Program Announcement

GREEN RACING UPDATE

The 2009 ALMS 

Green Challenge 

Championship 

Awards

On October 11, 2009, EPA, DOE, and SAE International awarded 

the first Green Challenge Championship trophies at the annual 

American Le Mans Series (ALMS) awards ceremony in Monterey, 

California. The Green Challenge Championship was the culmination 

of a series of nine races over the 2009 ALMS racing season. The final 

race was run on October 10, 2009 at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway near 

Monterey. The Green Challenge is conducted as part of a partnership 

between ALMS, EPA, the Department of Energy (DOE), and SAE 

International. (See EPA Program Announcement, Green Racing 

Initiative for more information.)

A Race Within a Race

For each of the races, the Green 

Challenge competition was a “race 

within a race” where the ALMS 

sports car races went on as usual, 

but Green Challenge measurements 

and computations served as an underlying competition for the fastest 

and greenest competitors. This year’s 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality

EPA-420-F-10-012

February 2010
Program Announcement

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competitors included a hybrid electric race car, diesel powered cars using clean diesel fuel and 

particulate filters, cars using E-85 ethanol fuel, and cars using E-10 gasoline.

The Winners

Two Green Challenge Championship trophies were awarded, one to each of the engine 

manufacturers of the winning Prototype and GT class cars for the season. Honda won the 

trophy in the Prototype class, and Porsche won the GT class trophy. The Green Challenge 

Championship is not a privately sponsored award and is only bestowed by EPA, DOE, and 

SAE International. It is awarded at the end of the season to the two winning engine 

manufacturers based on points from each race during the season.*

The Green Challenge awards are based on measurement and calculation procedures that were 

developed by DOE and EPA. The season-long championship awards use a point system that 

starts with a starting allocation of 225 points, and points are deducted after each race depending on 

the Green Challenge finish place of the car. Thus, the winners have the least number of points 

at the end of the season.

Honda, the winning prototype class Green Challenge Championship manufacturer, finished 

with 54 points, which was 106 points ahead of its nearest rival, AER. Porsche, the winning GT 

class manufacturer, finished with 83 points, which was only 12 points ahead of Chevrolet. 

The Green Challenge Championship winners’ trophies were presented at the ALMS annual 

awards ceremony by Margo Oge, EPA Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, 

Pat Davis, DOE Program Manager for Vehicle Technologies, and Jim Smith, President of SAE 

International. They also presented a special recognition award to Steve and Tere Pruitt who 

developed and raced a pioneering hybrid electric racing machine that competed in several of the 

ALMS races in 2009.

*ALMS and Michelin also sponsor separate awards for racing teams called the Michelin Green X 

Challenge awards. Using the same measurement and calculation procedures as the EPA/DOE/SAE 

awards, ALMS and Michelin award trophies to the winning Michelin Green X Challenge race teams 

for each race and at the end of the season as a team championship. For more on the Michelin Green X 

Challenge, see http://www.americanlemans.com/index_green.php