Ford Shelby Faces Key Championship Test In Continental Tire Challenge Race At Road America

With only four races remaining in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season, the Grand Sport (GS) championship-leading Multimatic Motorsports Ford Shelby GT350R-C team faces a major test this Saturday at Road America (live, IMSA.com, 12:35 p.m. ET).

Scott Maxwell and Billy Johnson, three-time 2016 winners in the No. 15 Ford Shelby GT350R-C, enter the race with a 13-point lead, 193-180, atop the GS standings. However, the team has yet to win at the challenging 14-turn, 4.048-mile circuit. Maxwell and Johnson finished 12th last year, with Maxwell’s best result with the team a sixth-place finish in 2014.

“Road America is a track that’s very demanding on brakes,” said Johnson, who finished second twice at Road America co-driving with Jack Roush Jr. in 2012 and 2013. “We’ve got three long straightaways and hit 150 mph three times, with really heavy braking zones. Our biggest problem last year was trying to keep the brakes under us. We’ve made a lot of developments since then, but it’s still going to be a real big challenge for our car.

 “This race is going to be extremely crucial for the championship. It’s great to see more cars entering the series, but they’ve all got good drivers and are extremely fast. We’re going to try to salvage the best result we can, and try to stay in front of the people we’re battling for the championship.”

Bodymotion Racing returns with Cameron Cassels and Trent Hindman in the No. 12 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport that won three races this season. CJ Wilson Racing will have Daniel Burkett and Marc Miller in the No. 33 ONE Capital Management/MotorOilMatters.org Cayman that is currently second in the standings, with Justin Piscitell joining Till Bechtolscheimer in the No. 35 Chicago Blackhawks/Safecraft Cayman.

C360R returns with the field’s second Ford, the No. 76 AERO Advanced Paint Technology Shelby for Paul Holton and Pierre Kleinubing.

Guy Cosmo joins Team TGM’s entry, entered with Ted Giovanis in the JKTG Foundation/Camp Boggy Creek Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Cosmo is a three-time winner in the series – including his first two starts back in 2003. Muehlner Motorsports America rejoins the series with Peter Ludwig pairing with Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 21 H&R Special Springs Cayman.

Automatic Racing has also revamped its two-car Aston Martin entry. Charles Putman and Charles Espenlaub move to the No. 99 Invisible Glass/Rogue Engineering/Melbourne BMW/Red Glare Records Aston Martin Vantage, while third-generation driver Andrew Hobbs – who hails from Milwaukee – makes his series debut, co-driving the No. 09 Aston Martin with Al Carter.

ST Points-Leading RS1 Porsche Faces Challenge From Automatic Racing Mazda

Spencer Pumpelly and Nick Galante saw their 14-point Street Tuner (ST) lead halved to seven after finishing fourth at Lime Rock in the No. 17 RS1 Legistics/Rickie Fowler.com Porsche Cayman. Defending ST champions Stevan McAleer and Chad McCumbee won their second race of the season at Lime Rock in the No. 25 Freedom Autosport ModSpace Mazda MX-7 to tighten the standings, 173-166.

Defending Road America winners Chad Gilsinger and Ryan Eversley return in the No. 93 HART Honda Civic Si. HART also fields the No. 92 Civic, with Cameron Lawrence co-driving with Steve Eich.

Owen Trinkler will break the series record for career races when he joins Sarah Cattaneo in the No. 44 CRG-I Do Borrow Nissan Altima Coupe. It will be Trinkler’s 124th start in the series. Last year, he joined Cattaneo in finishing second at Road America in a Honda.

NOTEBOOK

• Piscitell will drive for his fourth team this season, filling in for Tyler McQuarrie in the No. 35 Chicago Blackhawks/Safecraft Porsche Cayman GT4. After driving for three different teams in ST – he is currently tied for 10th in the standings despite missing a race – he makes his 2016 GS debut for CJ Wilson Racing. Piscitell competed in two GS races in a Racers Edge Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302R at Lime Rock in 2012 and 2014, edging out Jordan Taylor’s Camaro in the former event.
• Josh Bilicki will make his third career ST appearance when he joins Dillon Machavern in the No. 18 RS1 RickieFowler.com/Romero Investment Advisors/Montway Transport Porsche Cayman. Bilicki, from Richfield, Wisconsin, drove for Burton Racing last year at Road America and Circuit of The Americas. While he’s never co-driven with Machavern, the pair have raced each other in Spec Miatas.
• Drake Kemper makes his Continental Tire Challenge debut, driving the No. 34 Alara Racing Mazda MX-5. Kemper earned a Mazda Road to 24 Scholarship by winning the 2014 MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge. He also has many acting credits, including the 2014 film “Earth to Echo.” Kemper will partner with Christian Szymczak, who matched his career best with a second-place finish at Lime Rock, co-driving with Terry Borcheller.

Continental Tire Challenge practice will begin on Friday at 8 a.m. CT, with qualifying at 3:45 p.m. The two-hour, 30-minute Continental Tire Challenge race will take the green flag on Saturday at 11:35 a.m. CT. The race will be streamed live on IMSA.tv and the IMSA mobile app at 12:35 p.m. ET, and will be broadcast on FS1 at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 14.