Posted by admin on in Miscellaneous News

Michael Goikhberg signs with JDC-Miller Motorsports for 2015

As reported by the website Sportscar365.com:

JDC-Miller MotorSports has confirmed today that 28-year-old Russian-Canadian Mikhail Goikhberg will be one of their full-time drivers for the team’s TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge program in 2015.

Goikhberg has a successful history with JDC MotorSports in their IMSA Lites and Road to Indy programs as he ran for the team in their US F2000, Pro Mazda and the previous three years with the IMSA Lites program.

Goikhberg won the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship with JDC MotorSports in 2014 with an impressive eight pole positions, ten wins and 13 podiums while claiming the overall driver’s championship.

“I am very happy and excited to continue my career with JDC-Miller MotorSports and moving up to the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship full-time next year,” said Goikhberg. “We have a successful history together and I am excited to rejoin JDC-Miller MotorSports in 2015.”

Added JDC-Miller MotorSports team principal John Church: “We have know each other for several years now and are very excited to continue our relationship with Mikhail into the 2015 season.

“Mikhail has shown what he is capable of in the way he won the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship with us this year, and we fully expect him to be competitive in our TUDOR United SportsCar program in 2015.

“His race pace was great when he ran with us during the last race this year in the TUDOR Championship at Road Atlanta and we have already started an extensive test schedule with him over the winter so he will be ready for Daytona.

“But for us as a team it was also important that Mikhail fits into our group and future planning. He is one of the funniest guys around, very marketable, he fully understands the business side of this sport, and shares the same views and ambitions as we do.

“We have just moved into our new 24,000 sq. ft. headquarters here in Minneapolis, which provides us the needed space for future expansion and planning.”

Posted by admin on in Miscellaneous News

Porsche Canada rewards Hargrove for his Platinum Cup championship season with the use of a new Porsche 911 street car through Aug. 31, 2015
GT3_20By: Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin News
November 14 2014

Daytona Beach, Florida – Scott Hargrove was enjoying the annual Canadian German Gala Ball on Nov. 1 in Toronto as a guest of Porsche Canada when Porsche Cars Canada, Ltd. President and CEO Alexander Pollich tapped him on the shoulder.

“We’re in the middle of dinner, and he pulls me aside and said, ‘Scott, we’ve got to talk,'” Hargrove said.

2014 Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin champion Hargrove followed Pollich into an elevator at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and they rode down to the lobby.

Gulp. Was this good news? Bad news? Thoughts raced through Hargrove’s 19-year-old mind.

Then Pollich reached into his pocket, pulled out a set of car keys and said, “Here you go.” Hargrove asked, “What’s this?” Pollich responded, “It’s the keys to your new car.”

Porsche Canada rewarded Hargrove for his Platinum Cup championship season with the use of a new Porsche 911 street car through Aug. 31, 2015, a full year after he clinched the title last August at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP).

Hargrove, from Surrey, British Columbia, earned six victories in 10 starts this season in the No. 69 OpenRoad Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. He finished first or second in all 10 races.

Not bad for a guy who only was supposed to compete in the series at the season-opening double-header on Victoria Day Weekend in mid-May at CTMP. Hargrove swept those two races, and team owner Christian Chia kept Hargrove in the car for the next two rounds, in June at Calabogie Motorsports Park.

Hargrove won one of those rounds and held the lead in the championship, so Chia decided to keep him in his Porsche for the rest of the season. That decision paid off with a championship.

Canadian racing phenom Hargrove already has plans for his sweet new prize ride.

“I’m going to drive it as much as I can,” Hargrove said. “Hopefully when summer rolls around, I’m going to do some trips up into the interior of British Columbia and check out some cool stuff that I haven’t driven before. There are lots of fun roads up here.”

The prize car is an extension of Porsche’s special recognition of its single-make series champions in North America.

Porsche Canada presented 2013 Platinum Cup champion David Ostella with the use of a 911 for a year after he won the title. Porsche Motorsport North America rewarded both Hargrove and 2014 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama Platinum Cup champion Colin Thompson with entries into the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup races during the United States Formula One Grand Prix earlier this month at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) at Austin, Texas.

Hargrove was unable to take advantage of that prize, so Porsche instead extended the surprise reward of the 911.

“That’s not bad, eh?” Hargrove said. “Nothing a 19-year-old can complain about.

“When I wasn’t able to use the prize at the end of the season, there was nothing that was required by Porsche to step up and supply me with the car for the year. That was their good will. Hats off to them. I’m really thankful they got me a prize for winning the championship.”

For more information on the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin, visit www.imsa.com and @IMSA on Twitter with the hashtag #GT3CAN.

Posted by admin on in World Challenge

Max Riddle Signs with TRG-AMR for Pirelli WC Season

As reported on the website sportscar365.com

 

TRG-AMR has announced the signing of Max Riddle as its second driver for the 2015 Pirelli World Challenge season, alongside previously announced Derek DeBoer. Riddle will be in one of the team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT4s in the GTS class.

Riddle competed for TRG-AMR in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge a majority of races this past season, and won the VIR round overall and in GS with co-driver Kris Wilson.

“I am really excited to be paired with TRG-AMR for the second year in a row,” Riddle said. “Last year in Conti was great with two wins and multiple podiums, but most the most important thing is that we learned a lot.

“We learned some incredibly important things about the V8 Vantage GT4 and have worked internally with AMR to make this one of the strongest cars in the field – both in Conti and World Challenge. I am really looking forward to the sprint race format and seeing what I can do in Pirelli World Challenge!”

Team principal Kevin Buckler said Riddle developed well during the 2014 season as he moves into a single-driver format that World Challenge offers.

“I can’t say enough about how excited I am to have Max running in Pirelli World Challenge with us,” Buckler said. “He is a talented young professional driver with a bright future and a cool head on his shoulders. The series is exploding in popularity and we are so proud to be a part of it. Max really showed us his true potential late in the season by running the car up front with some of the best professional drivers in the series.”

This is the third TRG-AMR announcement thus far this offseason; the team has also confirmed James Davison and Christina Nielsen in a full-season GT Daytona program in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

TRG-AMR is expected to have further World Challenge announcements later on in the winter.

Posted by admin on in Miscellaneous News

Maxx Ebenal takes glory in AFR R11 despite tech issues –Canadian superstar still leads

PRLog (Press Release) – Nov. 3, 2014 – SHANGHAI, China — Danger.
Excitement.
Dreams.
But above all, perseverance and skill.

Such is the story of Canadian race driver Maxx Ebenal, who is currently in Spain, to test the very same racing car that took twelve of the past 21 drivers directly to Formula One, from the amazing 7-speed paddle shift, 530hp Formula Renault race car.

For Ebenal, it seems to outsiders looking in that it’s just another day in the life of a jet-setting superstar, the Champion of the 2014 Asia Formula Renault series with PS Racing.

However, nothing was ever easy for Maxx Ebenal. As a child, he fought brain cancer twice, yet worked in the pipelines in Canadian winters in sub-zero temperatures, living out of the back of his truck, to save as much money as he could to pursue The Dream.

In 2012, Ebenal came to Zhuhai, China, recruited by ex-roomate Pete Olson, who had raced against Ebenal in Canada.

Olson said “I knew he had the whole pro package – racing, marketing, fitness. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that he had serious talent that would be recognized out here. He’s well on his way, and I hope that Canadian companies can get onboard with this. In December, he will be THE FIRST CANADIAN to win a race series in Asia. I hope some companies ‘up north’ back home can join up, well, there are only 65million television subscribers around China for every race, and 30,000+ attendance at all the Pan Delta events – if that’s not marketing out here, I don’t know what is.”

Ebenal and Cunnington flew to Spain today immediately following the races to test the incredible 530hp Formula Renault 3.5 car that took Fernando Alonso directly to Formula One, while the 2014 Asia Formula Renault Championship will conclude December 12&13 at Zhuhai International Circuit. Stay tuned for team updates on http://www.psracing.com or http://www.facebook.com/psracingchampions.

Contact
PS Racing
***@psracing.com

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/12390393/1

Posted by admin on in Miscellaneous News

COMPASS360 LAUNCHES ST PROGRAM WITH AUDI

LAS VEGAS, NV — Long-time IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competitor Compass360 Racing (C360R) today released details of its 2015 sportscar program, which will see the team debuting a Street Tuner-class effort with the recently-launched Audi S3.

“We’re really excited to finally announce this new program,” enthused Team Principal Karl Thomson. “It’s something (Technical Director) Ray Lee and I have been working on since March of last year, when I first sat down with the Audi folks at Sebring.”

The new Audi will bring some new technology to the Continental Tire paddock, with the arrival of both Quattro all-wheel-drive and the DSG S-tronic transmission. “We’ve been looking at bringing technology that is now becoming commonplace on street cars to this series, and the new S3 is a perfect example of a car we feel fits the Street Tuner class well,” remarked CTSCC Senior Technical Manager Jeff Mishtawy.

The team took delivery of two of the first S3’s shipped to North America and is already well into their development. “We expect to be on-track in December with the new cars,” noted Lee. “There’s a lot to learn whenever you develop a new platform, but our success with the GS Subaru last season gives us a lot of confidence with an all-wheel-drive platform like the Audi.”

“We may choose to run the Hondas at Daytona, and debut the S3’s at Sebring, depending upon how early testing goes,” he continued, “as we know the Civics are strong on the high-banks.”

The new Audis will run alongside the single No. 76 Grand Sports-class Subaru WRX STi piloted by returning duo Ray Mason and Pierre Kleinubing.

“We’re still a committed member of the Honda camp for 2015,” said Thomson. “Bbut we feel the S3 gives us the opportunity to forge a strong relationship with Audi, and our long-term plan is to run Audi products in multiple classes in multiple series, including CTSCC GS, PWC GTS and GT.”

“It’s exciting to see this program start to come together, and we’re thrilled to add a championship-winning team like Compass360 Racing to the Audi family,” explained Tristan Herbert, Manager of Audi Motorsport and Customer Racing. “Their vision of how they’ll expand their program utilizing our brand is inspiring.”

Kyle Gimple will return for his third season with the team as closing driver in the No. 75 Audi S3. “After two full seasons as the first driver in a Honda, Kyle is ready to take the next step in his career and close in an Audi,” noted Lee. “He finished out 2014 in fine style, winning three races, and putting his car on pole at Road Atlanta. Plus, he closed the show at Lime Rock, finishing second in one of our GS Subarus.”

Gimple will be joined by CTSCC Rookie Paul Holton, who is moving over after a solid season in Pirelli World Challenge, winning at Road America and finishing 4th in the final standings. “Paul impressed us in his TCB debut season, and he’s the latest shoe to join our driver development program,” explained Thomson. “Like Kyle, we plan to have Paul progress through our ranks to become a paid pro. 2015 marks the first year of that program.”

The driver line-up for the No. 74 Audi is expected to be finalized in the next month.

“We’ve been with Honda since 2006, and we’re extremely proud of the incredible success we’ve had together,” remarked Thomson. “We’ve won three CTSCC Manufacturer titles together, and four consecutively in World Challenge. That’s a big deal and even as we move into the next chapter of our race team, we’re grateful for the support they’ve given us over the years.”
Source: Compass360 Racing