K-PAX/3R Racing season preview

K-PAX/3R Racing returning to SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT for 2008 To campaign new Porsche GT3 Cup cars for Pobst and Galati

Denver Colorado (Monday February 18 2008): Jim Haughey of K-PAX Racing and Bob Raub of 3R Racing jointly announced that they will return to the SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT Championship in 2008. The 2008 K-PAX/3R Racing will again field GT3 Porsches and are looking to return the Manufacturers' Championship to Porsche.

Defending 2007 GT Drivers' Champion Randy Pobst, of Gainesville Georgia, will return to action along with 5 time World Challenge champion Michael Galati of Olmstead Ohio, who was 4th in points in 2007.

"I love competition and I love racing so naturally I love racing in the World Challenge Series because it is so competitive," said Bob Raub of 3R Racing. "And with drivers the quality of Randy and Michael in our cars we should be very competitive."

"K-PAX Racing was a wonderful place to be last year and there is no place I would rather be so there is no way I wouldn't be back to defend the title," said Randy Pobst. "Hopefully Michael Galati can double up and win the Manufacturers' title for Porsche as well!"

"The 2007 season was a good year overall but the Porsche was new for me and I didn't know what to expect going in," said Michael Galati. "This should be a better season because I have a years experience in the car and working with Dax (crew chief Dax Raub) and the 3R crew. I am really looking forward to working with them again."

"SCCA Pro Racing does such a great job of equalizing the cars that a lot of winning a championship is about a little luck and a lot about keeping your nose clean and finishing strong," said Pobst. "One thing we did have last year was reliability both from Porsche with their great GT3 and from 3R Racing with their meticulous preparation. How could Michael and I go wrong with that combination?"

"The K-PAX and 3R team is ramping up and is ready to compete to return the Manufacturers' title back to Porsche," added Galati. "I think that we have the team and the drivers to do that!"

The K-PAX/3R team will be coming into the season with two brand new Porsche 997s so for a second straight year the team is rushing new cars to competition but 2008 will be different as the team does have a full season under their belts with the 997 going in.

"We actually aren't that much further ahead of where were last year," Randy said of the preparation of the K-PAX Porsches for the opening race at Sebring in mid March. "Our Porsches are going to be a little heavier this year by the rules and a have little different tire setup for the new Toyo tires so that will probably change our setups a little.

"We do have a lot of new things to work out on the Porsches but we have a full season under our belts from last year and I have a really smart team behind me so we should be good right from the start."

The 2008 edition of SCCA's SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Series will begin in March at Sebring and is scheduled for stops at Long Beach, Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, and Mosport. The GT series will conclude the GT season with a double header at the new Thunderbolt track in New Jersey and the season ending race at Road Atlanta 7 days later.

K-PAX/3R Racing Fast Facts:

The crew chief for Randy Pobst's #1 Porsche is Will Moody with Dax Raub handling the crew chief duties for Michael Galati's Porsche.

In 2007 the K-PAX Porsches of Pobst and Galati finished within the top ten in 18 of 20 starts as Galati's worst finish was a 14th at Lowes Motor Speedway after leading that race and Pobst limped to a 17th placed finish at Mosport after contact on the starting grid.

Randy Pobst and his Porsche won back to back GT races at Toronto and Watkins Glen while Michael Galati, who did have a Touring Car win, recorded his best finish of 3rd in 2007 three times at Toronto, Mosport and Laguna Seca.

The 3R Racing team, based in Denver Colorado, will be gunning for their 3rd and 4th championship titles having won the 2007 GT drivers' title with Pobst and the 2004 drivers' championship with Tommy Archer in a Dodge Viper.

A 3R Racing SRT-4 driven by Robb Holland also recorded the highest ever finish for Dodge in World Challenge Touring Car with Holland's podium finish at Road America in 2006.

The 3R team has recorded World Challenge race wins in GT cars from three different manufacturers led by 6 wins by Randy Pobst in Porsches in 2001 and 2007, Phil McClure (2 wins) in a Chevrolet Corvette and Tommy Archer (3 race wins) in a Dodge Viper.

Michael Galati is second in career World Challenge starts with 128 (Peter Cunningham leads with 163) and is 4th in career wins with 21 (Cunningham leads with 31 wins). Michael is 2nd in career top 10 finishes with 95 (to 104 for Cunningham) and 1 3rd all-time with 51 podium finishes.

Randy Pobst is 5th in career wins with 18 and has scored 43 podium and 65 top ten finishes in 77 World Challenge starts.

Interestingly K-PAX teammates Pobst and Galati are tied for 4th in career pole position wins with 22 each.

-credit: kpax/3r