Leading Man Green Confident Of Title Chances

Subtitle:Platinum Cup Star Hopes To Deliver Championship To Pfaff

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 14, 2015) – There are no spider webs of age lines on his youthful face. His blonde hairline isn’t anywhere close to low tide.

Chris Green is the same but also different in many ways entering his third full season in the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin. He is the winningest active driver in the championship, with seven victories over the past two seasons in Platinum Cup and four Gold Cup victories during his partial rookie season in 2012.

Statistics and speed indicate Green, from Montreal, is the Platinum Cup championship favorite as the 2015 season gets underway during the Castrol presents Victoria Day SpeedFest Weekend on May 15-17 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. He is the top returning driver in the championship, as he has finished runner-up in the standings in the last two seasons.

Green, 31, is no longer one of the fresh-faced drivers in their teens and 20s trying to make a name for themselves in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Single-Make Series.

Quite simply, Green is the main man in the championship. It’s a role he embraces with Toronto-based Pfaff Motorsports, one that meshes like a smooth, synchronized gearshift with his confident personality.

“We’ve done a lot of great things together,” Green said of his partnership with Pfaff. “I’m not ready to sit back and accept second place again. I’m by no means 19 years old anymore, but at 31 now, I think I definitely have it.

“Going into this year, there’s absolutely zero doubt in our minds we’re going for the top of the podium. As they say, the third time’s the charm. I’m really hoping that works out for us.”

Green finished second after spirited fights the last two seasons against Canadian drivers in their early 20s who came to sports car racing after competing in major North American junior open-wheel series. David Ostella edged Green by six points in 2013, and Scott Hargrove won the title by 22 points in 2014. American junior open-wheel star Spencer Pigot also was involved in the title scraps both years.

But that was about the only common thread between the two seasons.

In 2013, Green drove for an alliance between Pfaff and the powerful, multi-car Alegra Motorsports team. Last year, Pfaff spun off to a solo operation, fielding just one Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Platinum Cup car for Green.

That change forced Green to split his attention between the organization and the cockpit, and he admits that took some adjustment.

“My role, instead of thinking about every little detail of the team and what they need to do and making sure they’re on top of everything, this year I can just focus on driving,” Green said. “The pressure that I put on myself is a little bit different this year. The focus I’m going to have this year is where I’m going to try to get the best out of the car, where last year it was getting the best out the team, which in turn relates to getting the best of the car.”

Pfaff delivered for Green in its first solo season last year. The team suffered no mechanical problems, and Green finished in the top three at nine of the 10 rounds, missing the podium only after a collision-laden Round 5 at Toronto.

“We’re definitely light years ahead of where we were last year,” Green said. “The team last year, being a young team run by a young crew run by an experienced engineer, Joe LaJoie, I think we were able to work through the kinks last year. We had a very reliable car. We never had a mechanical failure.

“But this year everybody knows their role. Instead of focusing on having to run the team and having everyone know their position and what to do, we can focus 100 percent of the energy on getting the car fast and to a level where I’m comfortable in it.”

Adapting to change has been a constant throughout Green’s career in the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin, and this year is no different.

Orey Fidani, from Woodbridge, Ontario, will make his series debut in Gold Cup with Pfaff. Green will serve as a driving coach and mentor to Fidani, a role he enjoys.

“A lot of focus is going to be going toward Orey this year, as it should,” Green said. “He’s come a long way since he got into a race car, and he’s got room for growth. I think we’re all really keen on getting the best out of him and making him the most comfortable possible.

“I’m older now. I’m willing to pass on what I know. It’s important. You always give as much as you can to help them get up to speed. Once they’re up to speed, you always keep a little 2 percent for yourself.”

Green will keep that extra bit of speed in his back pocket for possible use against the latest Canadian open-wheel star to challenge him. 2007 Formula BMW USA champion Daniel Morad, from Thornhill, Ontario, completed a deal May 13 to drive this season with Alegra Motorsports.

Morad, 25, climbed to the international level to race in A1GP with Team Lebanon in 2008-09 and competed in Europe in GP3, an official Formula One feeder series, in 2010 with Status Grand Prix. He also returned to his title-winning karting roots in 2010 by winning the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Italy.

Green welcomes the challenge from yet another younger, Canadian driver from the open-wheel ranks.

“I think it’s fantastic; it’s good for the series,” Green said. “We need to have some young guys.

“I think a lot of the young talent that does come in, a lot of them have told me they’ve come in because they want to kick my butt. That’s a bit of a compliment, for sure. I think that if I can keep giving them a run for their money, they’ll keep coming back for more.”

Round 1 will start at 2:45 p.m. (ET) Saturday, May 16 on the fearsome, fast, 10-turn, 2.459-mile circuit at CTMP. Round 2 will start at 10:55 a.m. Sunday, May 17. Both races are 45 minutes.

Practice and qualifying take place Friday, May 15, the first day of competition on this popular holiday weekend of racing at one of Canada’s most iconic circuits.