2015 TUDOR Championship Season “Roars” Into Town
The Ganassi team wasted no time in asserting its dominance and boasted a 1-2 finish in the opening TUDOR Championship practice session. The team's superstar two-car lineup includes IndyCar and NASCAR stars such as Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray.
"I really have enjoyed my friendship with Scott Dixon," McMurray said. It's nice to be with Kyle, who I'm on the NASCAR side with, and then Tony Kanaan is just a lot of fun to be around. So we have a really good group of guys. It's fun racing the car, sharing the car with them, but it's also fun, all the hanging out, like going to dinners, eating lunch together, and just kind of catching up on what's going on in everyone's life."
Scott Pruett is back with Ford full time and going for sole possession of the all-time Rolex 24 win record this year. He and Hurley Haywood are tied with five overall wins apiece.
"It's exciting for me to be involved with Ford, period, no matter what we do," he said. "Putting them back in victory lane at Sebring overall (in 2014), which I think was their first win since '69, was magical. If we could get to victory lane here with Ford, it would, again, recreate that magic that's there."
Two-Car Dodge Viper GT3-R Effort Announced
TI Automotive and ViperExchange.com today announced support for a two-car Dodge Viper GT3-R effort in the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup in 2015. The partnership includes support for the No. 33 Dodge Viper GT3-R in the full TUDOR Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class. Full-time drivers will be Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen.
"We had a one-time chance to work with this team in July of 2014 at the TUDOR race in Indy, and we met some very talented people that are experts at tuning performance and efficiency from the street to the track," said Al Deane, chief technology officer, TI Automotive. "This sponsorship and endurance series gives our company and motorsport enthusiasts an iconic American sports car brand at all iconic American race tracks."
Both cars will feature new paint schemes that includes a white body, featuring a bold blue stripe outlined in bright green, from nose to tail.
Billy Johnson, Greg Liefooghe lead Continental Tire Challenge Testing
Billy Johnson clocked the fastest lap of the day from a pair of Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge sessions in the Grand Sport (GS) class, while Greg Liefooghe led both sessions in the Street Tuner (ST) class.
Johnson's best lap of 110.679 mph aboard the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302R came in the second session of the day. Johnson is sharing the car with Canadian Motorsport Hall of Famer Scott Maxwell.
Liefooghe's best lap of 102.120 mph in the No. 83 Next Generation European Porsche Cayman, also came in in the second session of the day. Liefooghe's co-driver is Eric Zimmermann.