RAPID CITY - When the 56th running of the famed 12 hours of Sebring takes the green flag Saturday, three teams will be racing on ethanol provided by the Rapid City-based KL Process Design Group.

A pair of American Le Mans Series GT-1 class Team Corvette C6-R's, a GT-2 class Drayson Barwell Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage V8 and an Intersport Racing Lola B06/10 will run the entire

11-race season on KL's Red Line E85 Racing Fuel, a blend of ethanol, toluene and iso-

octanes.

KL spokesman Tom Martin of Rapid City said the ALMS has been interested in promoting "green" racing fuels.

The Indy Racing League began running on 100 percent ethanol last year.

The ALMS also began using a 10 percent ethanol-gasoline (E10) blend last year, along with clean diesel used by Audi race teams in the Le Mans Prototype (LMP-1) class.

"They're making an intense effort to get away from petroleum-based fuels and use more of a green component in their racing," Martin said of the ALMS. "Of course, we're pretty excited to be a part of it."

Martin said the fuel will initially be made from grain-based ethanol produced at KL's plant at Rosholt.

Eventually the ethanol used for the racing fuel will come from KL's facility in Upton, Wyo., which makes ethanol processed from waste wood fibers.

Ethanol proponents say the alternative fuel comes from a renewable resource and produces less greenhouse gases than petroleum fuels.

Wood waste from slash piles, pine needles, bark, wood from beetle-infested trees and even waste paper can be used to produce cellulosic ethanol, Martin said.

"It's all wood," he said.

KL Process will provide 15,000 gallons of E85R fuel for the 11-race ALMS series, which runs at some of the most famous road racing circuits in North America, including Road America in Wisconsin, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Road Atlanta in Georgia, the street circuit in Long Beach, Calif., and MoSport Park in Canada.

To balance the amount of energy in a tankful of fuel, teams using E85R will be allowed a maximum of 105 liters. Cars running E10 are limited to a maximum of 90 liters.

Martin said the company would be interested in becoming a fuel supplier for local racing series currently using alcohol fuels.

Local dirt-track late models, sprint cars and modifieds run on methanol.

"Certainly that's something we'd be interested in," he said.

Coverage of the 12 Hours of Sebring starts at 7:30 a.m. MDT Saturday on SPEED network.