Gidley, TKO Motorsports to test PWC waters at Utah

Former Pirelli World Challenge competitor Memo Gidley and the TKO Motorsports team will head to Utah later this week with a plan to sample the series during its official test day ahead of the Security National Mortgage Supercar Grand Prix.

Along with TKO owner/driver Dave Traitel, Gidley will use the test day at the Utah Motorsports Campus (formerly Miller Motorsports Park) to gain insights on how the modern version of series operates while logging more miles in the team's Porsche 911 GT3 R.

"I was very excited when I was told we were going to run the test day before the next PWC weekend," said Gidley, who made his last PWC start in 2005 driving an Audi A4. "It will be a great opportunity for me to be back at a race weekend to see a lot of friends and to run with all the top PWC series cars and drivers, even if just for practice right now."

Gidley spend the full 2004 season racing a Ford Focus RS in PWC, and after undergoing years of rehabilitation following a harrowing IMSA Daytona Prototype crash in 2014, the inspiring Californian says he likes the thought of returning to compete in production-based machinery.

"I would love an opportunity to get back into a PWC race!" said Gidley. "I raced the Air Force Reserve/TechSport Ford Focus for a year in World Challenge over a decade ago, and our team got the Ford Focus its first podium in the series! The series was intense and very competitive like it appears right now, and it would be great to get TKO racing in this environment."

With Gidley as his coach and lead driver, Traitel appears interested in taking TKO into pro racing.

"We have been very pleased with the results from our extensive testing schedule with our Porsche [911] GT3 R," he said. "It has allowed us to gain even more confidence with our evolving motorsports program, and we look forward to what the future will bring. I can definitely say we are headed in the direction of competition and hope to keep Memo with us for the ride."