Sunday Group Management

Frisselle Brothers Are Left to Rue What Might Have Been

Frisselle Brothers Are Left to Rue What Might Have Been

Contact: Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management
Media
www.frisselleracing.com

LEXINGTON, Ohio, 17 September – Brothers Brian and Burt Frisselle gave it their best in their first race as co-drivers since 2006, but came up empty handed.

They finished the final GRAND-AM Rolex Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in ninth place, but had hoped for so much more. Matching their best qualifying performance of the season for the No. 77 Office Depot Doran Racing Ford Dallara with Burt behind the wheel to start the EMCO Gears Classic from fourth, both brothers wrestled to keep up with the leaders driving a car over burdened with excessive aerodynamic drag. That coupled with a motor slightly long in the tooth meant that while the Frisselle brothers could often catch the car ahead, they could not pass it.

At various points during the race, both Burt and Brian were able to run as high as fifth place, but with a caution filled race, their track position was always jeopardized by a car that lacked the top speed at the end of the straights.

“It was a tough day and not what we were looking for. But, the team worked hard and it’s not a result they deserved either. It was fun to qualify up in the top-five. It was a wild race with more yellows than I have ever seen here at Mid-Ohio,” said Burt. “We ran a little too much drag and that made it hard for us to race even though we had a better car than what our results show.”

Another element that complicated the race for the No. 77 was tire wear. The Frisselles found themselves at several key moments behind competitors whose car and tires performed better on the restarts whereas the No.77 would only get better as the tires wore. The trouble was that with as many restarts as there were, the Frisselles were both losing ground initially only to recoup it as the laps churned on and then have to repeat the process with yet another restart.

The final straw in their effort to stay among the top-five came during the final pit stop, which occurred under yellow with Brian at the controls. With 57 minutes remaining in the 2 hour and 45 minute race, Brian came in from sixth place for his final service to take on fuel and four tires. The whole of the Daytona Prototype field also took the opportunity to pit, so when the tire change on the No.77 ran just fractions of a second too long, it was enough to relegate Brian to the end of the line when the field retook to the track. When the race restarted, Brian was in 10th place with little hope for closing back in on the top-five.

“I’m not sure what the issue was during the stop, but we lost a lot of track position. I tried to run as hard as I could but with the excess aero drag, there wasn’t much more I could do. It’s unfortunate for the team because they worked so hard and we qualified up front, but we just didn’t have the right set-up to convert it into a good result,” said Brian.

Now during the off-season, both Brian and Burt will look forward to returning home to the Colorado Rockies for some skiing and downtime to recharge for the battle next year at the 50th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

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brianBurtraceMidOhio-2011_PDF.pdf

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, http://sundaygroupblog.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Bell Closes 2011 GRAND-AM Run at Mid-Ohio

Bell Closes 2011 GRAND-AM Run at Mid-Ohio

Contact: Matt Cleary
Media
317-908-2975

Lexington, Ohio (17 September 2011) – While Matt Bell’s final race of the year did not end how he had hoped, the California racer and his Stevenson Motorsports team showed great resilience in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season-finale at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as the team battled back to finish the 2.5-hour race after sustaining significant damage to the No. 9 Camaro in an early incident.

Bell opened the EMCO Gears Classic from the 17th position and had picked up two positions when a car just ahead of the Camaro spun on Lap 13 and left Bell with no place to go. The left front of the No. 9 made contact and sustained significant damage that would force Bell to pit road for repairs.

“The 37 car spun in front of me and I just had nowhere to go,” said Bell of the incident. “Once again, the Stevenson guys just did a great job – I gave them a 20 lap job and they got it done in 14. I mean they replaced the whole front left corner of the car and got a very crooked car straight.”

The Stevenson Motorsports squad displayed the same great pit work as they have done all season to repair the heavily damaged car to allow Bell’s co-driver John Edwards, who is running for rookie points, to take his stint behind the wheel. With the team 14 laps down, the strategy was to run a clean race and bring the No. 9 machine across the finish line with as many points as possible.

Once Edwards had run his 30 minute requirement behind the wheel, the team made the decision to relieve him as he would also race in the Rolex Series race later in the day. Bell returned to the helm of the Camaro for the final 30 minutes of the race to take it to the finish.

“Besides the fact that we didn’t have the front sway bar again, the car was right where it should have been and went and ran the rest of the race,” said Bell. “I’m not sure we had a car to run with the leaders but we could have had a top-10 today. I have to thank the Stevenson team for working so hard each and every race weekend. We’ve had a good year with some really great results, it was just unfortunate to have it end this way.”

Despite the result, Bell has much to be proud of in his 2011 season having scored two wins at both Road America and his home race of Laguna Seca in addition to earning five top-five finishes throughout the year.

The EMCO Gears Classic will air on Sunday, September 25 at 1:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

PR inquiries about Matt Bell should be directed to Matt Cleary at Sunday Group Management; 317.908.2975 (mobile) or media @sundaymanagement.com

For additional information:
www.sundaymanagement.com

###

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, http://sundaygroupblog.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Tim Bell Matches Season’s Best with Another Second Place Result

Tim Bell Matches Season’s Best with Another Second Place Result

Contact: Matt Cleary
Media
317-908-2975

LEXINGTON, Ohio, 17 September – Tim Bell’s rookie season in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge ended on high note at the EMCO Gears Classic as he took his second runner up finish of the year. Co-driving with BJ Zacharias, Bell drove the opening, nearly hour-long, stint.

Having started the No.14 Office Depot Doran Racing BMW 128i from the ninth position on the grid, Bell steadily rose to the front of the ST Class field. Forty minutes into the two and a half hour contest, Bell cracked the top-5. Then, shortly before pitting to hand the car over to Zacharias, Bell lodged the himself onto podium position by capturing third place. Bell pitted with one hour and 37 minutes remaining.

“It went okay,” said Bell modestly, fresh from his stint. “There were a lot of yellows that interrupted the rhythm, but that was expected. Unfortunately, we had some trouble with the lug nuts during the pit stop, so we’ve lost some of the track position that I gained. But, BJ knows this track well, and I’m sure he’ll gain it back.”

And, that is exactly what Zacharias did. Consistently one of the fastest ST Class cars, he methodically worked his way back to the head of the field. Having rejoined in 17th place, Zacharias was up to 13th place with an hour to go. At 30 minutes remaining, the No.14 machine broke into the top-5 and with seven minutes to the checkered flag the second step on the podium was secured for good.

“Finally, we landed on a good note. We hit some rough patches during the season but it was the prefect storm for us,” said Bell from the podium ceremony. “Mid Ohio is BJ’s home track and he’s probably got 1000 laps on it. I couldn’t have a better teacher to help me figure out what the proper thing to do here since it is so technical. So, even though it wasn’t a winning race, we’ll take it!”

Bell’s second place finish today matches his best result to date in Continental Tire competition, which came at Barber Motorsports Park in April.

With championship concluded, Bell ranks 13th overall, tied with teammate Zacharias, scoring 181 points on strength of two podiums and three Top-10 finishes in all.

The EMCO Gears Classic from the Mid-Ohio airs on SPEED, September 25 at 1:00 PM eastern.

www.sundaygroupblog.com

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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, http://sundaygroupblog.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

2011 Ends Early for Burrows and Hopwood at Mid-Ohio

2011 Ends Early for Burrows and Hopwood at Mid-Ohio

Contact: Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management
media
(317) 908-2975-Mobile

Lexington, Oh (17 September, 2011)– Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood have never enjoyed particularly good luck at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition, and Saturday’s season-finale event unfortunately provided another chapter in that unloved history. Sharing the No. 12 Infinity Audio Kia Forte Koup as part of the Kinetic Motorsports championship-bound effort, Hopwood started the race from 15th in class on the 71-car GS and ST-class grid.

An aggressively upwardly mobile racer, Hopwood was hoping to move up and put the machine in good stead before pitting to turn the Koup controls over to co-driver Burrows in the 2.5-hour race. But before even the first lap could be scored, Hopwood was moved off-track and sent into the barriers as another car didn’t have all the spacial awareness that probably he could have. Unfortunately, the damage and time off track put Hopwood one lap down on the leaders.

But with 10th in the overall championship standings firmly in sight as a goal and the ambition to help the Kinetic championship charge, Hopwood rejoined the fray and was working to move himself back to the lead lap. Unfortunately, that effort was stopped short when a mechanical issue proved terminal and sidelined the Kia entry for the duration of the race.

The disappointing result was somewhat salved by the finishing results, which saw the sister Kinetic Kia Koup No. 10 driver Nic Jonsson come home seventh to win the Driver Championship and Team Championship. Burrows and Hopwood, who have raced with Kia since the inception of the program and brought the Koup a first-ever race finish in the machine’s debut at Daytona International Speedway in January, 2010, gladly put away the disappointment of another tough Mid-Ohio race and joined in the championship celebrations. The team will be feted at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the GRAND-AM banquet event, before heading West to Las Vegas for a Kia National Dealer Meeting.

“Congratulations to Nic and Russell (Smith). It really just an incredible achievement for Kinetic and Kia to win a championship in just the second year of this program,” said Burrows. “Seeing and feeling the constant improvement with the Koup, every weekend out, is a testament to the team’s effort. It has been great to be here every step of the way. Now it’s time for some celebrating with the team and then we are heading off to Vegas to spend some time with a great group of Kia dealers.”

“It was not a great day for us, getting knocked off track and then losing power. But, it is a great day for the team and we’ve seen first hand all the incredible work that the Kinetic guys put in, every weekend,” said Hopwood. “It’s been great to be a part of the Kia family and even though the results didn’t fall our way this year, it was great to once again be a part of a championship effort. Hat’s off to the guys, I know it is going to be a BIG celebration in Cleveland!”

SPEED will broadcast the race September 25th at 1:00 PM ET. Make sure to catch the first part.

PR inquiries about Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood should be directed to Matt Cleary at Sunday Group Management; 317.908.2975 (mobile) or media@ sundaymanagement.com

For additional information:
www.trevorhopwood.com
www.sundaygroupblog.com
www.adamburrowsmotorsport.com
You can also follow the teams progress at www.facebook.com/kiaracing.

www.Sundaymanagement.com

###

BurHop-MidOh-race-PDF.pdf

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, http://sundaygroupblog.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Insight Racing Shows Strength in GRAND-AM Return at Mid-Ohio

Insight Racing Shows Strength in GRAND-AM Return at Mid-Ohio

Contact: Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management

Media

317.908.2975 (m)

You can also follow the team on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Insight-Racing/183845971652252 



Lexington, Ohio (17 September 2011) – Insight Racing scored its best GS class result of the season in the team’s return to GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race action as Tyler McQuarrie and Martin Jensen drove the No. 19 BMW M3 to a 12th place finish in the season finale at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Tyler McQuarrie opened the EMCO Gears Classic from the fourth row after qualifying the car seventh on the grid. The race saw seven caution periods as it was mired with numerous incidents among the 71-car combined class field. However, McQuarrie would keep the BMW clean throughout his stint and worked his way forward to run as high as second and challenge for the lead.

“It was kind of what I expected starting out,” said McQuarrie of the opening stint. “I knew it was going to be a struggle to keep people behind us going down the back straight because that’s really where our weak point is – the motor. The Insight crew gave me a great car. From Turns 4-9, I was being held up a lot even with some of the quick guys.

We stayed out and tried to do a one stop strategy and we got as high as second and came into the pits in third. Overall I was pretty happy with how the car was and how I drove. The first race back for the team, the first race back for the car and to qualify as well as we did just four tenths off the pole and then to run as high as second – we’re pretty happy with that.”

With the team opting to run a one-stop strategy, McQuarrie remained at the controls of the No. 19 BMW for 1 hour and 20 minutes before handing driving duties over to Martin Jensen who would finish out the race. Unfortunately, the team experienced some issues with the fueling system during the pit-stop which would drop the No. 19 down the order with Jensen re-entering the race in the 22nd position.

Jensen continued to match the steady pace previously set by McQuarrie and quickly began to cleanly maneuver his way through the field to make up 10 positions in the final hour of the race.

“We are progressing like we were at the start of the season,” said Jensen. “A lot of things kind of set us back but I think we showed by coming here and putting on a good show that we mean business about this. It has just been phenomenal the past months working with these guys. We are good racers and we are building a phenomenal organization and I think that showed today. I’m very happy for the team and for the guys. I’m glad to have Tyler (McQuarrie) in the car. He did an awesome job in the first stint keeping the car from any trouble. We are a happy group of people right now, and I think good things are yet to come.”

After not participating in the previous two races, Insight Racing was pleased to bring home solid 12th place finish in their home race in front of many friends and fans in attendance, but was also keeping an eye on the big picture further down the road in the future.

“I’m excited and so pleased because we came into the weekend with a plan and they executed it to a T,” said Team Principal Gil Lynagh. “Everybody on this team – they have all risen to the occasion. We’re going to leave here prepared with exactly what we want to do next year. We knew what was going on today and we knew where the car was. We just didn’t have the horsepower. The car performed well, the crew performed well, and the engineering group just really came together. We have the methodical, disciplined, structured approach which I’ve tried to build into the team from the beginning and we’re really beginning to see everything from the decisions to the execution to the evaluation – the whole process now has become what we’re looking for. I think we will be a championship contending team next year. I’m so proud of these guys – they fought throughout all the adversity this year and the challenges we had. They never gave up and always had a positive attitude. I couldn’t go away at the end of the year happier than I am right now.”

The event will air Sunday, September 25 at 1:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

Additional information is available at: www.insightracing.com

Insight_race_midohio-PDF.pdf

Rum Bum Racing Once Again Bookends Season with Wins

Rum Bum Racing Once Again Bookends Season with Wins

You can follow Rum Bum Racing on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RumBumRacing

LEXINGTON, Ohio, 17 September – Ending the season as they began –in Victory Lane – Rum Bum Racing notched their third win of the season in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge EMCO Gears Classic presented by Key Bank.

Drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi battled through a hectic race, punctuated by no less than seven caution periods accounting for just less than half of the two-hour and 30 minute race. Plumb captured the victory only two minutes and 45 seconds from the checkered flag to once again win the final race of the season. Lap after lap of pressure on the No.61 Mustang from Plumb finally yielded P1 on the day and moved the team to second in the year-end championship standings.

“It couldn’t have gone any better; the car was perfect. That was the hardest I’ve driven for this long in quite a while. It was a nail bitter all the way to the end. There are so many good drivers and cars here that it could have been anybody’s race at any time,” said Plumb triumphantly from Victory Lane.

Longhi started the race from fourth on the grid. From the off, the race’s rhythm was established with the first caution period coming at the end of lap one. When racing resumed Longhi had some chances to gain position, but thought better of it knowing that patience would be a virtue in this contest.

“The car was great on cold tires. So, early in the race, I knew we would be in good shape. I had several chances to make up positions early on, but knowing that this would be a race of cautions, there made little sense to use the car up too early,” said Longhi after handing the car over to Plumb just beyond the races first 30-minute mark.

Plumb, fueled and with fresh tires made the most green flag running to steadily make ground on the front runners.

With an hour and 20 minutes to go, Plumb used the fourth caution period to pit from second place for set of new Continental Tires. Because the team’s pit was at the end of pit lane, a slight bottle neck ensued when the pit lane opened, dropping the No. 13 Rum Bum BMW M3 down to 11th place. A series of bold passes seized upon during the limited opportunities moved Plumb into winning contention.

“Traffic was unbelievable. So I had to make a lot of passes that normally might not work. I knew we had to do everything in our power to win,” added Plumb.

Both Plumb and Longhi were quick to credit the Rum Bum Racing crew and the support of Lou Bacardi. The final race weekend of the year did not begin with a confidence inspiring performances during the first practices. Yet, the team’s ‘never surrender’ attitude kept them chipping away at improving the performance of the Rum Bum machine until it showed its true winning potential.

“This result is better than what we expected given how we started the weekend, but perfect execution by the team and (crew chief) Joe Varde made it all happen. Matt drove flat out the whole race. There couldn’t be a better way to end the season,” added Longhi.

In the final Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge point standings, Rum Bum Racing finished the team competition in second place overall just 14 points adrift of the title winners. Thanks in part to Rum Bum Racing’s three wins, two podiums and three additional Top-10 finishes, BMW sealed the manufacturer’s championship for the second consecutive year.

The EMCO Gears Classic from the Mid-Ohio airs on SPEED, September 25 at 1:00 PM eastern.

-ends-

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, http://sundaygroupblog.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

RBR-Mid_ohio_RACE-PDF.pdf

Tim Bell Set for Mid-Ohio Debut

Tim Bell Set for Mid-Ohio Debut

Matches best qualifying of the season

Contact: Matt Cleary
Media
317-908-2975

Lexington, Ohio (16 September 2011) – Tim Bell matched his best qualifying result of the season to start the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season finale – the EMCO Gears Classic presented by Key Bank – at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course from the ninth grid position after posting a quick time of 1:35.866 seconds during Friday’s 15-minute qualifying session.

Bell opened his GRAND-AM rookie season from ninth on the grid at Daytona and will again start from the inside of Row 5 as he takes the final green flag of the year at Mid-Ohio. Throughout the season, Bell has shown his strength at the start of each race moving steadily up through the field during his stint behind the wheel of the No. 14 Office Depot BMW 128i. He will look to do the same as he opens Saturday’s 2.5-hour contest before handing driving duties over to Doran Racing co-driver BJ Zacharias.

“If I had just four-tenths more, I would have been third,” said Bell of the qualifying run. “I know the car has it in it – it’s going to be a close one. Besides the car being a little tail happy, the brakes are dead on. I’m probably braking 50 feet further than anybody else on track, which is definitely going to help us during the race. Right now we just need to get the tail settled a bit. While I was out there, I was just thinking about trying to be smooth and get the power down early and get the job done.”

Bell began the session by posting a quick lap time straight away to slot into the eleventh position on the timesheet. His next lap through would be his best and vaulted him to eighth place, where he would hold station only to be bettered in the waning moments and relegated to the ninth starting spot.

While the season opening race at Daytona saw Bell’s strong qualifying effort thwarted when the No. 14 BMW was hit by a competitor, the California racer will look to run a clean race around the challenging 13-turn Ohio road course and close out his rookie season with another good result.

The EMCO Gears Classic will begin Saturday at 11:00 AM (ET) and can be followed with live online timing and scoring at www.grand-am.com. The event will broadcast on SPEED September 25 at 1:00 PM (ET).

www.sundaygroupblog.com

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Frisselle Brothers To Start Fourth at Mid Ohio In GRAND-AM Finale

Frisselle Brothers To Start Fourth at Mid Ohio In GRAND-AM Finale

Contact: Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management
Media
www.frisselleracing.com

LEXINGTON, Ohio, 16 September – It has been five years since brothers Burt and Brian Frisselle had a car all their own to race and they intend to make the most of it.

That intention came closer to fruition when Burt qualified the No. 77 Office Depot Doran Racing Ford Dallara in fourth position for the GRAND-AM Rolex Series EMCO Gears Classic presented by Key Bank at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Burt’s quickest lap of 1:17.872 sec. around the challenging 2.258-mile undulating circuit came on his eighth of 11 trips across the finish line.

Burt got the chance to co-drive with brother Brian this weekend after his usual co-driver Henri Richard clinched the MESCO Rookie of the Year Award and graciously stepped aside to make way for Burt.

The first seven laps Burt turned in the Office Depot machine steadily whittled down the lap times as the team expected while patiently watching the timing and scoring monitors on pit lane. In the cockpit, it was a slightly different story as it turned out.

“The session was a bit frantic from my point of view,” said Burt. “First of all there are some driver settings buttons on the back of the steering wheel that I hadn’t discovered! Once the session started I was a bit concerned when the No. 99 car took off in the distance, but I knew that with this car it would be faster as we got closer to the end, so I focused on a steady improvement to the end of the session. The radio wasn’t working and the neither was the lap timer since I didn’t know which buttons to set on the steering wheel, so I really had no idea where I was lap-time wise. When I came in at the end of the session and learned I scored a fourth place, I was really surprised because I was expecting a decent result, but this is really good.”

“Above all, thanks very much to Henri (Richard) for stepping aside and offering me the chance to drive with Brian this weekend. It’s been great so far and I am so happy to qualify in a position where Brian has a chance to take over the car from, hopefully, a competitive position. To qualify in the top 5 is a real testament to the work the team put in and I’m so happy for them,” added Burt.

Brian found that despite all the confidence he has in his brother, he was still a bit more nervous that when his normal co-driver Richard is at the controls.

“There’s no one I want to do better out there than my brother, so I was absolutely more nervous for him. Henri (Richard) is a new driver to the series and so he’s learning and when he qualifies, you are hoping he will do well, but its nothing like hoping for the same for your brother! With Burt we want him up front with a good result and with the experience that he has, the expectations are higher for him,” said Brian.

Brian, who is younger than Burt has found himself this weekend in the unusual role of mentoring his big brother.

“Ordinarily, we go into a racecar on even terms, but here I’ve been with the team and the car all season so I’ve got the data to help him get up to speed. Overall, he’s been great; willing to learn and receptive to input from myself and the rest of the team,” explained Brian.

The final Rolex Series race of the year gets underway, Saturday, Sept 17 at 3:00 PM eastern for two and three quarter hours of racing with live coverage on SPEED.

-ends-

brianBurtqualMidOhio-2011-pd.pdf

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, http://sundaygroupblog.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Burrows and Hopwood Set for Mid-Ohio

Burrows and Hopwood Set for Mid-Ohio

Contact: Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management
media
(317) 908-2975-Mobile

Lexington, Oh (16 September, 2011)– Trevor Hopwood will start the final GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race of the year from the eighth row after the Kinetic Motorsports squad once again put in an outstanding effort to have the No. 12 Infinity Audio Kia Forte Koup ready to go for qualifying at Mid-Ohio. Hopwood will open the 2.5-hour race from behind the wheel before turning the car over to co-driver Adam Burrows to bring to the finish.

The morning practice session saw a sensor fail, causing a significant mechanical set-back as the team was then pressed into action to change the motor on the No. 12 entry. While most squads might have just barely made the afternoon session with the extensive motor swap repairs, Kinetic went one better as the Lee Web-led squad had the machine back on track in time for the afternoon practice session that preceded qualifying.

“The clutch still had a little bit of fluid on it and it was slipping early in the session so I just had to be patient until it burned off,” said Hopwood. “Unfortunately, by then the tires were past their prime so I couldn’t put the time in that we had been hoping for. But with such a big field, it is still so much better to be starting 15th than the back. A huge thanks to the guys for once again rallying to have the 12 ready to go after a pretty big set back this morning. We’ll get some time on track tomorrow to keep dialing in the car. I think we will need it to be good on the short run, because this is a big field with a lot of new names and new-looking driver suits, so we could see a lot of time behind the pace car.”

Friday’s race is slated to go green at 11:00 AM local time, with SPEED broadcasting the race September 25th at 1:00 PM ET.

PR inquiries about Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood should be directed to Matt Cleary at Sunday Group Management; 317.908.2975 (mobile) or media@ sundaymanagement.com

For additional information:
www.trevorhopwood.com
www.adamburrowsmotorsport.com
You can also follow the teams progress at www.facebook.com/kiaracing.

www.Sundaymanagement.com

###

BurHop-MidOh-QUAL-PDF.pdf

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

For additional information: www.sundaymanagement.com, http://sundaygroupblog.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Insight Racing Off to a Fast Start at Mid-Ohio

Insight Racing Off to a Fast Start at Mid-Ohio

Contact: Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management

Media
317.908.2975 (m)

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Lexington, Ohio (16 September 2011) – Insight Racing was quickly up to speed in its return to GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition as the team’s comprehensive preparation for the season finale at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course paid off when Tyler McQuarrie posted a fast lap time of 1:31.663 seconds to start seventh on the 72-car combined class grid.

The team continually improved the No. 19 BMW M3 throughout the day’s practice sessions with both McQuarrie and co-driver Martin Jensen climbing the speed charts each time out. Those efforts saw the team qualify just four tenths off the pole time to make its second best start of the season with the GS class entry.

McQuarrie will start the 2.5-hour EMCO Gears Classic from the inside of the fourth row in front of the Hilliard, Ohio-based Insight Racing team’s home crowd before handing the BMW over to Danenmark’s Jensen, who will drive to the finish.

“It’s so good coming back here,” said McQuarrie. “We’ve been off for two races and were shooting to qualify top-10 and we did even better than that. We’ve been working really hard on the set up over the last couple days. We’re down in a couple areas that we have no control of right now, but the team just did an amazing job and we finally got this set up where we can go out and drive the car. We’re only four tenths off the pole so that in itself right there is awesome. Yesterday we were sitting there a second and a half off the pace and scratching our heads, but we tried some things and the fact that we’re only four tenths off right now -we’re all really excited. The team just did flawless work this weekend.”

Insight Racing recently tested the BMW at the 2.258-mile Ohio road course and has spent the last several weeks focusing on arriving at the home race with a racecar capable of a solid result this weekend. The team will look to capitalize on the strong starting position with another good finish at the front.

“Very simply, it’s just another indication of how the engineering group and the team comes together and makes the car respond to all the work that we put into the car,” said Insight Racing Team Principal Gil Lynagh. “We think top-seven considering that we have less horsepower than anybody else, we think that’s a very good position for us to be in. We have a very raceable car for this weekend. That’s really our mantra – not really to try to be P1 in qualifying but have a car that lasts through the race, runs through the race well and is easy on the tires. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and we think the car will perform well. We brought Cooper (King) on as an engineer and now we really have an engineering triumvate if you will. I’m very happy about it and we just want to come out here tomorrow with a reasonable finish and a good solid car. It’s going to be a challenging race tomorrow – you’ve got a very large field and a tremendous number of cars for a track of this size and width. It’s definitely good to be up front and seventh is great.”

The EMCO Gears Classic is set to begin Saturday, September 17 at 11:00 AM (ET) and can be followed with live online timing and scoring at www.grand-am.com. The event will air Sunday, September 25 at 1:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

Additional information is available at: www.insightracing.com

Insight_qual_midOhio-pdf.pdf