Kansas Speedway Race Preview
GRAND-AM Road Racing’s Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will compete for the first time at Kansas Speedway in this weekend’s SFP Grand Prix, with the Rolex Series running under the lights on Saturday. The Friday-Saturday event also features the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series. The races will be held on a 2.37-mile layout that includes a six-turn infield road course in addition to a portion of the 1.5-mile banked speedway, located in Kansas City, Kan.
This will be the third new venue on the 2013 schedule that already included first visits to Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, and Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga.
Rolex Series practice begins at 1 p.m. CT Friday, with qualifying Friday evening at 9:25 p.m. The race takes the green flag for two hours, 45 minutes at 7 p.m. on Saturday evening. The race will be televised live on FOX Sports 2 (8 p.m. ET), and will be rebroadcast on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.
“It’s one of the fastest tracks we’ve been to,” said Ozz Negri, driver of the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford/Riley. “It’s also one of the hardest ovals that we’ve gone to. Braking for Turn 1 will be pretty interesting because it’s one of the hardest braking points.”
The two-hour, 30-minute Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race begins at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday, with the Lamborghini Super Trofeo races at 8:20 p.m. on Friday and 12:20 p.m. on Saturday.
Road America’s events left both Daytona Prototype and GT championship races wide-open with three races remaining on this year’s calendar.
Indianapolis winners Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel, co-drivers of the No. 2 Soloson BMW/Riley, saw their DP lead trimmed to four points. GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty occupy the runner-up position with three other sets of drivers within 14 points of the lead.
GT leaders Andy Lally and John Potter missed the podium by two positions but kept intact the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3’s season-long streak of top-six performances. They carry a seven-point advantage into this week’s event, topping four-time winners Robin Liddell and John Edwards in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R.
Three victories and five podiums in eight races have Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb on the verge of clinching the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge’s Grand Sport championship. The drivers of the No. 13 Billfish Foundation/Rum Bum Film and HD Studios Porsche 997 can clinch their first drivers’ championship by gaining 17 points on the second-place competitors.
Rum Bum Racing is the reigning GS title holder. Its closest rival is the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro of Matt Bell and John Edwards. The Bell/Edwards tandem, however, trails by a whopping 54 points after consecutive finishes outside the top 10.
Scott Maxwell and Jade Buford, third ranked in the No. 55 Multimatic Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage, must make significant gains from a 61-point deficit to remain in the championship pursuit.
Nothing is settled in the Street Tuner class where seven points separate the top three title contenders. Jeff Mosing and Jesse Combs are the frontrunners in the No. 56 RACE EPIC/Murillo BMW 328i, moving from third to first with a second consecutive runner-up finish at Road America.
Pursuers Mike LaMarra and Terry Borcheller and Kyle Gimple and Ryan Eversley fell back in Wisconsin, finishing 23rd and 16th, respectively. The No. 23 Burton Racing BMW 128i of LaMarra and Borcheller is six points behind while Eversley/Gimple in the No. 75 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si trails by seven.
Saturday’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will be shown by FOX Sports 1 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 25.
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