MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA
Epicenter for Motorcycle, Sports Car & Historic Racing

The sleek lines of the American le Mans racers power into the night. Photo: courtesy Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The 2009 season at the world-renowned Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will feature the best in motorcycle, historic and sports car competition on the 2.238-mile Monterey Peninsula race track.

"Where else can you experience Valentino Rossi, Helio Castroneves and rare, priceless Porsches pushing their limits?" said Gill Campbell, CEO/general manager of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. "The best drivers, riders and historic cars race here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The track's heritage as the premier road racing circuit in North America is unmatched."

The 53rd season of racing officially kicks off May 15-17 with the Monterey Festival of Speed, featuring the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series with the Koni Sports Car Challenge, Mazda MX-5 Cup and Ford Racing Mustang Challenge as support series. The event will mark the fifth consecutive year for Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype and GT cars in Monterey.

The biggest event on the 2009 schedule, the fifth annual Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, is set for July 3-5 and features the prestigious MotoGP world championship. At the 2008 race, Tom Cruise, along with 131,250 other fans, watched Valentino Rossi score his first victory on American soil. It was an epic battle between Casey Stoner and Rossi, with many changes of the lead and some very close racing. Rossi sealed his victory with a kiss, parking his bike in Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's legendary corkscrew (a series of turns with a 300-foot elevation change) and kissed the pavement.

The new race date will give extra incentive for American riders Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards as they take on the world's best on the most patriotic weekend of the year. The 2009 event will include support races from the AMA Superbike Championship.

The 36th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races, the premier historic race in North America, returns to the Monterey Peninsula Aug. 14-16. Each year, a featured marque is chosen to commemorate the event. This annual celebration of a specific manufacturer has intrigued thousands of passionate enthusiasts from around the world. In 2009, the featured marque will be Porsche.

The Monterey Sports Car Championships featuring the American Le Mans Series race into the darkness will take place Oct. 9-11. This race weekend concludes the 2009 season in dramatic fashion with the high-tech, high-speed Le Mans prototypes and GT machines of the American Le Mans Series staging a Saturday afternoon-into-evening four-hour race. Sunday's action features the season finale of the SPEED World Challenge Touring and GT series, the IMSA Challenge, Atlantic Championship Series and Star Mazda Series.

Tickets, additional event information, parking directions and information for the 2009 season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are available by calling (800) 327-SECA or online at www.mazdaraceway.com.