Pirelli World Challenge Returns to America's National Park of Speed – Over 100 Drivers Set to Ba

The Pirelli World Challenge's GT/GTA, GT Cup presented by MOMO, GTS and TC/TCA/TCB classes head to Road America, America's National Park of Speed, June 26-28. Over 100 drivers across the series' seven classes will compete in the DeVilbiss Grand Prix at Road America presented by Cadillac. GT/GTA drivers will compete in Rounds 11, 12, and 13 of the championships, while GT Cup competitors will race Rounds 10 and 11. GTS competitors will race Rounds 9 and 10 and TC, TCA and TCB competitors will compete in Rounds 7, 8 and 9. Of note, GT/GTA classes will make up the Round 11 race that had originally been scheduled for Detroit that was canceled due to inclement weather.

This visit marks the 2nd consecutive season and 15th time Pirelli World Challenge competitors will race at the challenging 14-turn, 4.048-mile road course. With 2015 being the inaugural season for GT Cup, this is the first time the class will compete at Road America.

A number of 2014 Road America winners including Mike Skeen, Tim Pappas, Adam Poland, Jason Wolfe, and Glenn Nixon are entered and look to get back on the top step.

Pirelli World Challenge GT: Beretta Continues to Lead in Class, with Estre Knocking on the Door Olivier Beretta, of Monte Carlo, Monaco in the No. 61 Ferrari of Ontario/Toronto/Alberta Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia, comes into the Road America weekend continuing to lead in GT drivers' points (918) after scoring a 2nd in Round 10 at Detroit. Beretta has recorded three wins on the season and has won previously at Road America in another sports car racing series.

Beretta holds a 45-point lead over Kevin Estre, of Lochau, Austria, in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing with Flying Lizard Motorsports McLaren 650S GT3, with 873. Estre recorded his third win of the season at Detroit and will make his first career start at Road America.

Johnny O'Connell, of Flowery Branch, Ga., comes into the weekend third in GT Drivers' Championship points with 801. O'Connell finished 4th at Detroit and scored back-to-back wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in his No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac ATS-V.R. O'Connell's teammate, Andy Pilgrim, of Boca Raton, Fla., in the No. 8 Cadillac Racing Cadillac ATS-V.R, has had a hard luck 2015 season and sits 17th overall in GT.

Ryan Dalziel, of Windermere, Fla., returns to the series after a scheduling conflict kept him out of Detroit's Round 10. Dalziel, in the No. 31 EFFORT Racing/World PMO Porsche 911 GT3 R sits 4th with 784 points. Dalziel has three runner-up finishes, two thirds and a fourth place finish in nine races. Dalziel's teammate Michael Lewis, of Laguna Beach, Calif., was promoted from the GTA class to GT at Barber and sits 7th overall in the standings. He will drive the No. 41 EFFORT Racing/Curb-Agajanian Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Ryan Eversley, of Atlanta, Ga. in the No. 43 RealTime/Acura Motorsports/HPD Acura TLX-GT enters the weekend 5th in points. He has previous experience at Road America in another sports car racing series.

Robert Thorne, of Littleton, Colo. in the No. 6 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3 and Peter Cunningham, of Milwaukee, Wis. in the No. 42 RealTime/Acura Motorsports/HPD Acura TLX-GT, look for continued positive season results at Road America. Thorne finished second to his teammate Estre in Round 7 at Barber (Thorne's best result of the season), while Cunningham had a season best 8th in Round 6 at Barber. Of note, Road America is Cunningham's home track and he has two Pirelli World Challenge wins at the track (2003 and 2004 in Touring Car).

Last year, Mike Skeen, of Charlotte, N.C., swept the Road America weekend with two wins in GT. Piloting the No. 2 DeVilbiss/Hawk Performance Audi R8 LMS ultra, Skeen comes off a challenging Detroit weekend after a mechanical issue led to an early retirement from the race. Skeen sits 8th in the championship.

JD Davison, of St. Petersburg, Fla., in the No. 33 AE/Replay XD Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 sits 9th overall in the GT Championship coming into Road America after scoring a 5th at Detroit. Davison will start his second career race at Road America.

Bentley Team Dyson Racing heads into the weekend with Butch Leitzinger, of Rebersburg, Pa. piloting the No. 20 Bentley/Breitling/Mobil 1 Bentley Continental GT3 and Chris Dyson, of Pleasant Valley, N.Y. behind the wheel of the No. 16 Bentley/Breitling/Mobil 1 Bentley Continental GT3. Dyson finished 3rd at Detroit and sits 6th in the Championship. Leitzinger had a disappointing Detroit as a crash in one of the practice sessions damaged the No. 20 car beyond repair for the race and he was unable to compete in Round 10.

Of note, veteran sports car driver Tomas Enge, of Kirchanschoring, Germany, returns to the series piloting the No. 25 Blancpain Racing Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 FL2. Enge won at St. Petersburg last year.

The 16-driver GT field is rounded out by series veteran James Sofronas, of Pound Ridge, N.Y., in the No. 14 GMG Audi R8 LMS ultra GMG Racing/Spyder/Mobil 1, and Duncan Ende, of Los Angeles, Calif. in the No. 64 Merchant Services Ltd./Linospresso USA Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. Ende has experience at Road America in another sports car racing series, while Sofronas has 12 career PWC starts at Road America.

Pirelli World Challenge GTA: Cisneros Continues to Lead Montecalvo and Fuentes Henrique Cisneros, of Miami, Fla. in the No. 30 MOMO NGT Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 enters Road America in first place after scoring his first career win at Detroit. He enters the weekend with 942 GTA points. Cisneros has previous experience at Road America in another sports car series. Henrique's brother Eduardo Cisneros, of Miami, Fla. moves up from GT Cup, to run the No. 29 MOMO NGT Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia.

Frankie Montecalvo, of Highlands, N.J. enters the Road America weekend 74 points behind Cisneros (868). Montecalvo won Round 4 at St. Petersburg in the No. 66 Bayshore Racing DragonSpeed Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3. He comes off a Detroit weekend where he finished 7th.

Mexican driver Martin Fuentes, of Mexico City, Mexico in the No. 07 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 comes into the weekend third in class points, 84 behind the leader. Fuentes won the Round 6 race at Barber and finished 9th at Detroit.

Montecalvo's DragonSpeed teammate Eric Lux, of Buffalo, N.Y. recorded a season high third in Round 5 at Long Beach in the No. 08 Rembrandt Charms/Monticello Motor Club Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3. Lux comes into the weekend 6th in class.

Bryan Heitkotter, of Fresno, Calif., comes into the Road America weekend sitting 4th in the class Drivers' Championship after scoring a 5th at Detroit. Prior to Detroit, Heitkotter scored three straight GTA wins – back-to-back at CTMP after having scored his first career Pirelli World Challenge win in Round 7 at Barber. He will be in the No. 05 Nissan GT Academy Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

Turner Motorsport's Bill Ziegler, of Ponte Vedra, Fla. will be in the No. 95 Swisher Racing BMW E89 Z4 GT3. Ziegler sits 14th in GTA.

Four Audis are entered in GTA for Road America. Drew Regitz, of Denver, Colo. will be in the No. 19 WWW.IRACERCOACHING.COM Audi R8 LMS ultra, Alex Welch, of Englewood, Colo., will be in the No. 76 GMG Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Jeff Courtney, of Milwaukee, Wis., will be in the No. 99 Kenda/RecStuff.com JCR Motorsports Audi R8 LMS Ultra, and Walt Bowlin, of Tarpon Springs, Fla., will pilot the No. 23 Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery Center M1 Racing LLC, Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

Both Tim Pappas, of Boston, Mass. in the No. 54 Black Swan Racing Dodge Viper GT3-R and Dan Knox, of Pilot Point, Texas in the No. 80 ACS Manufacturing/Lone Star Racing Dodge Viper GT3-R, look for positive results at Road America. Pappas's best results were back-to-back thirds in Rounds 6 and 7 at Barber – he sits 10th in GTA, while Knox sits 9th overall in the championship.

Rounding out the 14-car GTA field is Jorge De La Torre, of Mexico City, Mexico, in the No. 4 De La Torre Racing Motor LLC Aston Martin Vantage V12.

Pirelli World Challenge GT Cup presented by MOMO: Thompson Looks to Add to His Win Total Colin Thompson, of Doylestown, Pa. continued his domination of the GT Cup class with a win and a second at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Thompson has scored seven wins on the season and will look for more at Road America behind the wheel of No. 11 Porsche of Bucks County/Penn Valley Constructors/Sherwin Williams Automotive Finishes/Austin Hatcher Foundation Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Thompson leads the GT Cup points race over Lorenzo Trefethen, of Napa, Calif., who heads into the weekend second after scoring his first career Pirelli World Challenge win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. He will drive the No. 13 Trefethen Family Vineyards Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

TruSpeed Autosport's Sloan Urry, of Salt Lake City, Utah sits third in points on the strength of four runner-up finishes, and two thirds on the season. He will pilot the No. 02 Security National/Engel & Volkers Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Teammate Phil Fogg Jr., of Portland, Ore. won Round 3 at St. Petersburg in the No. 18 Zoro/TruSpeed Autosport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and enters the weekend fourth in points.

Preston Calvert, of Potomac, Md. in the No. 77 Phoenix Performance/Calvert Dynamics Porsche 911 GT3 Cup sits 5th in the championship – Calvert's best results thus far are a couple of 4th places finishes (St. Petersburg and Long Beach). Victor Gomez Jr., of San Juan, Puerto Rico in the No. 81 Porsche San Juan Porsche 911 GT3 Cup scored his best finish of the year at Long Beach with a third in class and sits sixth overall in class.

Rounding out the field of eight GT Cup entries is Mitch Landry, of Lake Charles, La. in the No. 97 Landry Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and Alec Udell, of The Woodlands, Texas in the No. 17 Amsource Capital/Panther Pipeline GMG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Pirelli World Challenge GTS: Rezzetano Looks to Hold Off Challengers at Road America Kurt Rezzetano, of Phoenixville, Pa., in the No. 37 Calvert Dynamics/Phoenix American Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302 comes into Road America leading in GTS Drivers' points with 761. Rezzetano comes off an excellent CTMP weekend scoring his first career Pirelli World Challenge win to go along with a 2nd. He leads a group of more than half a dozen Mustangs running in GTS.

Dean Martin, of Westland, Mich., comes into Rounds 9 & 10 second in the GTS Drivers' Championship with 675 points on the strength of four top 5 finishes and a win at St. Petersburg. All of Martin's five career Pirelli World Challenge wins have come on street courses. Martin gets another chance to break through this weekend and score his first series road course win. He will pilot the No. 50 Rehagen Racing/Picture Cars East Ford Mustang Boss 302. Teaming with Martin will be Dan Martinson of Medina, Minn. in the No. 33 Gear Tie/Nite Ize Ford Mustang Boss 302 and 15-year-old Nathan Stacy from Owesso, Okla. who moves up from TC to GTS fulltime, in the No. 14 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302. Stacy finished second overall in the TCB class in 2014.

Rezzetano's teammate Andrew Aquilante, of Chester Springs, Pa., sits in third overall with 674 points, and will pilot the No. 32 Calvert Dynamics Phoenix American Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302. Aquilante had a fourth and fifth at CTMP. Phoenix American Motorsports will also campaign the No. 35 Calvert Dynamics Phoenix American Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302 with Preston Calvert, Potomac, Md. behind the wheel. Calvert will do double duty over the weekend competing in both GT Cup and GTS.

Jack Roush Jr. of Livonia, Mich. will pilot the No. 60 ROUSH Performance Capaldi Racing Ford Boss 302. Roush Jr. enters Road America 9th overall in the class drivers' standings.

TRG-AMR brings a single Aston Martin Vantage GT4 to the GTS battle with Canadian Max Riddle behind the wheel. Riddle, of Vancouver, BC, will pilot the 07 Orion/Royal Purple/LaSalle Solutions/PassTime USA car. He scored a 2nd in Round 8 at CTMP in his first career Pirelli World Challenge start.

Michael Cooper, of Syosset, N.Y., in the No. 10 Blackdog Speedshop Chevrolet Camaro Z28, sits in fifth place in the GTS Drivers' Championship with 652 points. Cooper finished 3rd in Round 8 at CTMP and he looks to continue that momentum at Road America. Cooper's teammate is Tony Gaples, of Libertyville, Ill., who will pilot the No. 11 Blackdog Speedshop Chevrolet Camaro Z28. Also campaigning the iconic Chevrolet Camaro Z28 in the series is Best IT Racing's talented driver Andy Lee, of Colorado Springs, Colo., in the No. 20 Chevrolet Camaro Z28.

Mark Wilkins, of Toronto, Ont., comes into the weekend 7th in points with 571. He will pilot the No. 38 Kinetic Motorsports PutOnTheBrakes.Org Kia Optima. Partnered with him will be teammate Ben Clucas, of Northampton, England. Clucas pilots the No. 36 Kinetic Motorsports DonorsChoose.Org Kia Optima and comes into the weekend 6th in drivers' standings with 590 points.

After a tough start to the 2015 season, Jack Baldwin, of Marietta, Ga., got back on track with a strong showing at CTMP, scoring his first win of the season. Baldwin pilots the No. 73 RESET-MD GTSport Racing Porsche Cayman. Buz McCall, of Boca Raton, Fla. will again team with Baldwin as the pilot of the No. 72 RESET-MD GTSport Racing Porsche Cayman.

Series veteran Nick Esayian, of San Diego, CA, pilots the No. 34 Special Operations Warrior Foundation/Justap Stephen Cameron Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 after having been in a Ford Mustang Boss 302 to start the season.

Mark Klenin, of Lone Tree, Colo., returns to GTS with his own team. Klenin will pilot the No. 62 Schomp Auto/Invisible Glass/Premier Copier Klenin Performance Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

Rounding out the 20-car GTS field is three-time series champion and former Road America winner Lou Gigliotti, of Dallas, Texas driving the No. 28 LG Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT4, Joey Atterbury, of Virginia Beach, Va., in the No. 68 Wolverine Bronze Co/Roush Performance Capaldi Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302, and John Allen, of Denver, Colo., in the No. 16 SGV Motorsports/Bilt Racing Service Porsche Cayman.

Contact:

davedrimmie@wcvision.com

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