After Successful HSR Fall Historics at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Last Weekend
Overall and Prototype Class Victories in Saturday's B.R.M. Endurance Challenge Race for Travis Engen in his GMT Racing 2005 No. 2 Audi R8 LMP
Ernie Wilding Wins Overall and Takes GT Classic (GTC) Victory in Sunday's B.R.M. Endurance Challenge Race Co-Driving with Eb Vazquez
From Road America to Road Atlanta to Rennsport Reunion, HSR Full-Speed Ahead in Three-Week Race Stretch
From Road America to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to this weekend's Rennsport Reunion 7, Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) is full-speed ahead in a three-week and coast-to-coast race stretch that is one of busiest runs of consecutive races in the sanctioning body's nearly 50-year history. The latest event in the triple stretch of races was last weekend's HSR Fall Historics at Road Atlanta that wrapped up Sunday after three days of successful competition in perfect weather conditions.
The final headline events of the weekend were a pair of one-hour B.R.M. Chronographes Endurance Challenge races that saw four teams and their drivers secure their first feature race wins of the Fall Historics weekend and another team reach the top step of the podium for the second time during the event.
Saturday's big winner in the B.R.M Endurance Challenge race for the Prototype, GT Modern (GTM) and Historic classes was the ageless Travis Engen in his immaculate GMT Racing 2005 No. 2 Audi R8 LMP. Engen scored both overall and Prototype class honors and completed 39 laps around the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta circuit in the timed race.
The GTM victory went to David Pahl in his 2016 No. 82 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup. Pahl stepped up for the win after finishing a close second in Friday's Stoner Car Care Global GT race and also finished third on the overall B.R.M. podium.
Engen and Pahl were split on the overall B.R.M. podium by the duo of Francesco Melandri and Nigel Mansell who doubled up on podium finishes in Saturday's race. Melandri and Greensall co-drove the 2017 No. 24 Fransco Racing Ligier JS/P3 to second overall and in Prototype while trading off driving shifts between the Ligier LMP3 and the team's Fransco Racing 1996 No. 96 Porsche 993 GT2.
In the Porsche, Melandri and Greensall also finished second in the Historic class. The No 96 crossed the line just behind the similar No. 836 Porsche 993 RSR prepared by Air Power Racing and driven by Kenneth Greenberg, who took the victory. The one-two 993 finish was a repeat of the Historic-class results Air Power and Fransco recorded in last March's season-opening Spring Fling at Sebring International Raceway.
Sunday's B.R.M. Endurance race for GT Classic (GTC) and Vintage was won overall by Ernie Wilding and his co-driver Eb Vazquez in the FAS Autosports 1995 No. 182 BMW M3. In addition to GTC-class honors, Wilding scored his second feature race win of the weekend after taking overall and International class wins in the BMW in Friday's Sasco Sports International/American Challenge sprint.
The BMW was followed to the line in Sunday's B.R.M. race by Vintage-class winner Jamie Busby in his KMW Motorsports 1970 No. 188 Porsche 914/6.
Anthony Gough finished third overall and second in Vintage on Sunday in his 2007 No. 542 Porsche Cayman.
Other podium players in the B.R.M. Endurance races included Kathy Blaha, who finished second in GTC in the Arnage Motorsports 2004 No. 99 BMW M3, Colin Dougherty and Ray Shaffer, who co-drove the DAS Sport 1988 No. 77 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup to third in Vintage, Dan Amman, who took runner-up honors in GTM in the Vintage Racing Company 2016 No. 82 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport and Russell Wittenberg, who capped a successful return to HSR competition with third in GTM in his 2012 No. 113 Porsche 997.2 Cup car.
Sunday's HSR Classic RS Cup sprint race was won by Douglas Hagopian in his 1974 No. 24 Porsche 911. Former series champion Mike Banz finished second in his Arnage Motorsports 1973 No. 13 Porsche 911 RSR.
The Fall Historics followed HSR's guest appearance at the Vintage Sports Car Drivers Association (VSCDA) Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival (ELVF) two weeks ago at Road America. Those races set the stage for HSR's third-straight race weekend with a return visit to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (WRLS) for the blockbuster Rennsport Reunion 7. After sanctioning the last three runnings of the Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion and Monterey Pre-Reunion at WRLS, HSR has been enlisted for the first time to officiate and run the historic racing events at Rennsport Reunion 7 this weekend, September 28 - October 1.
The first Rennsport Reunion in five years, "RR7" coincides with the 75th Anniversary year of Porsche and this year's theme is "Icons of Porsche." The celebration of course includes Porsche racing legends, icons in their own right, that will be well represented on the WRLS circuit in both HSR-sanctioned historic competition and a doubleheader for the contemporary IMSA Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America series.
Building on the three years of success and experience as the official sanctioning body of the WRLS Reunion events, HSR fills a similar roll at RR7 in providing its expertise and vast collective experience in race event operations and full technical scrutineering for the ample lineup of vintage and historic racing events scheduled.
