American Le Mans Series CEO Scott Atherton has insisted that the future of the championship's premier class is not in doubt, despite Dyson Racing's shock switch to LMP2 with Porsche.

Speaking in the wake of Dyson's announcement on Monday, Atherton admitted that, while the tie-up was good for the series as a whole, it did not pose a threat to the viability of the LMP1 class, as he named several likely contenders for the bigger prototype category.

"This is a tremendous development for Dyson Racing, Porsche and the American Le Mans Series," he said of the deal that will see the New York State-based team run a brace of the RS Spyder LMP2 machines, "As everyone is aware, Porsche's customer programme in GT2 is second-to-none and, from the beginning, we received commitments from Porsche that its LMP2 programme would be a replica - a world-class manufacturer providing top-notch customer service with a very competitive race car. The groundwork was laid in 2006 and, with this announcement, we are seeing the leading edge of fulfilment in this programme.

"At the same time, we are aware of the potential effect this could have on our LMP1 class. While Audi has not finalised its plans for 2007, we fully expect the diesel-powered R10 TDIs to be actively competing in the American Le Mans Series. We are also proud and pleased to see the commitment of Michael Lewis and everyone at Autocon Motorsports for their two-car LMP1 effort for next season."

Although the list of likely runners remains slim at present, Atherton also produced two British-based operations that he claimed were considering greater ALMS involvement in 2007.

"There has been significant interest from Creation Autosportif following its tremendous showing at Road Atlanta and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and the same can be said about Zytek and its potential participation next year," he concluded. "Needless to say, we believe the content and quality of our premier class will continue to be a focal point and featured element of the American Le Mans Series."