Tomy Drissi and Bruno Junquiera muscled the No. 9 Taken 2 team RSR Oreca Prototype Challenge car through the streets of Baltimore to take second place in class for this weeks American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón Baltimore Sports Car Challenge presented by SRT.
The eighth round of the American Le Mans Series championship was a 2-hour charge of bumping and grinding, fighting extreme heat and jammed up traffic through the city’s Inner Harbor district.
Featuring the Taken 2 In Theaters October 5th on their ORECA LMPC car, Tomy started from the pole thanks to Bruno’s spectacular qualifying run of 1:27.464, a new track record.
“Wow, this was all out war,” said Driss following the race. “I started the car from the Prototype Challenge pole. Bruno did an amazing job in qualifying. But once the field got to turn one, all bets were off. A P1 prototype went wide and got stuffed in the tires. All of a sudden it was like being in LA on the 405 at rush hour. We literally came to a complete stop. Everyone was taking evasive action trying to get through the corner. I managed to get through and ultimately got the car back up to second place.”
With the race slated as a two-hour sprint, Tomy maintained a flat out pace fighting for every inch of race track.
“There was a lot of banging and risk taking going on out there,” said Tomy. “It was fun.. but it was nerve racking just the same. I was pleased with my stint and felt good turning the car over to Bruno. The team gave us perfect pit stops. We were all on a mission to repeat last year’s win, though we were very pleased to come away with second place.”
The next round of the ALMS championship is the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón VIR 240 from Virginia International Raceway. The four-hour race is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 15. ESPN2’s broadcast begins at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 16. Full, live coverage starts at 2:15 p.m. ET on ESPN3.
Tomy Drissi is an American driver and Trans Am Champion.
His driver experience includes ALMS, Trans-Am, NASCAR and Speed World Challenge.
Born December 9 in Hollywood, California, Tomy owns an advertising firm that produces upcoming film displays for cinemas. Drissi’s first racing experience in motorsports was street racing on Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills.
His professional racing career highlights include; 1999 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year, 2000 Trans-Am BBS Most Improved Driver, 2000 Trans-Am Crew of the Year and Trans-Am Champion. In 2010 Tomy competed in Trans-Am taking 1 win, 1 pole, 3 podiums, 4 Top Fives, 7 Top Tens; He also competed in the American Le Mans Series LMP1 class at Mid-Ohio finishing 3rd. In 2011 Tomy returned to the American Le Mans Series, LMPC division. He scored a 2nd at Long Beach, 3rd at Lime Rock, 1st at Mid Ohio,1st at Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix and second at Road Atlanta -Petit Le Mans.
Tomy is married to Lacy Livingston Drissi.
Find out more about Tomy Drissi at http://www.tomydrissi.com or follow Tomy on Facebook /tomydrissi and Twitter @tomydrissi
Taken 2: Taken 2 is an upcoming 2012 French action thriller film directed by Olivier Megaton and starring Liam Neeson. The sequel to the 2008 film Taken, will be released on October 5, 2012.
6 months after the events in Paris, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) has reconciled with his wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), and now they have taken a family holiday in Istanbul. But an Albanian mobster Murad (Rade Šerbedžija), whose son, Marko, Bryan killed in Paris, arrives in Istanbul to take revenge, and he abducts Lenore. Bryan escapes, and now he must save Lenore and find Kim, who is lost in the middle of Istanbul, before Murad finds both Kim and Bryan.
The American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón is the world`s leading sports car championship and is recognized as the Global Leader in Green Racing. In the tradition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, multiple classes of cars – purpose-built prototypes and production-based Grand Touring automobiles – race on the track at the same time to create compelling race action and constant passing. All cars in the Series compete using one of five approved alternative fuels or energy sources: clean sulfur-free diesel, cellulosic E85 or E10, Isobutanol and electric hybrid technologies. The Series has more automobile marques involved than any other major race series in the world as manufacturers develop relevant technologies on track that transfer directly to the customer showroom. The ALMS competes