The Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team looks to defend its thrilling win of last season when they take to the track on Sunday, April 29 for Round Four of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve at Virginia International Raceway.
Having captured victory in what fans voted as the most exciting finish of the 2006 Grand-Am Rolex Series season, Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team is certain to contend for top honors again in this year’s sports car classic at VIR.
Piloting the Alex Job Racing prepared Porsche-powered Crawford Daytona Prototype is the duo of Las Vegas resident Patrick Long and Jörg Bergmeister of Leverkusen, Germany.
After tasting victory at VIR last year, the 25-year-old Long welcomes a return to the site of that dramatic win.
“VIR is one of my all time favorite tracks, ” Long said. “It’s a great circuit with a nice combination of fast and slow turns all culminating in a long straight-away. It’s always important to qualify well at VIR as the track is a little narrow for passing. I’ll be anxious to see how our package performs here this year given we now have a lot more experience on the VIR road course than we did last year. ”
Team driver Bergmeister, 31, is the reigning Grand-Am Daytona Prototype driver champion and is eager to attack the scenic yet technically challenging rural Virginia raceway.
“I really like the track, ” Bergmeister said. “It has just about every type of corner. The Esses are fun and if the car is right you should be able to get through there without lifting off of the throttle. The team made advances with the car at Homestead and we were able to show more speed, especially in qualifying. I expect we’ll see even more improvement this weekend at VIR. We may see some rain and that should play into our hands as a strength. “
The man who reunited drivers Long and Bergmeister for ‘07 is team owner Alex Job.
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