GT3: Round two preview
IMPRESSIVE FIELD READY FOR MID-OHIO ROUND OF IMSA GT3 CUP CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY MICHELIN LEXINGTON, Ohio (May 7, 2006) - For the second time in as many races, more than 40 Porsche Cup cars will take the green flag for the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge ...
IMPRESSIVE FIELD READY FOR MID-OHIO ROUND OF IMSA GT3 CUP CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY MICHELIN
LEXINGTON, Ohio (May 7, 2006) - For the second time in as many races, more than 40 Porsche Cup cars will take the green flag for the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge presented by Michelin, this time at historic Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The 45-minute race, set for 1 p.m. Saturday, follows a thrilling season-opener at Sebring in March that saw all 21 laps go green.
Kevin Roush enters the Mid-Ohio round with the championship lead in the class for Porsche Type 997 Cup cars thanks to a flag-to-flag victory at Sebring International Raceway in March. Dino Loles won the race for Type 996 Cup cars and has assumed the championship lead in that class.
The 2.25-mile, 13-turn road course at Mid-Ohio presents a change of pace for the 46 drivers who are entered. Instead of a long and extremely fast circuit like Sebring, Mid-Ohio is a classic twisting layout that features moderate elevation changes throughout. The track also underwent a complete resurfacing, and the concrete patches that dotted the track are now gone. New curbing has been installed, too.
"It should be a completely different track," said Russell Smith, driver of the No. 38 Kinetic Motorsports Porsche Type 997 who made up 24 positions at the Sebring race. "Then you have the resurfacing, and two-thirds of the field have new cars, so it should be a completely different race, too."
Drivers also are hoping for a drier track this time around. Last year's 22- lap race was run mostly in the wet with Lawson Aschenbach winning for Farnbacher Loles Racing on the final lap.
"There are a lot of low- to medium-speed turns that are linked together. It's a lot like some tracks out west," Roush said. "Repaving certainly will help those of us who are going there for the first time. I'm hoping it just stays dry. It would have a been a mess for us who hadn't been there before having to learn the track and the concrete patches."
The second round of the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge presented by Michelin is scheduled for May 20 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Live Timing & Scoring will be available at www.imsaracing.net.
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