ALMS fans are enjoying the refilling of the paddock stocking for 2013, as the team and manufacturer announcements have turned into a steady flow featuring a couple of pleasant surprises.

Last Wednesday, November 28th, Jon Bennett’s 2011-2012 ALMS PC championship winning Core autosport team announced it will return to the PC class in 2013 to seek a third straight title. Last night they announced that Colin Braun and Bennett will return aboard the class runner-up #05 car with Mark Wilkins joining them for Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Drivers for the #06 car will be announced at a later date.

Just 24 hours later, Aston Martin announced a major tie-up with Kevin Buckler’s TRG that includes a new Aston Martin Vantage GTE entry for the ALMS GT class.

Then, big news came on Saturday as BMW announced that it will return to ALMS GT competition with a new BMW Z4 GTE. Team, driver and additional details are expected to be announced next month.

The momentum continues this week, as on Wednesday, the 2012 Petit Le Mans winning Rebellion Racing announced that it will enter one LMP1 car for the entire 2013 ALMS season with a possible second entry for the 12 Hours of Sebring. The team is also pursuing plans for a “parallel “program for the WEC and Le Mans.

And, Thursday, Paul Miller Racing announced its return to ALMS GT competition in 2012 with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Bryce Miller takes one-seat with a co-driver to be announced. Miller also announced that it will become a Michelin technical partner team.

Meanwhile, the Petit Le Mans GT winning Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari team has already announced it will return intact for 2013 as will the Derrick Walker led Falken Porsche.

Additional announcements are expected soon. Some top teams, including the 2012 ALMS P1 champions from Muscle Milk Pickett Racing and the GT Championship winning Corvette Racing squad are scheduled to test soon.