APR Motorsport Press Release
July 25, 2012 (Opelika, Ala.) – It will be a quick, one-day, in-and-out event for APR Motorsport as the team travels to Indianapolis, Indiana for the historic first sports car race in the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Part of the Super Weekend, this Friday will see Grand-Am’s Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge take part in a one-day event at the world famous Brickyard. With a total of six cars competing, it will be a very busy day for the team.
Fielding two cars for the first time in the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen, the no. 51 APR Audi R8 Grand-Am will be back at the hands of regular drivers Dr. Jim Norman and Dion von Moltke, who took part in a recent tire test at the Speedway. After a practice accident at Watkins Glen left the car starting last on the field, it advanced as high as tenth before losing several laps with a mechanical issue. After a frustrating result, the team is anxious to get back on track at the Brickyard.
“Finally, the Indianapolis race day is almost here!” said von Moltke. “The track has two different surfaces – going from high grip on the oval to low-grip in the infield. This presents a really tough challenge for the drivers and engineers to find the right compromise on a setup to get the best overall car throughout the lap. The guys at APR Motorsport have tried to learn as much as possible throughout the last few weeks and we hope to show up with the right compromise. It is even more vital than ever to have a good setup right away as we will only have one one-hour session to really learn the track!”
“After having only two ST cars at Watkins Glen, it’s nice to get all four cars back on track for Indy,” said Hurley, the lead driver for APR’s CTSCC ST program. “All of the drivers have been progressing very well and we all had a big boost after David and Aleks got their win at Road America. Watkins Glen was a challenge for all of us, but we are hoping for good things at Indy.”
While the team has been busy preparing for the Super Weekend, they’ve had other events to keep busy with. This past weekend, APR Motorsport attended Waterfest, the largest VW/Audi car show and Motorsport event in North America, at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.
Over 20,0000 attendees had the opportunity to see the no. 51 and no. 52 APR Audi R8 Grand-Am, the no. 41 APR Audi S4, and the team’s ST-class Volkswagen GTI’s and Jetta GLI’s, on display. Owners were also able to purchase track-tested performance parts for Audi’s and VW’s and have them installed, including computer reflashes, exhaust systems, and other hardware.
“Waterfest is a great opportunity to showcase the proof of performance of our products,” said Stephen Hooks, owner of APR. “We also have the opportunity to let our customers get an up-close look at our Rolex Series and Continental Series cars, and not only expose them to Grand-Am racing, but show them how we test and derive the products we sell for their street cars. All the race cars, especially the R8's, were a hit with the crowd.”
The Brickyard Grand Prix, the ninth round of the 2012 Rolex Sports Car Series, will go green at 4:00 PM ET and will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel. The Brickyard Sports Car Challenge, the eighth round of the 2012 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, will go green at 1:00 PM and will be shown live on SPEED2.com. The race will also be shown on Sunday, August 5 at 12:00 PM ET.
