Race cars push technology forward across the industry–and they are the cars people want to drive–so it makes sense that the race for greener cars should get tested on the racetrack. Green racing measures not only speed but energy use, emissions and use of alternative fuels—it’s a complex, 30-plus part scoring system designed by researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory so that racers don’t just drive slowly around the track to secure a win, defeating the entire purpose of auto racing. “These are still 200-mph cars. We clearly did not want to change racing. We didn’t want to make it boring and slow,” says John Glenn of the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA and Department of Energy first promoted the idea of green racing.

This is the second year of the Michelin® GreenX® Challenge at the American Le Mans Series, the only race series in the world where all cars are allowed to race powered by alternative fuels like cellulosic E85, E10, clean sulfur-free diesel and gas-electric hybrids. Racers compete in four classifications including GT, which are modified street cars.

In this year’s race—Aug. 15-16—overall race winners Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud drove the de Ferran Motorsports Acura to lead an Acura sweep of the top three positions in both the race and in the Prototype category. “Hats off to Acura for not only creating a fantastic sports car but a car that can both win races and the Michelin GreenX Challenge,” said de Ferran. “This win at Mid-Ohio is like a home race for us. There are four Honda plants within a 50-mile radius of the track…”
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