Rock Hill, SC - CORE autosport is ready to tackle the longest circuit on the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) calendar this coming weekend, doing battle in Road America's Road Race Showcase on Saturday, August 18.
The ALMS Prototype Challenge (PC) class championship-leading team and drivers are prepared for the four-hour event, with a goal of extending their points leads. In six 2012 ALMS races, CORE autosport has scored 11 podiums – four wins, three second places and four thirds. With four races left in the season, three are endurance challenges, starting with Saturday at the historic 14-turn, 4.048-mile Road America circuit.
Behind the wheel of the #05 Composite Resources ORECA FLM09 are season-long partners Jon Bennett and Colin Braun. Bennett, CORE autosport’s founder, and Braun, a motorsports sensation in many different series, have won two races this season at Laguna Seca and Lime Rock, been on the podium five times, and are second in the 2012 ALMS PC driver championship standings.
Alex Popow, lead driver of the #06 Soloson Import ORECA FLM09, is currently the PC driver championship leader, with two wins – at Sebring and Long Beach – and six podium spots in 2012. For the Road America event, Popow will be paired with three-time 24 Hour of Le Mans class winner Tom Kimber-Smith. Kimber-Smith has driven the #06 machine with Popow twice in 2012, at Laguna Seca and Lime Rock, finishing third and second, respectively.
All of the team’s drivers other than Kimber-Smith have had extensive experience at Road America. Bennett has competed at the track in a variety of different series, and in the ALMS finished on the podium in the 2011 event. Popow has raced in the GRAND-AM series at Road America, in both a prototype and in the Continental Tire categories.
For Braun, Road America is a homecoming of sorts. The Ovalo, Texas native has spent a lot of time since childhood in and around Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin as his father’s family is from the area. As a professional race car driver, the track ranks among his favorites. In 2012 alone, Braun has competed at Road America in the GRAND-AM Rolex series, set up Kurt Busch’s car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and has been at the circuit for weeks at a time in testing.
Prior to the Saturday event, some of the CORE autosport drivers including Braun and Bennett will be taking part in the Tour de Road America on Friday night, August 17th. This special on-track bicycle ride benefits the Austin Hatcher Foundation, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic.
Practice for the Road America Road Race Showcase starts on Thursday, August 16th, with qualifying on Friday the 17th and the race on Saturday the 18th.
Source: CORE autosport
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