GREEN RACING UPDATE
 

Program Announcement

The 2010 ALMS 

Green Challenge 

Final Race and 

Championship 

Awards 

On October 3, 2010, EPA, DOE, and SAE International awarded 

Green Challenge Championship trophies for the second year at 

the annual American Le Mans Series (ALMS) awards ceremony in 

Braselton, Georgia. The Green Challenge Championship was the 

culmination of a series of nine races over the 2010 ALMS racing 

season. The final race was run on October 2, 2010 at Road Atlanta. 

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.) Among those present at the race were Margo Oge, 

Director of the EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, and 

Kathleen Hogan, DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy 

Efficiency. Margo and Kathleen had the honor of announcing the 

engine start just before the race. 

The final race also marked the first ever ALMS Green Expo, which 

was a display of various green vehicles, products and technologies that 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

EPA-420-F-10-057 

November 2010 
Program Announcement 

are currently available. Present at the Expo was a display by EPA and DOE 

that included Green Racing and Smartway information and a Green Racing 

simulator. 

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 competitors included diesel powered 

cars using clean diesel fuel and particulate 

filters, cars using E-85 ethanol fuel, and cars 

using E-10 gasoline. This year there were a 

record nine cars using E- 85, including cars 

sponsored by Chevrolet, BMW, Porsche, and 

Ferrari. For the final race, all E-85 cars used 

cellulosic ethanol. An innovative Porsche 

hybrid race car also ran as a demonstration. 

The 2010 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 Performance Development (HPD) 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.1 

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 205 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. 

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/primary1.php?cat=green 

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Program Announcement 

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

with 46 points, which was 20 points ahead of 

its nearest rival, Porsche. However, Porsche was 

the winning GT class manufacturer, finishing 

with 53 points, which was only 7 points ahead 

of Chevrolet. 

The Green Challenge Championship winners’ 

trophies were presented at the ALMS annual 

awards ceremony by Lee Slezak (DOE), Karl 

Simon (EPA), and Tim Mellon (SAE International). 

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