Scott Tucker and Level 5 Motorsports See new Car as a Winner

The Level 5 Motorsports team’s 2011 year has proved it a versatile, prominent team stocked with talent, skill and enthusiasm. Commanding the podium in the majority of the races it entered-including winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and podium at Imola and Sebring, among others-is evidence that the Scott Tucker-owned, Microsoft Office-sponsored team has found a fantastic formula in its schedule, race strategy and drivers, including Tucker, Luis Diaz and Christophe Bouchut. While they began the last quarter of an already extraordinary season with the ModSpace American Le Mans Monterey presented by Patron mid-September, all their ducks seemed to be in a row: their equation had been proven time after time as dependable for an effective winning effort. But this race contained one wild card, or wild car, as the case might be-the team would finally debut the HPD ARX-01g they had announced they were switching to mid-season.

The Level 5 team anticipated the car to be a good multiplier for their already winning equation, but as is the case in racing, they also knew always to anticipate the unforeseen. For an additional team, the possibility and risk of stepping into completely new car so near to the season’s biggest races could mess up drivers and the team’s rhythm, but Level 5 is comprised of drivers that have experience not only adapting to vehicle changes but also in motor racing itself.

“Experience counts,” said Christophe Bouchut before the ModSpace race. “We’ve worked hard to prepare for this race, but it’s still brand new and there are still things to check.” The team opened the gearbox for evaluation, sitting out of a final practice session to familiarise themselves with the brand-new car as much as possible before its 1st run. Still, Bouchut was right: A car can be checked frequently, and the race strategy can be cemented into the drivers’ minds, but there comes a time for drivers when lessons from earlier race experience gets control with a sort of gut instinct and feeling that can’t be taught.

Tucker is the least experienced driver on the Level 5 team, but what he lacks in years driving he makes up for with a wonderful learning curve that barely existed to begin with. A novice in 2006 at the age of 44, Tucker displayed natural skill and stunning skill in the Ferrari Challenge Series before he created Level 5 Motorsports and began constructing a dream team of individuals. As the seasons evolved, Tucker began seeing his first major success. In 2009, he won the Sports Car Club of America National Championship. Later on, he was the 1st American to drive one of Audi’s V-12 turbodiesels in a competition, during the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His passion for motorsports put together with an unrelenting quest for excellence-which has caused him to maintain an ultra-disciplined health and fitness regimen as well as a hard, three-series race schedule-have catapulted his brief career into the territory of his counterparts, whose 1st races weren’t too long after their first birthdays.

Christophe Bouchut, part of the Level 5 dream team, is among the best endurance drivers anywhere. His wins have included the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. He has also won three Porsche Carrera Cup France championships, three FIA GT titles and a FFSA GT championship. He is the only triple FIA GT champion ever. Bouchut has been driving with Tucker’s Level 5 team since 2008, adding his experience to Tucker’s burgeoning motorsports empire and becoming a fundamental part of the team’s success.

Luis Diaz drove in the Toyota Atlantic and Indy Lights Series from 1999 to 2003 before moving to the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car series in 2004 when he co-drove the No. 01 car with former Champ Car competitor Scott Pruett for Chip Ganassi Racing. 3 years later, Diaz moved again, this time into the American Le Mans Series, driving an LMP2 Lola B06/43-Acura for Fernandez Racing, and won the class championship in 2009. Diaz was also titled Most Popular Driver that year. Diaz’s experience with Level 5 Motorsports is limited to only this year’s season, but his familiarity with the LMP2 cars has undoubtedly been crucial to the ever-changing team.

Level 5 Motorsports continues to run on a near-perfect combination of skills, appreciation, skill and experience. The cohesive mix of the drivers’ backgrounds has established the team as dominant frontrunners in multiple series and allowed the 2011 momentum to go on with the completely new HPD ARX-01g car.

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