Jaguar Going Racing Again: ALMS GT2 from Rocketsports

Two storied brands are reuniting to compete in the American Le Mans Series GT2 category this summer. Jaguar and Rocketsports Racing have joined in a marketing and technical partnership to bring the Jaguar badge to the ALMS GT2 class.

Rocketsports founder Paul Gentilozzi and ALMS President and CEO Scott Atherton announced the Jaguar project during the Long Beach Grand Prix festivities on the weekend. The GT2 category is one of the healthiest in racing worldwide this season having manufacturer backed teams from Porsche, BMW, Ferrari and Aston-Martin with Corvette coming on board about the same time Jaguar debuts later this summer.

Gentilozzi is preparing three team cars to be raced under the new RSR banner during the second half of the 2009 ALMS season. The racecars are nearing completion in Rocketsports' East Lansing, Mich., facility. Gentilozzi revealed plans to launch a parallel customer program in 2010.

RSR must follow the strict preparation rules laid down by the ALMS and sister sanctioning body ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest) which stages the historic 24 Hours of Le Mans each June. As such, the racecar is based on the production Jaguar XK light alloy chassis, adding the mandated steel roll cage and other reinforcements for safety and stiffening. The body is carbon fiber and power will come from a race-prepped version of Jaguar's new AJ-133 all-aluminum 5.0-liter direct-injected, normally aspirated V8 that debuts in the XK and XF this summer.

The GT2 project represents the second partnership between Rocketsports and Jaguar, Gentilozzi having fielded the brand in the SCCA Trans-Am Series from 2000 to 2006. In 66 starts, the Rocketsports Jags scored 31 victories, five manufacturer's titles and five driver's championships. In 2002, a Rocketsports Jag also won the GTS class in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Gentilozzi and Rocketsports have not been sitting idle the past two seasons. "We've focused on engineering and construction of the Jaguar XKR," said Gentilozzi. "The luxury of time that we traditionally don't have in this process has been a great asset. We feel like our work with both the ALMS and the ACO will give us a car that is number one - competitive on the track; number two - representative of Jaguar's racing history; and number three - economically viable for customers in the GT2 series around the world."

The team is currently fielding a pair of older Jaguar XKRs in the revitalized Trans-Am Series. Rocketsports also built a pair of concept cars for Jaguar in the 2002-04 time frame - a warmed up X-type and the 550 horsepower SK-RS. Last November, RSR took a 2010 XFR to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah for a top speed run, achieving 225.675mph and establishing the XFR as the fastest-ever production Jaguar. Not surprisingly, RSR is currently developing a line of high performance aftermarket pieces for both the XKR and the new XFR.