Rob Lorndale, Jordan Wallace and Pedro Torres Hoping to Continue Success From Previous Exhibition Weekend

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (October 14, 2021) – TPC Racing returns to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the second time this season for a Porsche Sprint Challenge North America doubleheader on the IMS road course. Drivers Rob Lorndale and Jordan Wallace were with the team at the Porsche Together Festival exhibition races in September and return this weekend for the season finale, joined by Pedro Torres.

Both Lorndale and Wallace earned podium finishes in the pair of non-points paying races, with Wallace sweeping the Silver Class weekend in the No. 35 Dasbold/TPC Racing Porsche Cayman Clubsport. Lorndale earned a third-place and a second-place finish, his first podium appearances, in the Gold Class driving the No. 6 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

The pair of 40-minute races can be seen live via subscription on FloRacing.com. The first race gets the green flag at 3:55 ET on Friday, October 15, with the second at 11:05 a.m. on Saturday, October 16.

Despite missing the opening two events of the season, Wallace sits 10th in the Silver Class standings. A great run this weekend could leap him as high as fifth in the final championship in just his first season of competition.

Lorndale sits third in the Gold Cup for 991.1-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars. Also a rookie in professional racing, Lorndale gets the opportunity to return to a track that he’s previously raced on for the first time.

Torres missed the non-points paying round at IMS, but has his No. 16 Stoneleaf/TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup ready for a podium run – also in the Gold Class. Torres sits fifth in the season-long championship race.

Because of Sunday’s eight-hour race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Porsche Sprint Challenge race event got underway with a Wednesday afternoon practice session. Two more practice sessions take place on Thursday, before qualifying on Friday, October 15 at 8:30 a.m. ET and the first race at 3:35 p.m. that afternoon. Saturday’s race begins at 11:05 a.m.

Missing the non-points paying race hasn’t seemed to matter to Torres, who led the week’s opening practice and was less than one-tenth away from the best time in practice two. Wallace was second in the Silver class in Thursday morning’s practice session.

Harris Levitas, Director of Race Operations: We have three very well prepared TPC Racing Porsches out here with us this week. Rob Lorndale and Jordan Wallace were here during the non-points event and did very well, but we learned a lot on the car setups during that event. We did a test with Pedro just before that and he’s done very well in the early practice sessions. I think we’re in a really good spot for the weekend. The goal for the event is to capitalize on as much as we can. Rob currently sits P3 in the points and it’s just really important for him to have a nice clean race and finish off the year on a high note and to take the cars home just the way they came off the trailers. I can’t thank the TPC Racing team enough, between all the different series that we race in we weren’t even home for a full 24 hours before coming here. It was a really tough turnaround the guys are really tired so I’m super proud of the effort they’ve put in.”

Rob Lorndale, Driver, No. 6 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “It’s a real privilege to be able to come back here to Indy. I really like the road course here. We’ve had some practice and I feel as if I picked up where I left off a month ago. Pedro and I are working with Spencer Pumpelly to try to refine what we’re doing and get ready for the first race on Friday. It seems quite similar grip wise, but we’re anticipating some weather will come in and we’ll be doing some driving in the rain on Friday. We’ll deal with what we need to.”

Pedro Torres, Driver, No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “The car feels great. I’m excited. This is actually a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. I thought the track would be shorter but it’s quite long. The facility is amazing. It’s amazing that we’re here and able to enjoy it. I was surprised to see it’s in this good of condition. I was surprised that the asphalt on the oval is so different than the asphalt anywhere else. You can see all the grooves. It’s rough on the tires.”

About TPC Racing: TPC Racing is the Mid-Atlantic’s premier maintenance, service, tuning and modification center dedicated solely to Porsche sportscars. TPC Racing specializes in R&D and sales of high-performance modifications for Porsche sports cars and race cars, offering a wide range of vehicle upgrades. Best known for a line of forced induction solutions for the Porsche 911, Cayman and Boxster, a long-time focus on only one make, Porsche, has enabled TPC Racing to become experts in Porsche service, tuning, and racing. In 2000, TPC Racing began entering races under its own banner, scoring an SGS-class Championship in 2004 in the Grand-American Rolex Series and was a class winner in the 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona, and captured the 2013 and 2016 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Gold Cup Championships. More information can be found at www.TPCRacing.com.

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams return to one of the biggest stages in all of motorsports this weekend for the season-ending race of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). Sunday’s three-hour GT World Challenge America finale serves as an opening act for the highly anticipated Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, which promises to be largest and most competitive North American round of the worldwide Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) powered by Pirelli in the five-year history of the global championship’s U.S. race. The IMS event also includes the season-ending rounds of the Pirelli GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS championships at the “Brickyard,” taking place October 14 – 17.

Everything leads up to Sunday’s featured IGTC Indianapolis 8 Hour, which debuted at Indy last year after the first three editions of the U.S. round took place at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca from 2017 through 2019. This year’s eight-hour race on the 2.439-mile IMS road course is scheduled to start this Sunday, October 17 at 10 a.m. EDT.

The 8 Hour entry of 41 cars is the largest field of all-time for an IGTC round in North America. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams account for seven of the 8 Hour entries while seven more Mercedes-AMG Motorsport customer teams – including two Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries and five Mercedes-AMG GT4 teams – compete across the Pirelli GT4 and GT America series.

In a unique twist, the first three hours of the 8 Hour race double as the GT World Challenge America season finale. Of the seven Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries from five teams scheduled to take the green flag Sunday, four entries will battle for IGTC championship points in addition to overall and class honors in the 8 Hour.

Meanwhile, the three-car Mercedes-AMG GT3 team from DXDT Racing is focused in on a strong GT World Challenge America Pro-Am class results at the three-hour mark while also planning to go the full Indianapolis 8 Hour distance.

The DXDT team has combined for a trio of GT World Challenge America Pro-Am wins this year, and a fourth victory by any one of the team’s three entries would result in an ideal end to the season.

George Kurtz and Colin Braun, who have two Pro-Am wins this season at Sonoma Raceway and Circuit of The Americas (COTA), co-drove to the GT World Challenge Pro-Am victory at Indianapolis last year. They were then joined by Ben Keating in powering through the remainder of the race’s five hours to secure 8 Hour Pro-Am honors. The winning trio reunites this weekend in the No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Erin Vogel and Michael Cooper earned their first GT3 win together in June at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) to highlight their first season of competition with both DXDT and the Mercedes-AMG GT3. They will share the No. 19 in the full 8 Hour portion of Sunday’s race with co-driver Thomas Merrill.

DXDT team owner David Askew and his co-driver Ryan Dalziel still look for their first GT World Challenge Pro-Am victory but ran competitively at Indy last year before losing a wheel late in the race. Scott Smithson joins Askew and Dalziel in the No. 63 as the team’s third driver for the 8 Hour.

The quartet of Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams designated as points-earning IGTC entries includes Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing and Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP, two Performance Teams from Asia and Europe, respectively, making their Indianapolis debuts.

Familiar teammates Maro Engel and Luca Stolz will co-drive with Jules Gounon in the No. 99 Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Indy 8 Hour is Craft-Bamboo’s first IGTC race of the season.

The No. 89 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be co-driven by the winning and experienced trio of Timur Boguslavskiy, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello.

The other two Mercedes-AMG GT3 contenders have already seen major North American endurance racing success in 2021. Winward Racing and SunEnergy1 Racing secured a one-two Mercedes-AMG GT3 sweep in the GTD class in January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona and seek similar success this weekend on the equally legendary IMS circuit.

Wining Rolex 24 drivers Russell Ward and Philipp Ellis – who shared the Daytona victory with Engel and Indy Dontje – will be joined this weekend in the No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 by Marvin Dienst, competing in the Silver Cup class.

Co-driving with Marciello and Stolz, Kenny Habul and Mikael Grenier finished a close second to Winward at Daytona in the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Habul and Grenier return in the No. 75 at Indy where they once again compete in the Pro-Am class with Martin Konrad. The SunEnergy1 trio drove the No. 75 to a third-place Pro-Am finish in last year’s 8 Hour.

DXDT’s ample armada of Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries also includes a pair of contenders in the single-driver GT America powered by AWS series. Kurtz wheels, a second No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in GT America, competing alongside teammate CJ Moses in the No. 58 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The GT America season wraps up this weekend with back-to-back 40-minute races Friday and Saturday.

The five Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries at Indy all compete in the season-ending doubleheader for the Pirelli GT4 America SprintX series that features twin 60-minute races today and Friday.

In addition, RENNtech Motorsports fields both of its entries in the GT4 class in the GT America races.

Chris Cagnazzi drives his No. 39 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4 solo in GT America but will be joined by coach and co-driver Guy Cosmo for the SprintX rounds.

RENNtech’s second entry is Chris Gumprecht’s No. 79 Mercedes-AMG GT4 he shares with Kyle Marcelli in SprintX as well as driving on his own in GT America.

The lone Pirelli GT4 Am-class entry comes from Capstone Motorsports for co-drivers Jon Berry and Kris Wilson. Berry, who is part of the management team at Capstone, steps in for team owner John Allen for the second-straight race in the No. 16 Capstone Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4.

Recently crowned Pirelli GT4 champions and the series’ most recent race winners complete the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport customer entries for the Indy finale.

Christian Szymczak and Kenny Murillo co-drove the No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 to a pair of second place finishes two weeks ago at Sebring International Raceway to clinch the 2021 Pirelli GT4 Silver class team and driver championships a race early on the strength of five wins this season.

Conquest Racing West, and its young driving duo of Michai Stephens and Colin Mullan, have been the hottest team and driver combination in Pirelli GT4 in the final half of the season. Driving the No. 35 Conquest Racing West Mercedes-AMG GT4, Stephens and Mullan swept the overall victories and scored Silver-class honors in both rounds of the recent Sebring race.

The overall and Silver-class victories are the latest achievements in a run of five-straight podium finishes by the No. 35 team and drivers since debuting in both Pirelli GT4 and with Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing just three race weekends ago at Road America in late August.

Jules Gounon, Driver – No. 99 Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “First and foremost, it’s always amazing to come back to Indianapolis, feel the atmosphere of the track and to see the bricks. It brings to us so many emotions, and we’re blessed to be racing at this fantastic track with this Mercedes-AMG GT3. I’m really proud to be back with Craft-Bamboo, I have a done a race with them in 2016. This weekend could bring mixed weather conditions, and that is actually one of the best points of the Mercedes-AMG GT3. The car is good in any conditions, that’s a big strong point of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 compared to the cars I have driven in the past.”

Raffaele Marciello, Driver – No. 89 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I’m happy to be here in America. It’s always nice to come back to this famous race track at Indianapolis, and I cannot wait for the 8 Hour. I hope we can score a good result in the race and do really well with the Mercedes-AMG GT3. I feel quite confident and cannot wait to go on track.”
Russell Ward, Driver – No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I’m a bit nervous, honestly, here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Once you’re in the car everything is fine, but I’m a bit nervous being at such an iconic place. This is one of the most famous race tracks in the United States and the world, and it’s a pleasure to be here, particularly with the biggest GT field in the U.S. history of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Looking at the entry list, we have an incredibly strong lineup in the Silver class. I think as long as we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, we’re going to have a good chance to win the Silver class, and if we play things right and get a little bit of luck, we could even be on the overall podium. It just all depends on how the race plays out. It’s going to be tight, there’s going to be some attrition, and it’s going to be fun.”

Russell Ward, Driver – No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I’m a bit nervous, honestly, here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Once you’re in the car everything is fine, but I’m a bit nervous being at such an iconic place. This is one of the most famous race tracks in the United States and the world, and it’s a pleasure to be here, particularly with the biggest GT field in the U.S. history of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Looking at the entry list, we have an incredibly strong lineup in the Silver class. I think as long as we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, we’re going to have a good chance to win the Silver class, and if we play things right and get a little bit of luck, we could even be on the overall podium. It just all depends on how the race plays out. It’s going to be tight, there’s going to be some attrition, and it’s going to be fun.”

Colin Braun, Driver – No. 04 DXDT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3: “I’m excited to be back at Indy. It’s definitely a special place. George, Ben and I love this place, and I think winning last year always helps a driver like a racetrack. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 was really competitive through the changing conditions, the different temperatures and the rain, and just the mixed conditions we had last year. This weekend looks similar to that, with different temperatures and different weather, so I think the Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be really strong. I know the DXDT guys have been working hard getting the car prepared and it’s a long race. With so many variables, including way more cars this year, it is going to make the traffic and how the race flows different than last year. There’s even a different track layout, they changed a couple of corners, and I’m looking forward to figuring it all out. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I know Mercedes-AMG Motorsport is well represented and hopefully we can finish it off strong and do them proud.”

Kenny Murillo, Driver – No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4: “I’m really looking forward to the finale at Indianapolis. I have no experience at all at Indy, so it’s going to be a really big learning opportunity. I’m just really grateful for the whole year, running with Christian Szymczak, it’s been an amazing journey and it’s nice to go into Indy with a lot less stress. We’re just going to go out and have a really good time, and I’m really looking forward to being a part of Indy’s history. My first time here I was 15. I’ve never driven the track. I was working with my dad and doing tires for a Street Tuner (ST) car. After the race, we even get to come back to Indianapolis again for the champions celebration during the PRI Show. It’s a great opportunity at a great show and a great venue, and I’m looking forward to celebrating a lot of hard work that we did over the course of the year.”

Guy Cosmo, Driver – No. 39 RENNtech Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT4: “We’re really excited for Indy. It’s the last hurrah for this season. We came into it late, but we’ve been making great strides. Chris has really been putting in an amazing effort behind the wheel and continuously improving. I’m really impressed with how he’s been in the car so far. He’s raced at Indy in the past several years ago, and I’ve tested there and driven there quite a bit, but I’ve never raced there. I’m looking forward to it because there are a lot of sections there that should suit the Mercedes-AMG GT4. There’s just one final chance to try to maximize what we’ve been working on all year and see if we can put it together and get us back on the podium.”

By Joe Chandler
Director, Public Relations
South Boston Speedway

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. (Oct. 14, 2021) — There is only one item on Layne Riggs’ agenda for the 125-lap Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car race that will comprise half of Saturday night’s season-ending Autos By Nelson 250 presented by Bojangles at South Boston Speedway – winning the race.

“We’re just here to win,” the Bahama, North Carolina resident remarked during a break in a test session Tuesday at South Boston Speedway. “If we can’t win, we want to have the best finish we can get and get seen by as many people as we can, possibly some people that can hopefully get me somewhere else higher up the ladder. We’re just trying every weekend to make the best showing we can and impress as many people as we can.”

Riggs, the son of former NASCAR Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series driver Scott Riggs, has six career wins in the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car Division including one win this season. He enters Saturday night’s event in ninth place in the series point standings, 78 points out of first place. The objective now is to finish the season on a high note.

“Points are not in our mindset,” Riggs noted. “The last three or four races we haven’t thought about points. If we can’t win the championship, we just want to win the race. We’re just going to try to win the race in front of the championship contenders.”

South Boston Speedway is a familiar venue to Riggs as he has raced at the .4-mile oval numerous times during his career. He has competed at “America’s Hometown Track” twice this season with a ninth-place finish being his best effort. Riggs said his familiarity with South Boston Speedway helps, but the advantage may not be as great as some people may think.

“A lot of people have a lot of experience at this track,” Riggs said. “Even though the CARS Tour hasn’t been here since 2019 a lot of people ran the July 3 race here at South Boston Speedway and a lot of people have raced in the local races here because the local races here are so big.

“I feel like it’s a pretty easy track to get ahold of,” Riggs continued. “I feel it’s more about your notes and your notebook for your car and setup as opposed to more of learning the track and having a neat little trick. As long as we can get our setup dialed in and we can be a little bit ahead of the game I think we will have just as good a shot at winning as anybody.”

Due to a shortage of tires that the CARS Tour competitors normally use the teams will be using a different tire this weekend at South Boston Speedway.

“It’s going to throw everybody for a big loop,” Riggs said. “These tires we’re going to race on this weekend are really, really hard. The higher the number the harder the tire is and the longer the tire will last. Here at South Boston Speedway they run a Hoosier F50 tire. This weekend we are running Hoosier F56s.

“The last time anybody ran the F56 tire was at Bristol,” added Riggs. “We ran the whole race at Bristol and you could still see where they didn’t wear out. Tire conservation is out the window this weekend. Everybody is going to be racing hard from lap one to the last lap.”
Riggs says he enjoys racing at South Boston Speedway.

“South Boston Speedway is one of the nicest facilities we go to,” he remarked. “It’s the smoothest asphalt we race on by far. It feels like you’re floating around the racetrack here versus places where it’s so rough you can barely see the racetrack because you’re bouncing around so much. It’s almost like a superspeedway here.”

Saturday night’s Autos By Nelson 250 presented by Bojangles is the final event of the season for the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour and the final event of the season at South Boston Speedway. It will be a big night of racing with a CARS Tour doubleheader featuring a 125-lap Late Model Stock Car Division race and a 125-lap Super Late Model race.

Both the CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car and Super Late Model division championships are on the line Saturday night in what is one of the tightest championship battles in the series’ history.

Two-time Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour Champion Bobby McCarty of Greensboro, North Carolina, who won the series championship in 2018 and 2019, leads rookie Kaden Honeycutt of Aledo, Texas by just one point entering the 125-lap Late Model Stock Car race. McCarty won the 200-lap NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division race at South Boston Speedway on July 3 and won the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown.

Matt Craig of Kannapolis, North Carolina, who has won three CARS Tour Super Late Model championships in a row, holds a slim eight-point lead over Mooresville, North Carolina resident Carson Kvapil, a three-time winner this season, entering the 125-lap Super Late Model race.

There are several other drivers in both divisions that have the potential to win the season’s final race and possibly provide a twist to the championship battles.

Saturday’s race day schedule has rotating practice sessions for the two divisions from 12:30 p.m. until 2:45 p.m. Grandstand gates will open at 4 p.m. and qualifying starts at 4:45 p.m. There will be an on-track Fan Fest driver autograph session at 5:45 p.m. and the first race of the night will get the green flag at 7 p.m.

Advance tickets are priced at $15 each and are available through Friday night, October 15 on the South Boston Speedway website, www.southbostonspeedway.com. Also, advance tickets may be purchased at the South Boston Speedway office until 5 p.m. on Friday, October 15.

Tickets purchased at the gate and online on race day are priced at $20 each. Children ages 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.

The latest news and information about South Boston Speedway and its events can be found on the South Boston Speedway website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, and through the speedway’s social media channels.