A new track and a new challenge for Ende at the Kansas Grand Prix

Los Angeles, Calif. - This weekend, Duncan Ende will embark on a new driving challenge - the roval circuit at Kansas Speedway in Kansas Speedway, Kansas. For the first time, as part of the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the Prototype Challenge class of spec Oreca FLM09 cars will compete in Kansas.

And, for the first time, the drivers will take part in a pair of sprint races instead of the normal single race with a driver change. In the case of the no. 09 Lino'spresso USA / RSR Racing Oreca FLM09, Ende will qualify and drive in the first race while his teammate, Bruno Junqueira, will drive in the second one. Junqueira will start the second race from Ende's finishing position in the first, and points will be scored based on the results of the second race.

At last month's race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Ende and Junqueira finished in third position. Ende led early in the race, bringing the field to the start from pole position.

"Laguna Seca was a good race in terms of our results, but the big thing we took away from the weekend was we took back some of the points that we lost early in the season at Daytona," said Ende. "We are still further behind in the championship than we'd like to be so I'm hopeful for a good pair of races this weekend for our car. Kansas Speedway is an unknown for everyone, but I'm confident that the RSR Racing guys will give us a winning car."

The Prototype Challenge class will share the track with the IMSA Lights cars, meaning that traffic will come into play throughout the pair of 45 minute races.

"It some ways, my job is the same as it normally is - to put the car in the best position possible for Bruno to take it to the finish line," said Ende. "And like we normally do, we'll have lapped traffic to deal with since we will be sharing the track with the IMSA Lights cars. And since most of those guys have not dealt with multi class racing before, we'll have to be very careful with how we make our passes happen. The variable banking at Kansas Speedway should lead to some very interesting racing this weekend."

Ende and Junqueira are currently fifth in the Prototype Challenge points standings, with 65 points.

The first race for Prototype Challenge, in which Ende will drive the no. 09 Lino'spresso / RSR Racing Oreca FLM09 will take place on Saturday, June 7 at 5:15 PM ET. The second race, in which Junqueira will take the car over, will be held on Saturday, June 7 at 11:15 PM ET.

Duncan Ende