[MALDI]

Great news! KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering will be back in 2022 racing an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge touring car class.

Drivers again this season will be Roy Block and Tim Lewis, Jr.

Last year they finished 3rd in the championship.

[As far as I know they are the only team professionally racing a modern Alfa in the USA. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.]

The 2022 livery:

 

[MALDI]

Threads for prior seasons:

2021 Alfa Romeo TCR, 2021 USA pro racing season

2020 Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR, 2020 USA racing season

2019 ALFA Giulietta QV for IMSA

 

[mhemsley]

We will be able to stream the races live using Peacock. The free option on Peacock does not include sports programming, so, if you want to stream the races, you will have to pay a monthly subscription fee.

NBC Sports will cover IMSA racing, but it's not clear to me if that will include the Michelin Pilot Challenge. If they do, it is likely to be on NBC USA, which I have to assume has replaced NBCSN. If anyone can figure that out, please let us know.

I will continue to cover the KMW team for Alfa Owner.

Mike

 

[MALDI]

Schedule. (Notice that Long Beach and Belle Island (Detroit) are IMSA events but the Michelin Pilot Challenge cars do not race those weekends.)

 

[RoryJ]

Are Giulias not legal for this class or series? Seems strange they wouldn't race a car that's available to buy in the U.S.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Are Giulias not legal for this class or series? Seems strange they wouldn't race a car that's available to buy in the U.S.

Not legal for this class. Alfa (or an independent team) would need to build a GT3 spec Giulia to qualify for anything IMSA. But TBH it would be pretty futile against factory Ferrari, McLaren, etc efforts.

Could be built to run smaller national endurance series like AER and the like, but would need to be a labor of love as cars like the M3 and 911 are pretty dominant there and able to be built for cheaper. Theres nowhere near the same amount of racing support for the Alfa. Would be a labor of love.

 

[MALDI]

Modern Giulias do race in the FIA ETCR (Electric Touring Car Racing) series. But, alas, no races in the USA.

Giuliettas race worldwide in the various TCR series and generally do very well. See TCR Series. In the USA, TCR series cars are raced both in IMSA and in the TC America series. In TC America, for 2022, looks as if there are no Alfa entries.

 

[MALDI]

Would be a labor of love.

Since 1910, everything related to Alfa has been a Labor of Love!

But I agree, no one has the cubic yards of cash to make a successful Giulia race car in the very competitive world of high-end sports car racing.

 

[PSk]

What constitutes professional racing?

These Guiliettas are raced all over the world in Touring Car Racing; Australia (Garry Rogers Motorsport), Belgium (? team name), Denmark (Insight Racing team), Japan (M-Prototyping Team Stile Corse)
Pete

 

[MALDI]

Sure PSk, but just one modern Alfa racing professionally in the USA. A rarity here in the USA where most people do not know what an Alfa Romeo is.

By professional I mean sponsor financial support and paid drivers.

There are lots of amateurs racing vintage Alfas, however. But that is a labor of love for them!

 

[PSk]

Sorry, I miss read your first post. It was just regarding the USA!

Pete

 

[mhemsley]

Giuliettas would still be in TC America if the organizers had not eliminated the TCR class. The TCR cars were few, and they were showing up the cars in the two slower classes, so TCR was eliminated for 2021. Too bad, since their races were closer to what the Giulietta was designed to do - sprint races. The TC America races were 40 minutes, so there were few modifications to make the Giulietta run them, since it was designed for 30-mintue sprint races. The IMSA races are two or four hours long, which was a real challenge for the KMW team, something they had to overcome over the past couple years. I interviewed the team principals and drivers at Road Atlanta for an article that will be in the February Alfa Owner. They explained why they chose the Alfa as their race car. Once that issue is on the streets, I can explain more here.

Ciao,

Mike

 

[Rogue Leader]

Since 1910, everything related to Alfa has been a Labor of Love!

But I agree, no one has the cubic yards of cash to make a successful Giulia race car in the very competitive world of high-end sports car racing.

Emil Frey was the last independent to try and do it with the Jaguar XK in GT3, they ran it from 2012 to 2017 sometimes sporadically, managed 3 class wins but mostly got their *** handed to them. All GT3 cars now are factory efforts. Its interesting that DTM switched to GT3, what would be nice is if it was GT3 but 4 door required. Get BMW in there with an M3, Alfa Giulia, Audi RS6, and so on, built to GT3 rules. But that will never happen.

 

[shakingthrough]

Schedule. (Notice that Long Beach and Belle Island (Detroit) are IMSA events but the Michelin Pilot Challenge cars do not race those weekends.)

View attachment 1717966

I will be at Sebring and I can't wait!

 

[mhemsley]

Bill Maloney - please get lots of photos. They would be a great help for my article in Alfa Owner. I love using photos from Alfisti when I can. You can respond to me here or at [email protected].

Thanks!

Mike

 

[shakingthrough]

I accept the assignment! It should be a fun weekend for me. My wife gifted me an experience with Bobby Rahal that she purchased at a benefit right before the pandemic started. It was originally supposed to be at the Autobahn course in suburban Chicago where he stores some cars, and of course it has been delayed due to the virus issues, but the tentative plan now is for my son and I to get some VIP time with their BMW team that weekend. Of course they race on Saturday and I presume the Alfa will be racing on Friday so I should be free to take some photos.
Bill

 

[mhemsley]

I accept the assignment! It should be a fun weekend for me. My wife gifted me an experience with Bobby Rahal that she purchased at a benefit right before the pandemic started. It was originally supposed to be at the Autobahn course in suburban Chicago where he stores some cars, and of course it has been delayed due to the virus issues, but the tentative plan now is for my son and I to get some VIP time with their BMW team that weekend. Of course they race on Saturday and I presume the Alfa will be racing on Friday so I should be free to take some photos.
Bill

Perfect! I also assume the Alfa will be racing on Friday. I'll let Louis Milone know that you'll be taking photos for the magazine, so visit with the team in the paddock.

Mike

 

[MALDI]

Edited Post #1 to show the 2022 livery.

Happy that it sports the quadrifoglio on the fender as all racing Alfas should! 🍀

 

[shakingthrough]

That looks bad-***!

 

[PocketAce]

Awesome livery! I plan on spending another weekend at Road America for the IMSA races, I'll stop being shy and will come by to say hi.