PWC: Snow joins GMG for COTA opener

Global Motorsport Group (GMG) has announced the addition of 19-year-old Madison Snow to its Audi lineup.Joining the team for this weekend's season-opening round of the Pirelli World Challenge at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Having previously competed in two rounds of Pirelli World Challenge competition, Snow will make his Audi debut in the No. 21 Santa Cruz Bicycles / UIS Audi R8 LMS ultra, joining a four-car effort campaigned by GMG.

"I couldn't be happier to bring Madison into our program," stated GMG team owner and co-driver James Sofronas. "At a very young age, Madison has been extremely impressive at the top levels of our sport, and he should acclimate well to our way of working. Even though he's become something of a Porsche specialist, I'm very confident he'll be able to jump right into our Audi and the series' sprint format and immediately contend."

Hailing from Lehi, Utah, Snow had his first full-season effort last year in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, where he opened his championship effort with a podium at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, followed by additional podiums at Road America and the season-ending Petit Le Mans, Snow managed a seventh place ranking in the standings in his first season. In 2013, the then 17-year-old took an impressive seven victories en route to a championship in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge.

With teammates Alec Udell, Alex Welch and James Sofronas, Snow's first race with both the series and marque will be aided by the team's vast experience. Taking advantage of the team's data and two decades of history in the series, Madison will return to the circuit where he narrowly missed the podium during the 2014 TUDOR race.

"I'm really looking forward to the whole event this weekend," stated Snow. "The Pirelli World Challenge has a lot of momentum behind it, and it is great to return. The sprint format is nothing new to me from my experience in the GT3 Cup and Prototype Lites, but obviously the level of competition and quality of teams will make it a real challenge. The Audi R8 LMS ultra has always been a tough car to compete against in other series, so it should be an interesting experience to finally get behind the wheel of one. GMG is one of the most experienced teams in the paddock so I'm confident I'll have plenty of data to work from. Thanks to everyone at the team and especially Santa Cruz Bicycles for making this opportunity possible."

The No. 21 will feature sponsorship from Santa Cruz Bicycles and Universal Industrial Sales, Inc. (UIS).