Alex Wong Photography: American LeMans Series 2010 at Mazda Raceway Laguna-Seca

This will be a longer post than usual so please bear with me as I ran, complain and just try to make sense of my passion for photography.

The American LeMans Series made its way to Mazda Raceway Laguna-Seca in Monterey, CA this past weekend. Usually they stop here towards the end of the year, usually October, and usually the race is a 4 hour fun run. For 2010, the race was pushed to the month of May and they would be running for 6 hours, starting at 230pm all the way through til 830pm as the sun was setting. I've attended ALMS races, both as a photographer and spectator but never stayed for the entire time. I was fortunate to receive a photo/media vest this year and for the few readers and followers I have to this blog, never take a photo vest for granted. You'll know when you get denied a vest that it messes with your head. I've been denied for an ALMS photo/vest at Laguna-Seca, so being approved for one this year, I decided to use it to its full advantage.

I covered the ALMS event on Thursday (the test sessions) and Saturday for the six hour endurance race. Both days arriving at the track by 7am and not leaving until past 9pm. Mazda Raceway takes incredible care of their media, providing lunch/dinner, internet, live video feed, etc. Big thank you to them.

As far as coverage for the event, I decided to push myself to see if I could handle the profession of a wire photographer, ie, shoot, upload, shoot, upload, non-stop. From the following photos you can see the mentality I had as far as covering the event. Try to get as many 'stock' photos of each team as possible, clean backgrounds (if possible), figure out who takes pole position, get a ton of photos of them, figure out who is leading, figure out who won and make sure you get clean of all of them. On top of that, try to make photos that would two page spreads, or take front page, or can be seen hanging on a wall, the 'wow' photos. So that was my challenge. After reading an article from seasoned motorsports photographer John Thawley, always keep moving. Shoot a few photos here, move to a next spot. Like Jay-Z says, on to the next one, on-on to the next one.

Other than that, I pushed myself physically to the limit.

My Nikon D200 shutter crapped out twice.
I nearly passed out driving home...both days.
Did live twitter photo updates on the Blackberry and iPhone.
Walked the entire Laguna-Seca course twice in a day.
Pushed 30+ hour days

Shot with :
Nikon D200
Sigma 100-300 f/4
Sigma 30 f/1.4

Here's what I got.

The American LeMans Series presented by Tequila Patron

Team Patron Highcroft Racing
Winner of this round's ALMS 6 hour race
The team, due to some mishaps, started at the back of the field when the green flag dropped, and within 4 laps, pushed their way past 30 cars into 4th position.

Simon Pagenaud of Highcroft Racing

Dyson Racing and their Lola B09/86-Mazda MZR-R
They fought their way to pole position on Friday and battled hard through the 6 hour endurance. Within the closing hours of the race, an oil pump had failed causing the car to stall mid lap. From there, they would never regain the lead and were unable to finish the race. A truly heartbreaking end to the race for the team.

Drayson Racing and their Lola B09/60-Judd
In the third hour of the race, the gear box failed and the race car was declared out.

Muscle Milk Team Cytosport and their Porsche RS Spyder

Team Flying Lizard with their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
Last year, Joerg Burgmeister and Jan Magnussen in the Corvette battled hard in the closing hours of the race, with a disasterous spin out on the front straight. This year, the battle was just as stiff, with the Corvette's, BMW's, Porsches and Ferraris going head to head all six hours. When the checkered flag dropped, Patrick Long and Joerge Burgmeister piloted the Flying Lizard #45 Porsche GT3 to a class win.

Team Falken
This is, I believe, Team Falken's third year in the American LeMans Series, running with the Porsche GT3 from last year. I've worked with these guys before, covering their new tire releases at SEMA and following them through the Formula Drift circuit.