Although SCCA Pro Racing’s SPEED World Challenge has raced at Lowe’s Motor Speedway once before, the race on Thursday, May 24, CTC Pole Night, is going to be an event the likes of which the series has never experienced.
Using the full 1.5-mile oval with chicanes on the front and back straight, the field will launch from its traditional standing start to begin the first of two 20-mintute sessions. At the conclusion of the first session, the cars will come into pit lane, where teams will be given five minutes to make adjustments and change all four tires, but refueling is not permitted. During this intermission, the “wheel of inversion” will be spun to determine through which position the field will invert (one to five) and the cars will begin the second session with a rolling restart in that order.
Further enhancing the event for fans and drivers alike is addition of defending NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson and 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year Kasey Kahne to the entry list. Johnson will drive the No. 48 XM/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose Cadillac CTS-V, while Kahne will step behind the wheel of the No. 13 Kicker/Woodhouse Performance Dodge Viper. The anticipation is almost unbearable as the SCCA SPEED GT Championship prepares to take to the banks of Lowe’s Motor Speedway for Round Four of the 2007 season.
Entering the weekend with the point lead despite not finishing the race at Miller Motorsports Park is Eric Curran. The No. 30 Whelen Engineering Corvette suffered front nose damage early in the race, which led to some overheating issues in the Utah dessert. Thanks to back-to-back wins in the opening two rounds however, Curran was able to maintain a five point lead over Tommy Archer.
Driving the No. 5 MOPAR/Autohaus Motorsport Dodge Viper, Archer jumped from seventh to second in points after qualifying on pole and leading all 14 laps on his way to victory at Miller Motorsports Park. The win was just what Archer needed after a slow start to the season with an eighth-place finish at Sebring and a seventh-place finish at Long Beach
Also making up ground in the points thanks to two straight podiums is Lou Gigliotti. Pilot of the flame-laden No. 28 LG Pro Long Tube Headers Chevrolet Corvette, Gigliotti, who you may also recognize from the SPEED program Forza Motorsport Showdown, was the fastest Corvette in testing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this past March.
Fastest on that test day was the No. 8 XM/Mobil 1/ Motorola/Bose Cadillac CTS-V of Andy Pilgrim. The former SCCA SPEED GT Champion’s season took a hit last weekend in Utah when a penalty for jumping the start, followed by a spin on course held him to an 11th-place finish. Pilgrim now sits fourth in the points. His teammate, defending SCCA SPEED GT Champion Lawson Aschenbach, bounced back from his career-worst finish in Round Two at Long Beach, to finish sixth at Miller Motorsports Park, which is also where he stands in the Championship.
Michael Galati leads the Porsche contingent, holding down the third spot in the SCCA SPEED GT Championship. Piloting the No. 23 K-PAX Racing LLC/Jim Haughey Porsche 911 GT3, Galati has finished in the top-five at each race this year. With more World Challenge Championships to his name than any other driver in series history, a win this season can’t be far off.
Fellow K-PAX driver Randy Pobst had his best SCCA SPEED GT finish of the season at Miller Motorsports Park. Pobst challenged Archer for the lead early, but spun his No. 22 K-PAX Racing LLC/Jim Haughey Porsche 911 GT3 on lap three after an unsuccessful look to the inside of Archer in Turn One. Falling back to fifth, Pobst eventually made his way back around his own teammate (Galati), to finish fourth.
Finishing just ahead of Pobst and collecting his first career-podium in Utah, was the No. 87 3-Dimensional Services/LG Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette of Doug Peterson. The finish was celebrated by the whole team, as each of the three LG Motorsports Chevrolet Corvettes have now made a trip to the podium in the opening three rounds of the 2007 SCCA SPEED GT season.
Eighteen-year-old Dane Moxlow leads the Piloti SCCA SPEED GT Rookie of the Year standings and sits 12th in the Championship. Moxlow is the sole Pontiac entry at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, driving the No. 20 Deronda USA Pontiac GTO.
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