Kyle Gimple Press Release
The IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge stages Round 2 of the 2015 championship at Sebring International Raceway this weekend and Kyle Gimple is eager to get underway. He and his Compass360 Racing co-driver Paul Holton will debut the team’s Audi S3 at the 3.74-mile airport circuit located about 90 miles south of Orlando, Florida.
The move is a significant change for the championship-caliber Compass360 Racing squad, which has long been synonymous with Hondas and victory lane.
Gimple spent two years driving a Honda Civic for Compass360 Racing and enjoyed an outstanding run to the vice championship in 2013 as well as earning poles and more victories with the Civic in 2014. He brought the car home a stout seventh at Daytona to open the season with a solid points start to the year.
While Sebring marks the first competitive outing for Compass360 Racing with the No. 75 AERO Advanced Paint Technology/Children’s Tumor Foundation Audi S3, Gimple will arrive with some familiarity with the machine, having tested the car with the team in two separate tests at Homestead-Miami Speedway as well as in a recent test at Road Atlanta.
“The tests went really well and we learned a lot about what the car likes as far as set-up,” said Gimple, who recently launched an all new website (http://kylegimpleracing.com). “We made big gains on the car and I think we can get even more out of it. The car is really fun to drive. It's a comfortable car to drive, very forgiving and easy to control. It’s an honor to be involved in the development of the Audi so I’m excited to get going at Sebring!”
Compass360 Racing Team Owner Karl Thomson is equally enthusiastic about the potential of the Audi S3.
“This new S3 program gives us the opportunity to forge a strong relationship with Audi, and our long-term plan is to run Audi products in multiple classes in multiple series, including the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge GS class, and the PWC GTS and GT classes,” explained Thomson of the new venture. “So far, the car has performed the way we were hoping and expected it to. This is just the start of the development curve for us, so it is very exciting to be preparing for that first public step to be going racing with the new car this weekend."
Gimple and the Compass360 Racing team are hopeful of a solid outing at Sebring after having performed well at the track in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge’s debut there last year. Gimple and then co-driver Ryan Eversley had strong pace in the race, but a broken axle during Gimple’s stint saw the team fighting back after falling several laps down.
The Sebring event is held as part of the iconic Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring which hosts some of the most passionate sports car fans in the country who are no doubt anticipating the debut of the Audi in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge action.
Live timing and scoring can be followed throughout the weekend at IMSA.com which will also have a LIVE video broadcast available for the 2.5-hour race set to begin at 1:05 PM ET on Friday, March 20.
Photo credit: Compass360 Racing
