Corvette, Muscle Milk Honda claim latest Michelin Green X Challenge Awards

Clean, fast and efficient cars carried the day at the American Le Mans–Monterey as the Honda powered Muscle Milk Pickett Racing prototype matched an overall victory in the six-hour race with a Prototype category victory in the Michelin Green X Challenge.

For Corvette Racing, it was a bit of a reverse. The team’s Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1s claimed an impressive 1-2 finish in the race and a 1-2 in the Michelin Green X Challenge GT category, albeit with the car order reversed.

Reinforcing the link between clean, fast, and efficient performance and success on the race track, the Muscle Milk Honda win marks the 28th time in the four year history of America’s premiere environmental motorsports competition that the Michelin Green X Challenge winner also won its class on the race track.

Racing under clear blue skies at the 11-turn, 2.238 mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, one of America’s most iconic race circuits, the third stop on the 2012 American Le Mans Series season featured one of the most technically diverse fields in American motorsports. Teams compete in two basic categories, Prototype and GT, under rules that encourage innovation and the acceleration of new technologies to market through competition.

“When the Michelin Green X Challenge competition started, there were concerns that the awards would go to the slowest cars, but that is certainly not the reality,” said Silvia Mammone, manager motorsports, Michelin North America. “Once again we see that fast, clean cars are efficient both in the race competition and in the Michelin Green X Challenge.”

The Michelin Green X Challenge Prototype victories were the 10th for the Muscle Milk team and seventh for Honda and 11th for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing.

“Having a one-two finish both in the race and in the Michelin Green X Challenge is a perfect result for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing,” said program manager Doug Fehan.