level 5’s first race of the 2011 year, in January.

Having made podium at both super-endurance races, the Level 5 drivers (which also include Luis Diaz and Christophe Bouchut) have clearly perfected a number of the unique challenges a day-long competition presents. Among the most obvious: driving at nighttime. After focusing on a well-lit road all day, drivers are typically challenged to maintain an aggressive pace when it gets dark, especially on tracks that aren’t well-lit. On the Daytona International Speedway, many of the track is lit by floodlights, so drivers adjust more easily. But in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the course occasionally passes through secluded highways in France.

“It takes a little while to get adjusted,” Tucker said. “But the track is still there; you just have to get used to it.” When making the transition from day to night, teams make sure to check that the headlights are working perfectly, and the rest is up to the driver. “You sort of become one with the road,” Tucker says. “It’s the same way a blind person’s other senses are heightened; your other senses eventually take over, and soon enough you’re matching the lap times from earlier in the day.”

Many of the newest Le Mans Prototype models frequently approach 200mph in race situations, that is amplified when driven during the night time. “There’s nothing like driving at night,” Tucker says.

Tucker along with his Level 5 team secured an invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans when they won their LMP class in 2010 at the ALMS Petit Le Mans. Taking the wheels of LMP2 cars for the 2011 season, the team will again look for their invite to 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012-hopefully, with an LMP1 class designation. This weekend, the team competes in the SCCA Runoffs, but the race they’ve really concentrated on all season has been Petit Le Mans. They recently added a whole new car to their Microsoft Office-sponsored entries, a cost-capped Honda chassis with modified fuel injector and other specifications that ultimately allow car to run with an increase of power at a lighter weight.

So far, the car has proven hard to beat; it’s first appearance at Monterey was remarkable, and the weeks prior to Petit Le Mans are just additional chances for the drivers to familiarize themselves with the new set of wheels. With an LMP2 win at the top of their to-do list, the next time Level 5 Motorsports makes the transition from night to day could be in an LMP1 class at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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The 2011 American Le Mans series takes place on Oct. 1 with the 14th annual Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. For Scott Tucker, driver and owner for Level 5 Motorsports, the race marks the start of his sixth year of professional racing. In 2006, he made his professional debut at Petit Le Mans, and from that point, his career took off.

“There are not many Americans that get to race there, first and foremost, so I feel very privileged to be among that group,” he stated. “This year, we’re the only American prototype team there. We feel very fortunate we were selected to race there.”

The Petit Le Mans race is definitely an endurance race modeled after the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is its equivalent for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series. Road Atlanta owner Don Panoz founded it, and the first iteration ran on Oct. 10, 1998-and Panoz must have had a thing for tens, since the race covers at most 1,000 miles or a no less than 10 hours, whichever comes first. Class winners of Petit Le Mans automatically qualify for the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Tucker has increasingly focused on the American Le Mans Series as his career continues. After he founded Level 5 Motorsports in 2008, his main actions have included drafting talented veterans known for incredible precision even at maximum speeds. This year’s Petit Le Mans has unofficially been the ultimate goal in Tucker’s eyes: Mid-season, he announced the switch from the team’s Nos. 55 and 95 Microsoft Office-sponsored LMP2 cars to a brand new, right-off-the-line HPD ARX-01g chassis, the result of partnership between Honda Performance Development and Wirth Research. Tucker pushed hard to get the automobile finished as soon as possible, of course with out sacrificing quality. While making the transition between cars, Tucker even withdrew from ALMS races in Lime Rock Park and a huge one at Silverstone in Great Britain, choosing instead to focus on the all-important Petit ahead.

Now, Tucker has added a 4th elite motorist to his already well-stacked team. Marino Franchitti will join the team and its new car-which Tucker marks as best in the class-for the 2011 race at Road Atlanta. Franchitti has extensive experience with the HPD prototype family, having taken part in the first year of development of the ARX-01a with Andretti Green Racing before investing some LMP2 time with Dyson Racing. Adding Franchitti to the lineup is surely an obvious sign that Tucker is going for the win at Petit Le Mans, though that’s never not the case when Tucker enters a race track. He’s a three-time national driving champion. Level 5 Motorsports’ performance in 2010 during its debut year in the American Le Mans Series sent them to the top of the podium and bumped them into the LMP2 category.

Tucker has made giant strides since his Petit Le Mans professional debut in 2006, and this year he’s possibly the most prepared he’s ever been. A victory means another addition to Tucker’s unbelievable record during the past 5 years, and moving to the LMP1 category means Tucker has made it to the top class in the sport he seemingly was born to compete in. No matter the results wind up meaning for Level 5 Motorsports, the work they’ve already put in this year make it clear that the team is one of the most prolific, aggressive racing organizations on this planet.

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Scott Tucker is without a doubt a great race car driver, however when you add the fact he competes not just in the ALMS and the ILMS but the Ferrari Challenge series, Tucker becomes a fantastic race car driver-unbelievable not just due to the schedule he keeps, but due to 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 utilized since the series began in early 90s-at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

The 458 model was a new comer to the race, but Tucker as well as the car were old friends. He tested the vehicle exclusively in Spain the prior fall and again at the 12 Hours of Sebring weekend in the spring of 2011. The Ferrari 458 model is lighter and quicker when compared with its Italia 458 counterpart. The automobile boasts 570 horsepower; 9,000 RPM direct injection V8 engine, and its gearbox is modified to improve torque at lower revolutions. The vehicle is also built with a top-quality traction control system that was produced by Ferrari. The device is based on logic and techniques 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 couple 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 an outstanding performance inspite of the hiccups, weaving through traffic efficiently with the front of the line his unwavering goal. Even though 458 car started last, Tucker brought it over 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.”

Having 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.

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In March, right after a modest but great showing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona few weeks earlier, the Level 5 Motorsports team made its LMP2 debut. After winning its LMP class this year, the drivers nabbed the LMP2 distinction. As is now a bit of a tradition in the past year, the team was working feverishly to finish its entry car in time for the starting flag. In a matter of just days, the Lola Honda was finished and shipped to Florida for its race debut and the team’s class debut.

Level 5 drivers Scott Tucker, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Luis Diaz split time commanding the racetrack. Tucker told people the media that the 12 Hours of Sebring was a “test run” for the Lola Honda, as it had come straight off the assembly floor, but if Sebring was a test, Level 5 Motorsports scored an A . Even during the face of a few mishaps and issues, the drivers drove strong and finished strong, making up for any mistakes with skillful maneuvering around turns and careful, strategic straightaway shots. The Level 5 Motorsports team secured an LMP2 victory, reliving their LMP success from the previous year. Tucker also won the Champion Driver award at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2010.

The Lola Honda wasn’t the fastest car through the straights, but she shined when the track started to bend. Tucker and Diaz made the first rounds of the Sebring International Speedway and made clear their class dominance quickly. Strong showings from the drivers on the first 2 legs of the race still left work to be done by Hunter-Reay, a Florida native. Hunter-Reay drove a superb leg, recovering lots of time for the team and ultimately whizzing beyond the finish line in front of the pack.

“The team had some issues but made up for lost time,” Tucker said. “Ryan had a grew last few laps.” Although the Lola Honda was barely finished before tackling a notoriously grueling 12-hour race, the car didn’t show any signs of fatigue or wear at race’s end. The team didn’t face any mechanical issues, and nary a scratch was visible on the body at the end of the day. “We’re pleased with the vehicle performance,” Tucker said. “We knew we had a great car, and we’re eager to see what we can do with it.”

The Level 5 team, together with other entries, donned Japan stickers on their cars to honor the nation after the earthquake and tsunami that had occurred in time prior to the Sebring race.

Reaching podium on the first ALMS appearance of the season was the start Level 5 Motorsports had hoped for entering into Sebring. With plenty races to come before the championship Petit le Mans in October, they had a lot of work in front of them, loads of miles to drive, and a lot of potential for successes to arrive.

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Fast cars, feelings, tension and hours of motion: Aside from mood music, that’s the makings of any feature film-to be fair, one that was already made, but additionally one which might be equally as successful if filmed again with the exact same cast.

That cast is Level 5 Motorsports, the team featured in “Daytona Dream,” the 2011 Drive Motion Pictures feature film that chronicled the emotional, action-packed journey of the Scott Tucker-owned team to the Grand-Am series Rolex 24 at Daytona, an institution in American culture far beyond racing circles.

However, this time, the movie would be about the same team’s 2011 season, one that has effectively exploded the success and publicity surrounding Level 5 Motorsports. In fact, “Daytona Dream” was shown as a webcast on the team’s website, Level5Motorsports.com, on Aug. 12 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of its debut.

Following its theatrical debut in summer 2010 along with a successful run at film festivals, Discovery Communications obtained the rights to the project for domestic and international television broadcasts, an enormous leap for not just the film and the team as well as the endurance racing industry in the scope of the Discovery Channel’s viewership. The crazy thing is the stats continually posted by endurance racing teams don’t merit their very own mainstream cable channel or films all the time-emotion, drama, tension and action have been at record highs for Level 5 Motorsports this year, and mood music has nothing regarding it.

The growing season began with the film-topic Grand-Am Daytona series. Level 5 entered the Rolex 24 at Daytona with a win-only mindset; but that optimism and determination was crushed when the Microsoft Office-sponsored No. 95 entry got caught in a stackup in the notoriously narrow lanes. The team drove impressively through out the race, but it ultimately finished Eighth.

The anticipation surrounding Tucker’s seemingly impossible schedule would be a crowd pleaser; the 2006 rookie entered in not one or two but three series for the 2011 season. The next race of the year was the initial of the ALMS and the team’s first in the LMP2 class, following the LMP championship Level 5 won in 2010. With a new LMP2 car, the team found themselves at the top of the podium, a huge win at their class debut in the 12 Hours of Sebring.

As with every excellent story, the momentum built for Level 5 Motorsports as it went on to take second at the Long Beach, Calif. street circuit, and Tucker made podium at Infineon Raceway and Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in the Ferrari Challenge series. But, problems befell the team. When Tucker caught wind of a new Honda Performance Development/Wirth Research cost-capped prototype, he reserved the 1st two models. With the car still in development for much of the summer, Tucker and his awesome team withdrew from a major ILMC competition, the Silverstone in England, because the car wasn’t ready. The risky decision cost the team an opportunity for points and a big showing at an ILMC event, and the team was sidelined through ALMS races at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and MoSport in Ontario, Canada. Additionally for those races, the team had hardly any LMP2 competition, so they devoted to the ILMC and ALMS championships ahead, specifically on making sure that the new HPD ARX-01g was ready to drive. The suspense built; would the vehicle be well worth the wait? Would it be enough to secure an LMP2 championship?

The Lola-Honda chassis made its race debut at the team’s return to the ALMS series with the ModSpace American Le Mans Series at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. The team finished fourth overall and first in points for the LMP2 class, which secured drivers’ championships for Tucker and co-driver Christophe Bouchut.

Endurance racing is naturally excellent material for any feature film. But add to the typical suspense, emotion and action Scott Tucker’s improbable schedule-and improbable career, for that matter-and you’ve got a story for the ages. The “Daytona Dream” season was impressive in and of itself, but the way Level 5 Motorsports has spent 2011 so far, and the excitement sure to follow with Petit Le Mans and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in China still to come, prove how exciting endurance racing truly can get.

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Last week, Scott Tucker-owned Level 5 Motorsports announced the addition of Marino Franchitti to its driver lineup before this weekend’s Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. Franchitti will join Tucker and fellow driver Luis Diaz in driving the No. 55 Microsoft Office-sponsored entry for the enduro, a 1,000-mile/10-hour race.

Franchitti is the latest addition to Tucker’s superteam of motorsports competitors, that’s been established through the Level 5 Motorsports team’s three years of existence. Franchitti is going to be especially handy in driving the latest Level 5 entry, a LMP2-class Honda Performance Development prototype developed in conjunction with Wirth Research. Prior to joining Level 5, Franchitti had raced essentially every iteration of HPD prototypes, such as the original ARX-01a with Andretti Green Racing in 2007 and Highcroft’s 2010 ALMS championship winner ARX-01c as well as its ARX-01e, which took 2nd place overall in the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year. Franchitti this season will undoubtedly be seeking his 3rd straight Petit Le Mans class victory.

The elite Level 5 team began when Tucker joined the industry of professional motorsports in 2006 at age 44. What he was missing in experience he made up for in raw talent, easily ascending the motorsports rankings. At the beginning, he joined up with Christophe Bouchut, an endurance racing veteran, who acted as his coach and co-driver. Bouchut is just about the best endurance drivers around the world and a past winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. He has also won three Porsche Carrera Cup France championships, 3 FIA GT titles and an FFSA GT championship. He’s the only triple FIA GT champion in history. Since Level 5 Motorsports team began in 2008, Bouchut has co-driven with Tucker and been integral in the team’s success. With his wealth of experience and skill in controlled speed, Bouchut’s role as lead driver has allowed Tucker to develop his own skills, increasing the depth of the Level 5 racing team. During the 2010 season, Bouchut earned his 100th career win.

Joao Barbosa, another Level 5 Motorsports standout began his racing career in his native Porto, Portugal nearly Three decades ago. He won back-to-back kart championships in 1988-1989 and proceeded to win the Portuguese Formula Ford championship in 1994 and the Italian Formula Alfa Boxter Championship in 1995. In 2001, he joined the Grand-Am Sports Car Series and competed in the GT class until he joined the Brumos Racing team in a Daytona prototype in 2006. After four seasons there, he joined Action Express Racing and won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2010. In 2010, he also made seven starts in the ALMS for Extreme Speed Motorsports in the GT2 class.

Luis Diaz, the 3rd part to this weekend’s Petit Le Mans bid, hails from Mexico City, Mexico. He ran in the Toyota Atlantic and Indy Lights Series from 1999-2003 before making the move to Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2004 when he co-drove the No. 1 car with former Champ Car competitor Scott Pruett for Chip Ganassi Racing. In 2007, he moved into the ALMS, driving an LMP2 Lola B06/43-Acura for Fernandez Racing. The pairing finished sixth in the LMP2 standings that year and won the class championship in 2009. Diaz made his Level 5 debut this year at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a successful begin to the season, and his LMP2 experience might be crucial at Petit Le Mans using the new car.

Ryan Hunter-Reay has been off the grid for most of the 2011 season as Tucker and crew have been concentrated on the ALMS and LMP2 class, but he has been a significant contributor to the Level 5 team’s overall success. He’s a regular in the IZOD IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport, where he nabbed his 2nd victory at Iowa Speedway this past year. Hunter-Reay helped the No. 95 Level 5 Motorsports BMW Riley to a third-place finish in the 2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

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