McLaren Trophy, America will take on the challenging Road America circuit this weekend (16/17 August) as the championship contenders prepare for the final four races of the season.
The four-mile circuit was first opened in 1955 and will celebrate its 70th birthday on September 10. It has been a mainstay of racing in America, having hosted Indycar since 1982, as well as IMSA for ten years and GT World Challenge for over 30. This year, it will add McLaren Trophy America to that illustrious list of championships as the awesome McLaren Trophy EVO hits the track for the first time.
The championship will also welcome two new entries this weekend. Tanner Harvey and Patrick Liddy join the field in a second entry for Forte Racing. Patrick is no stranger to the motorsport paddock having raced extensively over the past ten years; however, Tanner will be stepping up having previously raced Radicals and Baja. buggies Also joining the gird will be Scott Sorbaro, making it a three-car entry for OMS. Son of Steve, Scott will be hoping to take advantage of his father’s experience in the championship to get to grips with the 575PS McLaren Trophy EVO race car.
The battle in the Pro class is proving to be tight. Championship leaders James Li & Casey Dennis actually extended their lead at VIR after taking two victories, but rivals Cooper Broll & Tommy Pintos would have claimed their debut win were it not for a jumped start penalty and contact late in the first race. The gap consequently extended from four to ten points, but it could just as easily swing back in favour of Cooper and Tommy this weekend.
After securing a double victory last time out, John Dempsey and Andrew Davis have vaulted into championship contention in the ProAm class, closing to within five points of leaders Alexandra Hainer and Jesse Lazier. However, just eleven points further behind is the Flying Lizards entry of Brandon Kreutz and new father Canaan O’Connell. The pair have scored three podium finishes so far this season, but have yet to finish higher than third, and will be looking to rectify that this weekend.
The revelation of VIR was the Dark Horse racing team and drivers Deniz Teoman and Jeff Cook. The duo claimed overall victory in race one to maintain their third place in the Am class standings. James Sofronas and Colin Harrison however are proving consistentcy is key, as they continue to rack up points and podiums to maintain first and second in the championship.
The weekend gets underway on Friday August 15th, with the first of two hour-long free practice sessions at 8am, and the second at 1:20pm local time. Qualifying One takes place at 8:05 on Saturday morning, followed by the first race of the weekend at 12:05.
It’s another early start on Sunday morning with the second qualifying session once again getting underway at 8:05am. It’s not long to wait until race two, with the lights going out at 10:15. Both races will be live streamed here.