Road America: Shawn Price race report

Shawn Price 2nd at Road America IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge

The IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge presented by Michelin traveled to Elkart Lake, Wisconsin for the 4th round in the 5 race series. The Farnbacher Loles team featured another strong 4 car line-up with Shawn Price, Paul Orwicz, Russell Smith and Tom Pank.

In Saturday's qualifying session, Californian Price posted a 2:19.242 to grab the 3rd spot on the grid, which led the Farnbacher Loles effort. Following Price, Maryland native Tom Pank got a fast lap of 2:19.753 to nail down a 6th place start. Connecticut resident Paul Orwicz secured 8th place with a 2:20.184 lap. Rounding the Farnbacher Loles effort, Bermudan Russell Smith posted a 2:20.231 to grab the 9thspot on the grid, which was his best starting position in the series.

The GT3 Cup race capped a thrilling race weekend under near perfect conditions on the legendary Road America race circuit. At the start, pole sitter Kevin Roush grabbed the lead going into the first turn, a lead he held for the entire race. Most of the races' action was behind Roush as an incident on the first lap, took out 3 cars including Farnbacher Loles driver Paul Orwicz. The incident required a lengthy clean-up which forced the next 5 laps to be run under yellow. Once the race restarted, Price put the hammer down and battled with Jay Policastro who tried to get past Prices' silver and green Savvion sponsored Porsche. Price was able to hold off the series point leader to secure 3rd. After the race, Shawn was awarded 2nd place when the 2nd place finisher was disqualified for passing under the yellow. The podium finish puts Shawn Price solidly into 2nd place in the series championship heading into the final round.

Tom Pank was running strong until an off-track spin dropped him back in the field. He got back into the race and battled back to finish in the 9th spot. Russell Smith was also having a great run and posted one of the race's fastest laps when he put wheel off the track while passing another car on the last lap and ended his day spun into a gravel trap. Russell was qualified in 15th in the final results.

The series final race is at Laguna Seca, CA on Sunday, October 16. The Farnbacher Loles Racing team is based in Danbury, CT.

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