photo by John Thawley Tooele, Utah- After claiming two consecutive top-10 overall finishes, B-K Motorsports heads to Salt Lake City this weekend for the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels. The fourth round of the American Le Mans Series season will see the No. 8 BP Lola B07/46 Mazda compete on the 15-turn, 3.048-mile outer course layout at Miller Motorsports Park.

Drivers Ben Devlin and Gerardo Bonilla are looking forward to getting back to a natural terrain road course after soldiering through the streets of St. Petersburg and Long Beach in their Yokohama-shod LMP2 race car.

"Our first natural terrain course of the year will be as much fun as any track we race," Bonilla said.  "If anything, the variety is a fresh experience for our minds, but its still the same great challenge as any track configuration.  The Mazda MZR-R engine is well suited to this kind of track as well."

Last year, Devlin and the team enjoyed an impressive run at Miller, showing the strengths of the turbocharged Mazda MZR-R engine in the high altitude. Devlin got the car up to third in class early on in the race and had a great battle with other LMP2 cars.  

"To show that the car had great potential last year was very satisfying," Devlin said. "It was a real morale booster for the team. We want to try to do the same again. There's no reason why we can't do the same again. We know the car has got the potential to do it. The team has come such a long way. We just need to now get all the pieces in the right place and hopefully get a great finish and get on the podium."

Despite the new challenge of the new outer course layout, B-K Motorsports is well prepared for the task at hand. The team conducted a test at the new layout last month prior to Long Beach, finding it well suited to their race car.

"The test went very well for us," Bonilla said.  "We learned quite a lot about our new Yokohama tires and chassis setup.  Ben [Devlin] and I have both driven at Miller before, but never on the outer loop.  This configuration is actually a lot of fun.  It's still 3 miles long and has the best and fastest corners.  Our BP car is well suited to this new layout."

Devlin notes the increased development of the Mazda engine and relationship with Yokohama will help to bring another solid result this weekend.

"I think the track is going to suit us and obviously testing went very well," Devlin said. "It builds us hope to go to the race this weekend. The car is strong. It really suits this type of circuit – very high speed, very flat, very smooth. The altitude can let the turbos fan out a little bit more than the normally aspirated engines. It all builds to hopefully a good weekend."

Before making their way to Miller Motorsports Park, Devlin, Bonilla and the team's Lola B07/46 Mazda made a pit stop at a promotion for the newly released film Speed Racer. The Jordan Commons Megaplex 17 in the Salt Lake City suburb of Midvale was transformed into a high-octane event that featured a karting track set up in the parking lot of the theater. Fans bought ticket packages that included a Speed Racer screening, lunch and karting session. Devlin and Bonilla were on hand to offer pointers on karting, sign autographs and pose for photographs.

B-K Motorsports and Yokohama will continue its promotion of Speed Racer this weekend as the BP-sponsored car will once again carry Speed Racer logos. Bonilla, Devlin and team members will also be sporting Speed Racer-designed shirts and driving suits.

The Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels is set for Sunday, May 18 from Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. The green flag is scheduled for 1 p.m. MT with live television coverage on SPEED. Live radio coverage will be available on XM Satellite Radio Channel 144 and American Le Mans Radio at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.
 
About Mazda:
On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas on the road-race tracks of America than any other brand of vehicle. At the track, you'll see MX-5 Miata, RX-8, MAZDA3, MAZDA6, RX-7 and other vintage Mazda models competing, because every Mazda has the Soul of a Sports Car. In fact, the largest road-racing class in the U.S. is the SCCA's Spec Miata class, with over 1,500 first- and second-generation Miatas tearing up America's racetracks, making it the most-raced production car in the world. Mazda's involvement in motorsports extends to its relationship with Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, one of the world's premier road-racing circuits, and the Skip Barber Schools for driving and racing.
 
Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Mazda North American Operations oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada and Mexico through nearly 900 dealers. Operations in Canada are managed by Mazda Canada, Inc., located in Ontario, Canada, and in Mexico by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information go towww.mazdausa.com

About BP:
BP markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through 13,000 BP and ARCO branded retail outlets and supplies more than four billion gallons of fuel annually to fleets, industrial users, auto and truck manufacturers, railroads and utilities.
 
BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco Corporation, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. BP is a global producer, manufacturer and marketer of oil, gas, chemicals and renewable energy sources. For more information go to www.bp.com
 
About Yokohama Tire Corporation:
Yokohama Tire Corporation is the North American manufacturing and marketing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., a global producer and distributor of premium tires since 1917. Servicing a network of more than 4,500 points of sale in the U.S., Yokohama Tire Corporation offers a complete line of tires, including high-performance, light truck, passenger car, commercial truck and bus, as well as off-the-road mining and construction applications. For details on Yokohama's environmental efforts, go to www.ecotreadsetters.com.
 
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series is the premium brand of motorsport in North America, featuring high-tech sports cars from the most prestigious automobile manufacturers in the world. Its unique four classes of competition showcase exotic, open-top prototypes and sophisticated production-based GT cars, all competing on the track at the same time. The American Le Mans Series competes at the premier road racing tracks across North America and at selected temporary street circuits in major urban markets. With a 2007 television package that includes five network broadcasts on CBS and NBC and seven telecasts on SPEED, plus live broadcasts across Europe, the Series delivers a global marketing platform that is unmatched in motorsports. The Series, founded in 1999 by Georgia entrepreneur Don Panoz, represents a mirror image to the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's most famous and authentic automobile race. The American Le Mans Series features elite marques such as Audi, Porsche, Corvette, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Panoz, and premium brands such as Michelin, Yokohama, Kumho, Lowe's, Shell and many others. To follow the series, go to www.americanlemans.com.