Sunday Group Management

Burrows and Hopwood Net Top Ten at Barber Motorsports Park

Burrows and Hopwood Net Top Ten at Barber Motorsports Park

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

TV: SPEED, April 16, 2:00 PM ET

Birmingham, AL (9 April, 2011)– After opening up the 2011 season with two frustrating races, Kinetic Motorsports drivers Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood are hoping that a solid result in round three will signal an upturn in fortunes for the rest of the 2011 season.

Running in the home event for both Kinetic Motorsports and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, the former series champions brought No. 12 Infinity Audio Kia Koup home in tenth at Barber Motorports Park for round three of the 2011 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship after high temperatures saw the handling on the machine keep the duo from fighting for a return to the Barber Park podium.

The race was another new chapter in highlights for Kia, as the sister team entry brought the brand its debut win in the category.

After spending the morning with a range of Kia team members and guests, Hopwood opened the 2.5-hour race from behind the wheel, moving up to fourth in the running order before turning the controls over to Burrows, who returned to the fray deep in the pack, 19th in the running order. Despite a car that didn’t have the full pace in the race day heat, Burrows moved smartly up the order to finish tenth at the checkered flag.

“Congratulations to Kinetic and to Kia for the first win today, it’s an incredible achievement,” said Burrows, who got to see first hand the impressive Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia plant earlier in the race week. “We would have loved to have been up there fighting for a podium with them, but we just didn’t have the handling dialed in on the Koup today. But we’re happy to get a solid finish and feel like this is going to be a good starting point for the rest of the season.”

The Barber Motorsports Park result marks the fourth top-ten finish with the Kia Koup for Burrows and Hopwood, who are already looking forward to the next round of GRAND-AM competition at Virginia International Raceway.

“Now we are heading to some tracks that we really love racing on and hopefully we can just keep moving up from here,” said Hopwood. “This is not my personal favorite track, so to come in and take our first top ten of the season and have a solid clean race is a good way to get ready for the next few races going in to Lime Rock Park. Congrats to Russell, Ed, Nic, Michael, and everyone at Kinetic and Kia for the win. It’s huge, and hopefully Adam and I can bring them the next one.”

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

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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, https://sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Continued Progress for Insight Racing at Barber Motorsports Park

Continued Progress for Insight Racing at Barber Motorsports Park

Insight Racing No. 18 Scores Second Straight Top 10. No 19 Knocked Out of Certain Top 10

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., 9 April – While the Barber 200 result didn’t reflect the full potential that the team showed on race day, Insight Racing took another significant step forward on Saturday, leading the race and scoring the teams best result to date.

Nico Rondet along with Jeff Westphal, who was making his Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge debut with Insight Racing, delivered the best result so far for the young team, shrugging of a number of setbacks to finish in ninth place in the ST Class at Barber Motorsports Park. The result marks the second top-10 finish for the No.18 on its maiden season.

And it could well have been a double top-10, with the GS Class No. 19 car of Paul Gerrard and Martin Jenson running strongly throughout the two and a half hour contest at Barber Motorsports Park. That strong outting was thwarted when the car was the innocent victim of a clash between other cars on track that forced Jensen, who was at the controls in 11th place and making forward progress, off track when he was hit from the side in a multi-car melee. Jensen was able to quickly resume but the damage to track position had been done. Despite dropping to as low as 39th at one point, Jensen clawed his way back up to 16th place, where he would finish the race.

“I saw that he was going to try and out brake me in the next corner, so I gave a little bit of room. I looked in the mirror and I saw the car – actually I was surprised he was farther back than he was, but I looked one more time just to be sure and when I looked back, I saw the car flying down quite a lot. What was actually the worst part about it was that it was the last guy in that group. I’m sorry to say, it seemed like a very stupid maneuver and it completely changed our race,” said a deeply frustrated Jensen after the race. “So for me and for the team, I’m very disappointed. We got to the checkered flag this time, which was positive, but the guys really deserved a top-10 this weekend.”

The No. 19 BMW M3 was a principal animator of the early stages of the race. Gerrard took the opening stint and quickly leapfrogged from ninth to fifth place during the opening lap and by lap 25 was soon battling for the race lead. Meanwhile, Westphal was charged with the opening driver duty on the No. 18 BMW 328i, and he too ran as high as the third position in class during the opening hour of racing.

“We started fourth and we got shuffled back at the start. The guy in front of me was a little conservative so when he tried to slot back in, I had to check up,” said Westphal about his first stint in the Insight No.18. “It was a dream to work with the team. They were very professional, and I would welcome the chance to come back and help them again if they ever needed it. Despite not getting off to a fast start, this was a great weekend and I’m very impressed with this team.”

Gerrard commenting on his opening stint said, “With what we’re doing with the team, and I always go back to this, but the team where it is relative to how much track time we’ve had, is amazing. Steve (Dinan) made a great call on our set-up that really helped us with tires over the course of the stint. We made up a couple positions on the start and everyone else started to fade a little bit, but we just had that ability to keep that pace going.”

Both Insight team cars came in for service and driver changes during the second of the race’s five caution periods. Gerrard handed the reigns to Jensen while Westphal swapped with Rondet. The middle portion of the race was marked by steady progress through the field for the black and white Insight machines.

While the No. 19 had his misfortunes, the No. 18 was left mired in traffic on a circuit notorious for its lack of passing opportunity and having lost fourth gear, to boot. Nevertheless, Rondet remained cool under pressure. After the fourth of five caution periods, Rondet had been shuffled down to as low as 16th place in class, but the final caution period reshuffle returned him to 10th place in class. With four laps to go, he gained another valuable position to ninth and the team’s best finish so far.

“We had podium potential cars,” said team principal Gilbert Lynagh. “The pace was there, they were good on tires and the cars were prepped well. Some days the bear gets you, some days you get the bear. Nico drove the car splendidly to ninth place with no fourth gear which is a huge gear on this racetrack – it’s half the race track. He did a phenomenal job – he really showed how professional he really is. The GS car – we were biding our time. We had made our stops early and we had enough fuel to the end. Unfortunately some drivers here are just not using their heads and trying to be heros with 45 minutes left. We could have probably finished another five or six cars higher because Martin’s lap times were 1-2 seconds faster than everybody in front of him, but hats off to everybody who worked so hard this week and did a great job. We had a team meeting and we talked about critical thinking as one of the core components of success and they really took it to heart.

“It’s another weekend, we learned more, we developed more, we got a few things to work on now, but we’re going to do some extensive testing at VIR. Luckily, while we don’t like big gaps in the schedule – for us as a new team – it helps us a lot because we have tremendous amount of development to get done. Unfortunately we’re going to lose a week of that because of the damage, but I’m really very happy with the group.”

The next round of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge takes place at Virginia International Raceway on May 13-14. Catch the full race broadcast of the Barber 200, on April 16 at 2:00 PM eastern on SPEED.

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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, https://sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Rum Bum Racing Fights to Score Seventh at Barber Motorsports Park

Rum Bum Racing Fights to Score Seventh at Barber Motorsports Park

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., 9 April – Rum Bum Racing showed well throughout the Barber 200, the third round of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. The Daytona-round winning squad saw their race strategy thwarted by some unlucky yellow flag timing, but still rallied to finish in seventh place overall. The result keeps drivers Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb near the head of the championship table, only 12 points adrift of the team championship leaders.

Despite keeping a focus on the championship goal and struggling with grip, the No. 13 Rum Bum BMW M3 ran as high as third midway through the race and was a constant presence in the top-10 throughout. Following the fifth and final caution of the two and half hour race, the top-seven made a last, thrilling dash to the checkers with all seven cars running nose-to-tail during the course of the last four laps. In the end all seven cars finished just over six seconds off of the lead.

Longhi chaired the opening stint, immediately moving up to run in podium position. But by lap eight, the car was becoming increasingly loose, costing him track position as he was staying mindful of the risk-reward factors involved with over zealously defending. He pitted during the first caution for fuel and tires and handed the No. 13 over to Plumb, who rejoined in 18th place.

“I got a very good start and moved up to third right away,” said Longhi. “The car felt great the first few laps, and I could keep that early pace, but the plan was to just conserve the car so I didn’t chase the top-two cars. Joe (Varde) told me to keep the car together, don’t take any chances, and I actually gave a few spots up willingly as I just didn’t want to jeopardize anything. Then, I think something happened with the track temperature because we just didn’t have the grip we wanted. With the weight that we have to run our car at now, it was difficult to hold onto and the heat only made that worse.”

With a fresh set of Continental rubber, Plumb worked his way though the field rising to as high as third place before needing to stop once more for fuel service on lap 41, taking advantage of the race’s third full course yellow. With most of the field choosing to remain on track, Plumb rejoined from 39th place. Soon enough, he was back in the top-10 as a result of both speed and pitting ahead of many others.

“We tried to work our pit stop and fuel strategy to perfection, but the yellows and the timing didn’t go the way we had hoped,” said Plumb, who fought through the hot and humid conditions through the final stages of the race. “Had it gone without cautions, we’d have been on the podium. Our fuel guys had the numbers right down to the gallon. But there were the extra yellows, and so the cars up front that should have needed fuel didn’t need to stop. The way we cycled through, we were too far back to make up that track position.”

Two other caution periods would follow, but the status quo amongst the top-10 remained largely intact. Plumb clawed his way up to seventh place for the final sprint to the finish latching onto the leading train without opportunity for any further progress.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be the best place for this car and we just wanted to get out of here with the points that we could from this race and go from here,” added Longhi. “We have some tracks where we should be very strong coming up. It’s frustrating to have it come down to luck with yellows like this, but we’ll take the points and just go from here.”

In the constant effort to maintain a competition parity, officials regulate cars in a variety of ways. Plumb was left to wonder whether they are getting it a little too right?

“The Camaro and Mustang cars’ strength was on display. Hopefully, GRAND-AM is content with the adjustments,” mused Plumb. “It’s clear that it’s an even playing field. Maybe too even. The Mustang that passed me in the final stages went on to pass four or five more cars before the finish, so they were clearly very strong. But we can’t wait to get to VIR and hopefully take back this championship lead.”

The next round of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge takes place at Virginia International Raceway on May 13-14. Catch the full race broadcast of the Barber 200, on April 16 at 2:00 PM eastern on SPEED.

-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, https://sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Insight Racing Shows Real Potential in Barber Qualifying With Both Cars in Top 10

Insight Racing Shows Real Potential in Barber Qualifying With Both Cars in Top 10

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

Melissa Dickson
Insight Racing
Director of Marketing
P: 419.778.9117

From 7th on the Grid, Rum Bum Racing Will Take on the Barber 200.

From 7th on the Grid, Rum Bum Racing Will Take on the Barber 200

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

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., 8 April – For a team that has set the bar so high with dominating GS Class qualifying results over the last five races stretching back to last season in GRAND-AM Continental Sports Car Challenge competition, 7th on the grid is an uncharacteristic performance. But despite a frustrating qualifying session, the squad is focused on the big picture and will look to make the most out of round three of the 2011 championship season.

Robbed of one final practice session to try out some set up changes, Rum Bum Racing was hoping to keep its stellar streak of front-row performances going on Friday at Barber Motorsports Park.

When it came time to qualify, Longhi had one chance to get the most of the brand new Continental Tires. But despite posting a lap of the 2.3 mile, 17-turn Barber Motorsports Park in just 1:37.773 sec., good for an average speed of 84.685 mph, the team will line up seventh on the grid. Showing how tight the competition is in the category, the time was just a handful of tenths off the pole.

“I’ll admit, after the qualifying results that we’ve had so far this year, I’m very frustrated,” said Longhi. “The team did a great job. This is a very difficult track for this car. Joe (Varde) and the whole crew have been working really hard on it. We basically had one shot, and I didn’t get everything that I could out of that lap and then, there was a yellow flag. From there, the tires were gone and I just didn’t have the pace to come up with another lap that was fast enough to fight back, and that was all she wrote. I’m not happy–we all know it’s not representative of what we are capable of.”

“There are a lot of cars in a small space on this track, and that can cause some problems in the race,” said Longhi as he looked ahead to the race. “The core focus is to drive within the car’s capabilities, be smart, avoid anyone else’s trouble, and come out of here with as many points as possible.”

The team has won before from further back in the pack, so tomorrow’s race doesn’t present them with any out-of-ordinary challenge. Master race tactician Joe Varde has the uncanny ability to read race conditions, fuel and tire consumption to make up the deficit from which they start. Both Longhi, who will start the race, and Plumb, who will bring it home, have the necessary maturity, speed, and patience to manage what will likely be a chaotic race filled with yellow flags.

“We’ve been trying a lot of different things with the set-up so far this weekend, and we also took another swing at it for qualifying, but we didn’t get to test it with the way the practice session was shortened,” said Plumb. “I know Nick is frustrated not to have the Rum Bum car up front like he normally does, but we know it’s a long race and we’ve just got to be smart and stay out of trouble and bring home some points. If we can just do that, we should be in very good shape. ”

The Barber 200 kicks off at 11:30 AM Central time, Saturday, April 9. Follow it live on grand-am.com.

Follow the team at http://www.facebook.com/RumBumRacing

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, https://sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Burrows and Hopwood Set for Barber Motorsports Park

Burrows and Hopwood Set for Barber Motorsports Park

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

TV: SPEED, April 16, 2:00 PM ET

Birmingham, AL (8 April, 2011)– Trevor Hopwood enjoyed a bit of good timing on Friday as he scored his best lap time of the weekend in qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park for round three of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season.

Driving the No. 12 Infinity Audio Kia Koup that he co-drives with fellow former Series Champion Adam Burrows, Hopwood posted a fast time of 1:43.135-seconds on the 2.3-mile circuit outside of Birmhingham. Situated close to both Kinetic Motorsports home base and the Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia facility in West Point, Georiga, the event is a double-home race of sorts and the duo are hoping to return to the Barber Motrsports Park podium with a strong run.

Hopwoods fast time will see him start on the seventh row for the 2.5 hour race.

“The car was the best it has been all weekend, and with new tires for the race it should be even better,” offered Hopwood. “I had traffic on my second flying lap and had a very good lap going, so I’m a little bit disappointed that we weren’t able to get up into the top ten. But I know we have a car that’s capable of moving up in the race and that’s a lot more important than where we start.”

While the on-track action is done for the day, the duo have a full slate of activities set for Friday and Saturday. The duo will be signing autographs during a visit to the Children’s Hospital of Alabama tent at the track. They will also host many of the kids in the paddock to see their blue, green and silver race cars with the bright red and white Kia logos. Children’s Hospital of Alabama engages the motorsports community in an effort to raise awareness and funds for the hospital.

Kia Motors and the Kinetic Motorsports team will also attend the Children’s Hospital of Alabama Inaugural Dinner at Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum Friday evening, a fundraising event that benefits the UAB Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Children’s Hospital in addition to other hospital initiatives.

www.racin4kids.org

The 2.5-hour race takes the green flag at 11:30 AM local, with SPEED bringing the broadcast April 16th at 2:00 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

###

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, https://sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Despite Challenges, Tim Bell Ready to go at Barber Motorsports Park

Despite Challenges, Tim Bell Ready to go at Barber Motorsports Park

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
Media
317-908-2975

(8 April 2011) – While professional auto racing takes courage, precision, and ambition, it also requires some less obvious traits, including patience.

As Tim Bell continues to learn and grow in his rookie year of GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition, the young Californian has impressed with his calm and focused demeanor in the opening rounds of the 2011 season. Despite a variety of unfortunate circumstances beyond his control, Bell has showed great patience through the opening days of the Barber 200 event weekend.

Looking to get up to speed by taking as many laps of possible during his first-ever visit to the 2.3-mile facility outside of Birmingham, Bell has been thwarted at nearly every turn with that ambition. First, an issue with the transmission prevented Bell from getting many practice laps in on Thursday.

In Friday’s final practice session, the fates once again intervened. Despite tons of hard work by the Doran Racing crew to have the BMW 128 ready to go, a competitor made contact with a wall so severely that the session was scrapped to make repairs, leaving Bell without any additional practice time. Nevertheless, Bell did not let the misfortunes of the weekend affect him and he set his sights on a solid qualifying run.

That focus and good attitude saw Bell nab a spot on the 10th row for Saturday’s Barber 200 as he and co-driver BJ Zacharias will look to move the No. 14 BMW 128i forward at the drop of the green flag.

“These past few days have been kind of a roller coaster,” Bell offered about the weekend’s events. “We had an issue with the diff, but the team sorted it out. Then, we had the problem with the gearbox, and we had to call it quits yesterday. This morning, it was like Christmas morning with the team having built a new transmission! They threw us out there for practice but unfortunately when the Camaro crashed, we didn’t get to test it out. It did fine in qualifying until I hit a burm and spun at one of the high speed esses. It was disappointing because that lap time was fast enough for a P2 position but after the flat spots on the tires, I just couldn’t go any faster.”

As the competitive Continental Tire field takes the green, Bell and Zacharias will look to stay out of trouble throughout the twists and turns of the natural terrain road course.

“I expect a lot of action in turn 2,” said Bell. “It’s a pretty wide corner and I think a lot of people think they can fit in there– but you can’t really carry a lot of speed so they’ll probably all wash out into each other. We’ll just try to stay clean and work our way up.”

Bell will have plenty of time to make up ground in the 30-car Street Tuner class field throughout the 2.5 hour race. The green flag will wave at 11:30 AM on Saturday, April 9. Coverage of the event will air April 16 at 2:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

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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, https://sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Yet Another Front Row Start for Matt Bell

Yet Another Front Row Start for Matt Bell

Contact: Matt Cleary
Media
317-908-2975

Birmingham, AL (8 April 2011) – Matt Bell added yet another impressive qualifying performance to his long list of driving accomplishments on Friday. Known for laying down quick laps when the pressure is on, Bell scored a front row start with the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GS.R for the Barber 200 and Round 3 of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

Bell will share the driving duties with Jon Edwards as the duo look to build on their momentum from an 11th place finish in the Homestead-Miami Speedway round. The young Californian was immediately quick from the start of the weekend and ran in the top-10 throughout Thursday’s opening practice sessions. As Bell set out for one final practice early Friday morning, an on-track incident two laps into the session saw the entire Continental Tire field parked as the time for track repairs eclipsed the allotted time for practice.

Knowing that the tires have a narrow window of laps to score the optimum time, Bell wasted none during the 15-minute qualifying session to set the mark on his first flying lap. Even with the limited track time, Bell managed to lay down a blistering lap time of 1:37.060 – just one and a half tenths off the pole time.

“I’m really happy with it,” said Bell. “Going out with fresh tires was almost like a simulation because we never had new tires to play with so the fact that the team got the set-up this close without ever seeing what we were aiming for is pretty good.”

As Bell and co-driver Jon Edwards prepare for the Barber 200 event, the duo hope to capitalize on the team’s strong starting position.

“We’ll see what we can do tomorrow,” said Bell. “Hopefully we can stay out front and run a clean race. This track can create a lot of yellows so staying out of trouble will be key, and keeping the tires under you will pay off later in teh run so hopefully we can do both tomorrow.”

Bell and the pole-sitting Mustang machine will lead the field to the green at 11:30 AM Saturday, April 9 for the 2.5 hour event. Race coverage will broadcast April 16 at 2:00 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

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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, https://sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

Frisselle Optimistic After Taking Fifth on Barber Motorsports Park Grid

Frisselle Optimistic After Taking Fifth on Barber Motorsports Park Grid

Take a lap with Brian Frisselle: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110408/GRAND_AM/110409882

Birmingham, AL-(8 April 2011) Brian Frisselle will start round three of the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Championship from fifth on the Barber Motorsports Park grid after netting a fast lap time of 1:22.741 seconds with the No. 77 Office Depot Ford-Dallara.

Frisselle will open the race from inside the third row for the start of the 2.75-hour sprint event before turning the machine over to Doran Racing co-driver Henri Richard, who is currently leading the MESCO Rookie of the Year points standings.

Richard will man the controls during the middle stages of the race before Frisselle returns to the cockpit to close the race and chase a strong finish. The duo used this game plan at Homestead Miami Speedway, but after Richard made accidental contact with a GT Class entry, the the race ended much sooner than the duo had been hoping.

On Saturday, the abrasive Barber Motorpsorts Park track surface is expected to once again create accelerated tire wear, something that the Doran Racing engineers have been working to address.

“That was not quite everything that we wanted to get out of the session, but after flat-spotting my tires on an early lap that set us back a little bit,” said Frisselle. “Even though we were hoping to be starting closer to the front, we have a car that I think is going to be better over the long run. We might not have the one lap pace of the other guys, but we showed in Homestead that if you can be easy on the tire, you can move up as the race goes on. That’s the plan for tomorrow. We just want to get a good clean start and see how the race plays out. Henri has been working very hard and I think if we can keep the car underneath us we should be able to move forward and be in a good position at the finish.”

The 2.75-hour race will take the green flag at 3:00 PM local time, with SPEED broadcasting the race on Sunday, April 10 at 12:00 PM.

www.frisselleracing.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, https://sundaygroupblog.wordpress.com, www.facebook.com/sundaygroup, or twitter.com/Sundaygroup

A Lap Of Barber Motorsports Park on Continental Tires with Alex Gurney

A Lap of Barber Motorsports Park on Continental Tires With Alex Gurney

With two wins at the 17-turn track, Alex Gurney knows his way around Barber Motorports Park as he and co-driver Jon Fogarty look to break through for their first win of the 2011 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season this Saturday (SPEED, April 9, 2011).

“Barber is a really difficult track for the tires, for the car, for the driver, for everything.”

“After the start finish line, it goes slightly uphill and then the first corner is a little bit blind as you enter it, so you have to kind of have faith that you know what’s coming. Then, the road falls away really quickly as you enter turn one so you have to kind of decide beforehand where you’re going to turn in because if you decide after you’ve got there then you’re too late! It’s difficult setting the car up because of the quick change in the elevation and then the road falling away a little bit and then it immediately comes back at you again.

“Going into turn two is maybe the hardest one on the track usually — so far for us, it tends to be loose on the entry so you really have to be careful on your inputs. You usually tend to understeer a lot and it’s really hard on the left front tire. It’s a very long sustained corner so that’s probably the corner that eats up the left front more than anything else. Every time we’ve been here in the past, the left front always ends up being a problem and it usually happens there. Getting on the power hard is not easy there. The way you do it can also affect the way the car handles. I’ve found sometimes you can actually make the car turn there by using the throttle, but it’s tricky because it’s really easy to mess up the corner – go wide or snap the car. So, a tough spot!

“Then you go up a rise to turn four. It’s not terribly difficult, but it’s also blind as you come over the top of that. Sometimes the car will go loose if you have too much wheel in it so you have to anticipate that. The brake zone for the hairpin – turn five I think we call it – it’s very slippery and very difficult to judge and again it’s off camber somewhat as you get down to the turn in. Again really difficult on the tires there too. You are going pretty slow, but it’s just eating up the right front the whole time. And then the exit is an incredibly difficult power down spot – this is the spot that ruins the rears and you know over the time of the race you have to make sure that you’ve got the car pointed straight. On new tires you can power down pretty early but as the tires wear it doesn’t want to accept power. It’s very bumpy along that next straight too.

“The next corner is the 7-8 combo.

“It’s kind of a mess the way you have to go in there because you have to use the curbs quite a bit so it’s really difficult for us, the drivers, to explain what’s happening there with the car because you feel like you’re just gathering it up the whole time and kind of scrapping your way through there because you use the curb on the right and the curb on the left so it’s pretty busy trying to gather it up before turn 8.

“In turn 8, car drops down sharply, a little bit like the Corkscrew but not quite as dramatic. Then you have to get the car to rotate and get on the power again – again a really difficult spot for the rear tires, especially as the race wears on.

“The chicane is very fast – for us, maybe you can do it flat – at least we have on occasion in the past but normally it’s just a breathe the throttle – really quick corner running fourth gear and shifting to fifth at the exit.

“It’s difficult to judge – a lot of people go off at the exit if you don’t get the transition just right. Then you head in to–I guess we call it turn 11 I think. Its another really difficult, high commitment corner. You want to roll in with a lot of speed and you want to brake really late but the road falls away and is sharply downhill before you get to the point where the car catches and starts heading back up the hill and over a rise again.

“It’s another really difficult hard spot on the tires as you come over that rise because we’re always trying to squeeze on the power and it doesn’t want to accept it. Then we have another very fast right hander – there is a lot of load in the car. The left front tends to just get destroyed there pretty quickly. It got a lot of workout from turn 2 and then again in I think it’s turn 13 – just brutal on it.

“It’s like a long sustained spot where you’re trying to hold down throttle and it’s just thrashing that left front. Turn 14 is a really difficult entry. The car always tends to go loose and you see a lot of guys gathering it up and missing a corner there. Again, you have to be careful with your inputs the way you turn in and the way you come off the brake is a big deal. Then the transition for the last corner which is a little more straight forward although again hard to get on the power at the exit and back on the front straight. It’s a really tricky track. Very hard on the tires, and very busy…

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.

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