SCC: VIR II: Randy Pobst race notes

A Whirlwind Weekend

ALTON, VA (October 4, 2008) - Well you can't win them all, but you can at least have fun trying. After celebrating his World Challenge championship at an awards banquet Friday night near Atlanta, GA, Randy and his assistant Kim Waters left for the long drive to Virginia International Raceway to race in the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Street Tuner (ST) season finale Saturday. That morning, Randy qualified the #181 APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI in fifth position, just slightly off the pole. Randy started the six-hour race and raced with the leaders, even leading a few laps. After about a one hour stint, he relinquished his seat to new co-driver Brian Lock during one of many caution flags. Brian did a great job and kept the car in contention. After pitting for fuel under another yellow flag, the Volkswagen GTI began to lose power. The team brought the car in for what would become a long pit stop to fix a mechanical issue. Brian and the team's third driver, Dion von Moltke, were able to continue the race and finished in twenty-fourth position.

"I had a great time driving the APR GTI. The car ran very well during my stint and I was able to stay in the lead pack in a very tight and competitive field and lead a few laps. I had a good relationship with the cars I was around. We raced well together. I did have to hold back a little to save brakes. Its a long race on one set of brakes. Brian did a great job and I'm happy to welcome him to the APR team. My former co-driver Mark White moved to the GS series and we will miss him and wish him luck. He will be racing in Sunday's race. Unfortunately mechanical issues spoiled a great performance for us."

"I would like to thank the APR team and crew for working so hard this season and Bill Baas and Stephen Hooks for giving me the opportunity to drive for APR Motorsport. I would also like to thank my personal assistant Kim Waters for driving me to VIR after the awards banquet so I could sleep in the car and then for keeping me company on the ride back. Thirdly, I would like to thank my personal sponsors Team Janica Racing, Prairie Hills Motorsport Club, ChaseCam, and saferacer.com for their continued support. It has been a great racing season and I'm looking forward to next year."

After finishing on the podium in the last ST race in Utah, the #171 APR GTI fell out of the race early with engine problems. The #191 GTI was involved in a heavy crash during qualifying and was unable to start the race. Luckily everyone is okay. The Bosch Engineering Twin Six Hours is apparently not going to be televised but remember to tune in Wednesday, October 15 at 1 p.m. (ET) on SPEED for the World Challenge GT Championship finale. This has been an exciting year for Randy Pobst Racing. We will let you know in upcoming press releases what Randy's plans are for next season.

Thanks for following friends!

-credit: randypobst.com