The Monterey area surrounding the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is an ideal venue for America’s premier environmental motorsports competition, the MICHELIN^® GREEN X^® Challenge.

Nestled in the foothills just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay, and surrounded by farms, vineyards and suburbs, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a scenic and timely reminder of the needs for motorsports competitions that respect the environment.

Through the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge, which recognizes clean, fast and efficient performance at every race, the ALMS manufacturers, teams and drivers continue their relentless quest for efficiency, reduced energy use and emissions.

“Teams are flat out to make every possible gain in performance, efficiency, fuel economy and lap times,” said Silvia Mammone, manager motorsports marketing, Michelin North America. “Being able to extend a fuel run by one lap can be a big advantage in the race and in winning the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge.”

With top teams from Chevrolet Corvette, BMW, Porsche, SRT Viper and Ferrari in the production-based GT (Grand Touring) category, the technical skills and resources are impressive. The competition is considered the best in the world. All current ALMS GT entries at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca have chosen E85R as their fuel, significantly reducing oil consumption and emissions.

During the recent Long Beach Grand Prix, the best laps from the top five GT cars were separated by 0.074 of a second, or less than one-tenth of one percent on a 73-second lap.  Similar competition is expected here in Monterey.