Continental Challenge renews Memorial Day weekend tradition

The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge will headline Memorial Day weekend at Lime Rock Park, continuing a tradition of holiday competition that dates back to 1967 on the 1.5-mile circuit in Lakeville, Conn. The series will run a pair of two-hour, 30-minute races on Saturday for the Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) classes.

This marks the ninth consecutive year that the series will race at Lime Rock. The track hosted the series' season finale the past two years. The Continental Tire Challenge raced during the Memorial Day Classic from 2006 through 2011.

The ST race begins at 9:10 a.m. ET, followed by the GS race at 2:15 p.m. Practice and qualifying sessions for both classes will be held on Friday.

Turner Motorsport is a four-time GS winner at Lime Rock, winning in 2006-'07, and 2009-'10. The team's current team driver Bill Auberlen won in 2006-07.

In ST, Georgian Bay and Freedom Autosport are two-time winners. Georgian Bay is the current CKS Autosport, with Eric Curran of nearby Holyoke, Mass., winning both races alongside Jamie Holtom in 2006 and 2008. Curran won the final Grand-Am Rolex Series GT-class event at Lime Rock park in 2013 with co-driver Lawson Aschenbach. Aschenbach — who filled in for Boris Said in that event — joins Curran again this weekend in the No. 01 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R.

The weekend returns IMSA as the Memorial Day Weekend headliner. The IMSA GT Series was a holiday tradition at the scenic circuit in the Berkshire Hills from 1973 through '98, led by stars including five-time winner Peter Gregg and four-time winner Al Holbert.