Final Showdown

Subtitle:Alder, Slusher To Settle Lites 2 Title At Road Atlanta

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 28, 2015) – It’s your turn, Lites 2.

The Lites 2 class will earn a well-deserved place in the spotlight during the season-ending Rounds 13 and 14 for Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda on Sept. 30-Oct. 2 during Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta. Brian Alder and Todd Slusher will duel for the Drivers Championship, while BAR1 Motorsports and ONE Motorsports will compete for the Team Championship.

Alder, from Dublin, Ohio, seeks his third consecutive Lites 2 Drivers Championship in the No. 22 BAR1 Motorsports car. He leads Slusher by 10 points, 222-212, and will clinch the title by finishing third or better in both races.

Owner-driver Alder has been on a roll this summer. He has won five consecutive races, dating back to Round 8 in mid-July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, to rally past Slusher for the Lites 2 points lead.

The math this week is simple for Slusher, from Las Vegas. He all but needs to sweep both rounds in the No. 62 ONE Motorsports entry to have a chance to claim his first championship.

Ohio-based BAR1 Motorsports, owned by Alder, leads Las Vegas-based ONE Motorsports, 222-212, in the Team Championship. BAR 1 is trying to win its second straight team title.

Round 13 for all classes in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Official Development Series, a 30-minute race, starts at 1:20 p.m. (ET) Thursday, Oct. 1. The season-ending Round 14, a 45-minute race, starts at 8 a.m. Friday, Oct. 2.

Qualifying is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, with two 30-minute practice sessions starting at 11:15 a.m. and 3:35 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30 on the 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit.

Two classes of competition take drivers and teams down unique, exciting roads of prototype sports car racing in the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, with all competitors racing in Élan DP02 chassis powered by Mazda engines and riding on Cooper Tires.

Nimble, high-tech, purpose-built Lites 1 machines pack in the power with a 230-horsepower, 2-liter Mazda engine designed to prepare aspiring professionals for prototype competition in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and offer a challenging environment for mature semi-professional drivers, including competition in a Masters Championship. Equally capable and cost-effective Lites 2 machines offer new competitors a perfect introduction to the world-class competition offered by IMSA.

The Lites 2 Driver and Team Championship races will reach their climax one event after Kenton Koch and JDC Motorsports won season Lites 1 Team and Driver titles, respectively, at VIRginia International Raceway. John Falb also sealed his second straight Lites 1 Masters championship at VIR.

Koch, 21, from Glendora, California, will try to cap an outstanding rookie season with his fourth sweep of both rounds at an event this season in the No. 60 JDC Motorsports entry. A sweep would give him 11 wins in 14 starts this season, the first double-digit win total for a Lites 1 driver in the series since Tristan Nunez won 11 of 14 races en route to the 2012 championship.

Clark Toppe, 18, from The Woodlands, Texas, is the only other driver besides Koch to win in the Lites 1 class this season. He has three victories in the No. 10 JDC Motorsports entry and is second in the standings.

A three-way race for third place in the Lites 1 standings will be decided at Road Atlanta.

Robert Alon, from Encino, California, is third in the No. 00 Performance Tech entry with 148 points. Matt McMurry, from Phoenix, is fourth with 143 points in the No. 20 JDC Motorsports entry. Austin Versteeg, from Sandy, Utah, is fifth at 136 points in the No. 16 Performance Tech Motorsports car.

There’s little between the three to indicate which will come on top. McMurry leads the trio with six podium finishes this season, followed by Alon with four and Versteeg with three. McMurry has finished second three times, Alon twice.

Falb, from Las Vegas, will look to finish his Lites 1 Masters championship season with another event sweep in the No. 77 ONE Motorsports entry. Falb has won the Lites 1 Masters class in 10 of the 12 rounds this season, including sweeps at four events.

An entertaining three-driver fight for second place in Lites 1 Masters will be decided at Road Atlanta.

Series veteran Joel Janco, from Key Largo, Florida, has used his most consistent season to earn eight runner-up finishes in the class in the No. 25 Performance Tech Motorsports entry. He is second in the Lites 1 standings with 180 points.

Gerhard Watzinger, from Miami, has produced a solid rookie season in the No. 32 ONE Motorsports entry and is third with 164 points. Watzinger finished third and second in class in the last two rounds, in late August at VIR.

Don Yount, from Dallas, is fourth at 156 points in the No. 28 Yount Motorsports entry.

This event concludes the 10th season of Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda competition. IMSA sanctions a seven-venue, 14-round schedule for the 2015 season. The series runs 10 of its 14 rounds during TUDOR Championship events, including Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda, providing plenty of high-profile visibility for teams and drivers at the largest sports car racing events in North America.

All events consist of 30-minute and 45-minute sprint races.

Follow IMSA on Facebook and @IMSA on Twitter with the hashtag #CTPL for updates on the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda.

Live timing for every race is available at IMSA.com and on the new official IMSA mobile app available for iOS, Android and Windows.

Schedule

Practice: 11:15-11:45 a.m. and 3:35-4:05 p.m. (ET) Wednesday, Sept. 30

Qualifying: 9:30-9:50 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1

Round 13 (30 minutes): 1:20-1:50 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1

Round 14 (45 minutes): 8-8:45 a.m. Friday, Oct. 2

Race Coverage

Live timing: All on-track sessions at scoring.imsa.com and on the official IMSA App for iOS, Android and Windows

Twitter: Live text commentary from all sessions at @IMSALive