- Muscle Milk Motorsports
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Muscle Milk Motorsports Motor racing team Founded 2007 Country 
United StatesTeam Principal(s) Greg Pickett Current series American Le Mans Series
IMSA GT3 Cup ChallengeDrivers' titles 0 Teams' titles 0 Muscle Milk Motorsports ( known as Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing in ALMS and Muscle Milk Team CytoSport in IMSA GT3) is a American auto racing team founded by Greg Pickett. The team is based in Benicia, California. They currently operate a Lola-Aston Martin B08/62 sports car in the American Le Mans Series and a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge.
Contents
History
2007 – Beginnings
The team was founded in 2007 by CytoSport co-founder and former IMSA GT Championship driver Greg Pickett. Pickett bought a Lola B06/10 and raced it in the American Le Mans Series. The cars was entered in the top LMP1 class powered by a four litre twin-turbo V8 supplied by AER. Pickett was accompanied by Klaus Graf, a former NASCAR and Trans-Am driver. Car number 06 was scheduled to make its début in the third round of the ALMS season, the Grand Prix of Long Beach but did not start. The first actual race they competed in was the Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio where Pickett and Graf finished ninth overall and third in the LMP1 class. This was followed by another third place class finish in following round which was Generac 500. The Petit Le Mans saw Memo Gidley join Pickett and Graf for the ten hour race which saw another third place finish for the team, the fourth time in total. Team Cytosport finished fourth in the LMP1 teams championship.
2008
2008 was a quiet year for the Cytosport team. The team did not enter into the ALMS because team boss Pickett wanted to focus on competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team competed at Le Mans alongside Czech team Charouz Racing System who owned the Lola B07/17 that Pickett and Graf competed in. The duo were joined by sportscar racing veteran and 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Jan Lammers. Car number twelve was entered in the LMP1 class and appropriately qualified twelfth place. Unfortunately the car retired after the 5.5 litre Judd V10 failed after 146 laps.
2009
Team Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder at the 2009 Petit Le Mans.
The 2009 season saw Cytosport return to the American Le Mans Series. They bought a Porsche RS Spyder formerly used by Dyson Racing Team to compete in the LMP2 class. The first round they competed in was the Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio, the sixth round of the season. The regular drivers of Pickett and Graf were successful on their début finishing fourth overall and second in the LMP2 class. The 2009 Petit Le Mans saw Porsche factory driver Sascha Maassen get behind the wheel of the Cytosport RS Spyder. The race was red flagged after 184 laps due to heavy rain which led to the Cytosport car spin out due to the heavy rain. They did finish though, in 22nd overall and third in class. They also earned a podium at Laguna Seca making it four podiums in four races in 2009. Graf finished fifth in the drivers championship with Pickett in eighth as Pickett did not get points for the Petit Le Mans race as he never drove.
2010
For 2010, the team raced under the new Muscle Milk Team Cytosport banner and raced a full season in the ALMS running the Porsche RS Sypder they raced last year. Both LMP1 and LMP2 were one class for all ALMS races apart from the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans when the two classes would separate. Pickett and Graf raced once again for the whole season and were joined by Sascha Maassen for the long races. The team took LMP2 victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring finishing fourth overall. The success at Sebring was followed by two overall victories at Lime Rock and Mosport.
Muscle Milk Team Cytosport finished second in the LMP class just 20 points behind Patrón Highcroft Racing and Graf finishing second in the drivers championship.
2011
The 2011 American Le Mans Series season saw the two LMP classes split again to LMP1 and LMP2. The team bought a Lola-Aston Martin B08/62 in the LMP1 class. Lucas Luhr joined the team for the full season with Pickett only entering in the longer races such as Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Due to the drastic new regulations, the six litre V12 engine has had to be restricted to around 500 bhp from the former 600+ bhp of before to comply with the new 2011 LMP1 regulations. Unfortunately, there was not much competition during the start of the season with Dyson Racing Team being the only other full time LMP1 entry, who later entered a second car. This was followed by Autocon Motorsports who returned with their updated Lola B06/10. So far, as of round four, Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing won two events but are second in the teams championship with Dyson leading due to their points finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring in which the Muscle Milk car retired.
2011 also saw the team enter in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge. They entered a 2011 spec Porsche 997 GT3 Cup which is raced by German driver Mark Bullitt. Bullitt competes in the Platinum class and is eighth in the drivers championship as of round seven with CytoSport also placed in eighth place.
Drivers
Greg Pickett (2007–) ALMS
Klaus Graf (2007–) ALMS
Memo Gidley (2007, 2010) ALMS
Jan Lammers (2008) Le Mans
Sascha Maassen (2009-10) ALMS
Lucas Luhr (2011-) ALMS
Mark Bullitt (2011-) IMSA GT3See Also
External links
Categories:- American Le Mans Series teams
- American auto racing teams
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