PWC: 120+ drivers set for Monterey finale
One hundred twenty-two Pirelli World Challenge drivers are entered for the 2016 series finale this coming weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Champions across the series' eight classes will be officially crowned October 7-9 as part of the Pirelli World Challenge Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Grand Prix presented by Nissan. GT and GTA drivers will race Round 20, while GT Cup pilots are set to race in Round 19. SprintX Rounds 5 and 6 will run, while Rounds 18 and 19 are scheduled in GTS. TC, TCA and TCB classes will run Rounds 11 and 12. The weekend marks the 15th time the series will race at the 11-turn 2.238-mile road course.
Check back Wednesday for Part 2 of the season finale preview.
Mills and Riddle Lead Championships Heading into MRLS – SprintX Preview
The SprintX class featuring GT/GTA, GT Cup and GTS teams debuted earlier this season at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The final two SprintX races, Rounds 5 and 6 are set for this upcoming weekend.
Races are 60 minutes in length and feature mandatory driver and tire changes. Driver pairings are based on FIA driver criteria. For example, FIA listed Bronze drivers can drive with other bronze drivers as well as Silver, Gold and Platinum, while Silver drivers can be matched with Bronze, Silver and Gold drivers. Gold drivers can pair with Bronze and Silver drivers, while Platinum drivers can only be paired with Bronze level drivers.
In SprintX GT, Michael Mills and John Edwards are set to share duties on the No. 46 Mills Racing/Airtech Vacuum BMW Z4 GT3. Mills is the former 2014 PWC GTA Driver's champion, while Edwards has been competing in sportscar racing for the last number of years and won the 2008 Star Mazda Championship. Mills comes into the weekend leading the GT Sportsman Driver's Championship with 396 points. The Mills Racing team also leads in the Team Championship with 786 points.
David Ostella and Dion Von Moltke team up on the No. 23 M1 GT Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra. Ostella is a former Indy Lights driver and was the 2013 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada Champion, while
Von Moltke has 12 wins, 28 Podiums, and 94 top 10 finishes out of 109 sports car races in the years spanning 2008 to 2015. Ostella trails Mills by 34 points in the battle for the Championship. M1 GT Racing trails Mills Racing by 38 points in the battle for the Team Championship.
Global Motorsports Group has entered the No. 14 Spyder/ Mobil 1/ Thermal Club Porsche 911 GT3 R for the 2016 GT Cup Champion Alec Udell and Sportsman Driver Championship contender Brent Holden. Udell makes his first career GT SprintX start while Holden comes into the weekend third with 356 points.
Rounding out GT SprintX field are Lars Viljoen and Caesar Bacarella in the No. 24 Delgac LLC/De La Torre Racing Motor Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3, Andy Wilzoch and Darren Law in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche GT3 R, Tim Pappas and PWC veteran Andy Pilgrim in the No. 54 Black Swan Racing Porsche GT3R, Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette in the No. 79 WeatherTech/Alex Job Racing Porsche 991 GT3R, Michael McCann and Jim McCann in the No. 82 Yeti GT3R/McCann Racing/Dodge Viper McCann Racing Dodge Viper GT3, and Preston Calvert and Michael Lewis in the No. 98 Phoenix Performance/Brett King Designs/Boys Republic Calvert Dynamics Porsche 911 GT3R.
In the GTS SprintX category, the No. 07 Adobe Road Winery/LaSalle Solutions/TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT4 will be driven by Max Riddle and Kris Wilson. Riddle leads the GTS SprintX Championship with 440 points. TRG-AMR also has the No. 09 BRM Chronographes/Rebounderz/Rohnert Park/Racing for Cancer/Pirata Della Strada/Simon Ward TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT4 entered for Derek DeBoer and Jason Alexandridis. DeBoer sits second overall with 416 points while Alexandridis sits third overall with 392 points. TRG-AMR also leads the team championship with 880 points coming into the weekend. TRG-AMR also has the 04 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 entered for George Kurtz and Kenton Koch and the No. 77 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Greg Milzcik and former PWC GT Driver's Championship Brandon Davis.
Performance Motorsports Group will enter a team with Parker Chase and Harry Gottsacker piloting the No. 29 Ginetta GT4.
Rounding out the GTS SprintX field are Aristotle Balogh and Greg Liefooghe in the No. 5 ART Racing/ Stephen Cameron Racing LLC Aston Martin Vantage GT4, the No. 54 X Border Foods and Wines Racers Edge Motorsports SIN R1 GT4 to be piloted by Scott Heckert and Chris Beaufait, and Jeff Courtney and Greg Palmer in the No. 66 JCR Motorsports Maserati GranTurismo MC Trofeo.
In SprintX GT Cup, Jeff Burton and Enrique Bernoldi will pilot the No. 10 DXDT Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo, Ludovico Manifredi and Jonathan Summerton will drive the No. 27 ANSA Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, while David Askew and James Burke will pilot the No. 63 USALCO, LLC/DXDT Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo.
Grahovec Leads Wittmer in Race for Championship – Touring Car Preview
Toby Grahovec, in the No. 26 Classic BMW Motorsports BMW M235iR comes into the weekend first in the TC driver's championship with 960 points. Grahovec has two wins this season – in Round 2 at COTA, and Round 4 at CTMP and has yet to finish outside of the top five in 10 races this year. Grahovec is also helping BMW in the battle for the Manufacturer's Chamiponship with 78 points, only one behind Mazda coming into the weekend.
Montreal's Nick Wittmer will drive the No. 91 Honda Ste-Rose Racing Honda Accord. He brings an impressive resume having previously won a number of sports car racing championships including back–to–back Canadian Touring Car Championships in 2009 and 2010. Wittmer won Round 3 at CTMP and Round 5 at Lime Rock Park and sits second in the driver's championship with 765 points.
Patrick Gallagher comes into the weekend 3rd with 673 points and will drive the No. 54 Atlanta Motorsports Group Mazda MX–5.
Shea Holbrook will pilot the No. 67 Shea Racing Honda Accord V–6 Coupe – she sits fourth in class with 617 points. In 2014, Holbrook won five races in TCA and finished second overall in class. Teammate Jason Fichter in the No. 7 Shea Racing Honda Accord V–6 Coupe comes into the weekend 8th in the championship.
Anthony Geraci, in the No. 69 S.A.C. Racing/European Granite & Marble Group, Inc. Mazda MX–5 recorded his first career Pirelli World Challenge win at Lime Rock in Round 6 and sits fifth with 600 points. Gallagher and Geraci are helping Mazda to challenge BMW for the Manufacturer's Championship – Mazda currently sits first with 79 points.
Goulart Looks to Close out TCA Championship at Laguna Seca – TCA Class Preview
Elivan Goulart, in the No. 70 S.A.C. Racing Mazda MX–5 Cup, has had a dominating 2016 season thus far winning five of 10 TCA races, and he's finished in the top five in each of the other five races. He leads the TCA Driver's Championship heading into the weekend with 1,039 points. Goulart's performance has also helping Mazda clinch the class Manufacturer's Championship.
Joey Bickers, in the No. 49 Atlanta Motorsports Group Mazda MX–5 Cup, comes into the weekend sitting 2nd with 791 points. He won back-to-back races earlier this year at Road America.
Eric Powell, in the No. 23 Tech Sport Racing Mazda MX–5 Cup, enters the weekend 3rd in the driver's championship with 711 points with his best results coming at Lime Rock (two second-place finishes). Powell teams with Warren Dexter, in the No. 22 Tech Sport Racing Mazda MX–5 Cup, and Perry Richardson in the No. 21 Tech Sport Racing Mazda MX–5 Cup.
Matthew Fassnacht will pilot the No. 74 S.A.C. Racing/Equity Residence Mazda MX–5 Cup sits fourth with 665 points.
Others to watch in the 13–car TCA field include Jay Salinsky, in the No. 16 Fuse Lenses/Regenexx Cayman/Red Line Oil/Redcom/BERG Racing Mazda MX–5 Cup; Daniel Williams, in the No. 36 S.A.C Racing Mazda MX–5 Cup; Samantha Tan, in the No. 38 GPI Global Samantha Tan Racing Honda Civic SI; Mason Filippi, in the No. 48 Atlanta Motorsports Group Mazda MX–5; Paul Whiting in the No. 51 PWR & LDL Speed Shop Honda Civic SI; Daryl Harr, in the No. 71 Mobil 1 WestWorld Motorsports Inc. Toyota FR-S and Forrest Landy, Atlanta Motorsports Group/Excitations.com, in the No. 9 Mazda MX-5 Cup.
Groenke, Morse and O'Gorman Vie for Championship – TCB Class Preview
Touring Car B–Spec or TCB is the most cost-effective class category of the series and features some of the most entertaining door–to–door racing on the planet.
Canadian P.J. Groenke in the No. 25 Tech Sport Racing Chevrolet Sonic enters the weekend leading in the championship with 858 points. As the most experienced competitor in class – Groenke finished sixth overall in the TCB championship last year and is set to make his 59th and 60th PWC career starts in California. While he hasn't yet recorded a race win in the series, he has come very close in the last nine races finishing each of them in the top five to score valuable championship points. Teaming with Groenke is Michael Johnson, in the No. 24 Tech Sport Racing Chevrolet Sonic.
Rookie Henry Morse, age 15, in the No. 14 Hale Motorsports MorseGPS powered by CalAmp/MazdaSpeed/FreeM USA/Corksport Performance/Rolling Hills Prep Mazda2 recorded his first career series win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Round 3. He comes into the weekend trailing Groenke by only 13 points.
Tom O'Gorman, in the No. 94 TNIA/Black Armor Helmets Honda Fit, vaulted up into third in the Championship standings with back-to-back wins at Road America and Utah. He comes into the weekend with 796 points.
Ted Hough in the No. 68 Breathless Racing Mazda 2 scored a win earlier in the season at Circuit of the Americas and comes into the weekend 4th in the TCB Driver's Championship with 644 points, while Jasper Drengler, in the No. 01 Drengler Racing/Chimney Mechanix Honda Fit comes into the weekend 5th in the standings with 636.
Rounding out the 10-car TCB field are James Wilson, in the No. 55 Black Armor Helmets/Mazdaspeed Motorsports Mazda 2 and Patrick Wilmot, in the No. 18 MyBamaHome.com/Track9 The Precision Motorsports Group Honda Fit, Nic Lougee in the No. 29 4R Motorsports MINI Cooper and Will Rodgers in the No. 65 Solvang Brewing Co/Kelly Benefit Strategies/Foundation Fighting Blindness Hale Motorsports Mazda 2.
11-turn 2.238-mile road course
Friday, October 7, 2016
12:30 PM - 12:45 PM TCA-TCB Qualifying
12:50 p.m. - 1:05 p.m. TC Qualifying
3:35 p.m. - 4:05 p.m. Pirelli World Challenge - Sprint X Qualifying
Saturday October 8, 2016
9:00 a.m.- 9:25 a.m. Pirelli World Challenge - GTS Qualifying
10:25 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Pirelli World Challenge - GTA-GT Cup Qualifying - Group 1
10:50 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. Pirelli World Challenge - GT Qualifying - Group 2
60 minutes (SprintX)
50 minutes (GT/GTA/GT Cup, GTS)
40 minutes (TC/TCA/TCB)
Live Internet Telecast (on motortrendondemand.com):
Saturday October 8, 2016
11:45 a.m. – 12:35 p.m. Race # 1 TC-TCA-TCB
1:55 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.Race # 1 GTS
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Race # 1 SprintX
Sunday, October 9, 2016
8:45 a.m. – 9:25 a.m. Race # 2 TC-TCA-TCB
10:50 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. Race # 2 GTS
1:05 p.m. – 2:05 p.m. GT-GTA-GT Cup Race
3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Race # 2 SprintX
All times listed above are Pacific
Television (on CBS Sports Network):
GT: Oct. 16, 3 PM
TC: Oct. 23, 3 PM
GTS: Oct. 23, 4 PM
SprintX: Oct. 23, 5 PM
All times listed re: CBS broadcasts are Eastern.
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