The Porsche RS Spyder of Dyson Racing.

Following their amazing successes in Sebring, the Porsche RS Spyder teams of Penske and Dyson Racing now prepare for round 2 of the American Le Mans Series taking place this weekend in St. Petersburg. With Sebring being the longest race of the season, St. Petersburg's city track is one of the shortest races at just around 1.5 hours.

This Florida circuit is just under kilometers and features 14 corners. “This is a completely new race with totally different challenges,” Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport, said.

Kristen explained, “It’s important that whatever happens out there on the track, you stay flexible and react correctly.”

St. Petersburg is a much tighter course with fewer run-off zones. Course yellow's will have nearly as much influence on race strategy as the race duration and pit stops. Not only will the street course provide a great up close look for ALMS fans but a unique challenge to competitors.

Last year, Porsche celebrated a double LMP2 class victory after a gripping chase. This time, four RS Spyders will fly through the streets of St. Petersburg. Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) share driving duties in their #6 Penske Racing car. Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) drive the #7 RS Spyder. The US customer team, Dyson Racing, also fields two RS Spyders: Chris Dyson (USA) and Guy Smith (Great Britain) man the #16 car, with the # 20 RS Spyder piloted by Butch Leitzinger, Marino Franchitti and Andy Lally (USA). On a side note, the Indy Racing League is also in St. Petersburg this weekend.

“Things can happen really quickly. Whoever makes an error here mostly ends up in the wall,” says Timo Bernhard. Despite the absence of long straights, where competitors could normally catch their breath, the reigning champion enjoys the street circuit. “You have to drive with extreme precision and fully concentrate from start to finish. It’s not easy, but that’s how I like it.”

Porsche also took home a double victory in the GT2 class, with Flying Lizard Motorsports dominating in Sebring with two 911 GT3 RSR. The all-German line-up of Joerg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb won ahead of Darren Law (USA), Seth Neiman (USA) and Alex Davison (Australia). In St. Petersburg, their team mates Johannes van Overbeek (USA) and Patrick Pilet (France), who retired through no fault of their own from the season-opening race, are eager to make up lost ground. It will also be interesting to see how the Farnbacher Loles Racing team fares with their 911 GT3 RSR.

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