Ducan Ende Press Release
February 20, 2013 (Los Angeles, Calif.) - Mixing things up after seasons spent in endurance racing, Duncan Ende is proud to announce his move to the Pirelli World Challenge Championships for the 2013 season. Ende will drive the no. 24 GMG Audi R8 LMS in the GT class.
Ende joins GMG after spending the past two seasons in the American Le Mans Series. As part of Dempsey Racing's Prototype Challenge program, Ende notched two podiums in 2012, while the 2011 season saw him score three wins driving a Porsche in the GT-C class.
"While we were exploring options in both the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series, the chance to race an Audi with Global Motorsports Group came up and we immediately jumped on it," said Ende. "The level of competition in World Challenge is really strong and I'm excited to drive the Audi R8 LMS. GMG knows how to win in World Challenge and, let's be honest; it was hard to argue with the chance to race an Audi R8 LMS."
In stark contrast to the ALMS, in which the shortest race is two hours, World Challenge races are short, 50-minute sprints with no driver changes or pit stops. Several of the race weekends will be double headers, bringing the total number of races to fourteen. It is a driving challenge that Ende is excited to take part in in 2013, and reminiscent of the start of his professional driving career which came in the Champ Car Atlantic championship."The World Challenge schedule is fantastic and I'm really looking forward to the tracks and venues this year," said Ende. "Long Beach is a highlight, since I live in Los Angeles, as well as getting to race at the Circuit of the Americas. Throw in great temporary circuits like St. Petersburg, Toronto, Detroit and Houston, as well as some classic road courses like Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio and Sonoma Raceway, and it is going to be a very exciting season. Plus, it will be more fun doing standing starts and beating up on Mercedes SLS's."
Ende has partnered with STANDD (Stop Texting and Driving Distracted) since 2011. STANDD, founded by Diveeta Thompson, aims to raise awareness of the dangers of driving distracted and will promote its message at several stops on the World Challenge schedule.
"World Challenge will be a great way for us to continue our partnership with STANDD," said Ende. "With so many high-profile spectator events on the schedule, Diveeta and everyone at STANDD will be able to spread their message of safe driving."
The Pirelli World Challenge season begins on March 22 on the Streets of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida. The race will be streamed live on world-challengetv.com, and shown on NBC Sports on April 7 at 4:30 PM ET.
For more about Duncan Ende, visit www.duncanende.com, or follow him on twitter at @duncanende.
Photo credit: Pirelli World Challenge
