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Grand-Am Road Racing announced today it will sanction a test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, Sept. 3, featuring nine cars from its Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.

The Daytona Prototype teams scheduled to test include defending series champion No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley, No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley, No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara, No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley and the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche Coyote. 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice is scheduled to co-pilot the No. 90.

The GT class teams expected to test include the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3, No. 07 Drinkin’ Mate Pontiac GXP.R, No. 57 BryanMark Financial Pontiac GXP.R and No. 70 SpeedSource Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8.

“We are very excited to have this opportunity to see the performance of our sports cars at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” said Grand-Am President Roger Edmondson. “I look forward to the overall reaction from our participants, fans and media, and determining the future possibility of our series competing at this iconic facility.”

Fans and media are welcome to attend the test to see the teams testing on the F1 and MOTO-GP track configurations. The test will be used to gauge the level of interest of holding a sports car event at the facility among the fans, teams and media.

GoRacingTV.com will broadcast a daily Web-video news show from the Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs this year. The SCCA Runoffs will be held at Wisconsin’s Road America, a 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course located in Elkhart Lake, Wis. The show will air each of the six days of the event, Sept. 22 to 27.

This will be another first for the Maryland-based production company. GoRacingTV.com recently went to the Chicago Region SCCA June Sprints and recorded all 10 races of the event which presently are being aired one by one on its Web site. “We were the first to bring the June Sprints to the club racing community via Web-video and now we plan to be the first to bring the Runoffs to everyone in a daily news format from the event,” said co-host Errol Tucker. “Our goal is to make information on Club Racing more accessible and help bring the sport to the forefront.”

The daily news show will bring viewers news and information on what is happening at the Runoffs; from informative interviews with competitors, to qualifying interviews and updates, to the championship race results and interviews with the winners. “It will be like looking at your local news report each evening. Most people go home and look at the nightly news to see what has gone on in the world today, in this case, with our news report, viewers will get info on what has happened in the world of SCCA and the Runoffs,” said Chip VanVurst, co-host of the show.
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NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brendan Gaughan will drive the No. 66 South Point Casino/TRG Porsche GT3 at this weekend’s Grand-Am Rolex Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

Gaughan, from Las Vegas, will make his first Grand-Am Series start with co-driver and Rolex 24 at Daytona winner Andy Lally. Gaughan will also be competing in his regular ride, the No. 62 USfidelis Chevrolet, in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race there on Sunday.

“Growing up in the off-road world if you had aspirations on going to the next level in racing you looked to sports cars or Indy cars,” Gaughan said. “As my career progressed and I was fortunate enough to get into the NASCAR side of things my passion for road racing has never diminished.

“I have been very familiar with Andy’s accomplishments and am both proud and honored to have the opportunity to be his co-driver. I can only hope to have lap times remotely close to his!

“Initially, I was just hoping to run the Grand-Am race to get some laps in to be better prepared for the Nationwide race in my No. 62 USfidelis Chevy. But after learning that I was going to be running with Andy and the car that’s fifth in the points, now I’m hoping to gain valuable track experience and try to help the team gain more points.”

TRG regular Lally is looking forward to sharing his ride with Gaughan, whom he has met before in the infancy of their racing careers.

Sports Car Club of America, Inc. announced today that every race from the 2009 SCCA National Championship Runoffs® will be broadcast live on the Internet this September from Road America.

Beginning Friday, Sept. 25 at 8:00 a.m. (CDT, GMT -6), all 24 races crowning the best amateur racing drivers in America will be broadcast with flag-to-flag coverage of the 14-turn, four-mile Road America circuit, featuring expert commentary and post-race interviews. Each of the three race days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) will feature eight Championship races from the 46th annual Runoffs, which culminates the 70-race SCCA Club Racing National Racing Season.

Speedcast Productions will exclusively carry the live action during race days through SpeedcastTV.com, as well as on demand versions of each of the 24 races with additional content after the event has concluded.

Grand-Am Road Racing announced today it will sanction a test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, Sept. 3, featuring nine cars from its Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.

The Daytona Prototype teams scheduled to test include defending series champion No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley, No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley, No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara, No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley and the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Porsche Coyote. 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice is scheduled to co-pilot the No. 90.

The GT class teams expected to test include the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3, No. 07 Drinkin’ Mate Pontiac GXP.R, No. 57 BryanMark Financial Pontiac GXP.R and No. 70 SpeedSource Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8.

“We are very excited to have this opportunity to see the performance of our sports cars at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” said Grand-Am President Roger Edmondson. “I look forward to the overall reaction from our participants, fans and media, and determining the future possibility of our series competing at this iconic facility.”

Fans and media are welcome to attend the test to see the teams testing on the F1 and MOTO-GP track configurations. The test will be used to gauge the level of interest of holding a sports car event at the facility among the fans, teams and media.

Additional details of the test will be announced in the near future.

The next Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race will be the Aug. 29 Montreal 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, in Montreal, Quebec (SPEED Live, 2 p.m. ET).

The Northwest Ohio Region welcomed some 250 Soloists to Toledo Express Airport, July 25 – 26, for the Toledo ProSolo, the final Tire Rack® SCCA ProSolo National Series event of the regular season. Though rain soaked the Sam Strano-designed courses on Saturday morning, it didn’t rain on Paul Magee’s Super Challenge parade.

After taking a decisive win in the Race Tire Index category, Magee, of Canton, Ohio, advanced through the Super Challenge bracket in his Rogues-Racing.com KBS Mk4. In the final round, Magee faced off against Michel J Snyder, of Elizabethtown, Pa., in his Street Touring® S prepared SSC Tint & Graphics Honda CRX Si and emerged victorious.

Snyder would not walk away empty handed. In the Honda Tuner Challenge, he faced off against his co-driver, Ian Baker, who edged him by 0.078-second for the STS win. Driving a StranoParts/SSC/Koni Honda CRX, Baker was unable to perform a repeat, and Snyder took the Honda Tuner Challenge win.

As more and more women get into auto racing - and actually do well at it - we are going to see more female-focused sponsors. Attend a NASCAR Sprint Cup race and you’ll see lots of pink - more in the shops than in the stands, however - as many vendors miss the mark on female fans, thinking they’d want pink “versions” of their fan t-shirts and hats rather than show off their “colors”, say in the red/blue of Tony Stewart or the AMP green of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

NASCAR isn’t the only series that is recognizing the correlation between the advancements of the female driver and the increased interest and participation of the female fan. ARCARacing.com announced earlier this week that Pocono will make history - or, “her”story if you will, with the launch of new female-focused sponsors for ARCA driver Alli Owens, one of the few women drivers who has seen success - and support - from fans across the board.

40 Small businesses - either run by women entrepreneurs; having products focused solely on women consumers; or run by women - have become product sponsors for Alli’s already-unique female-driven car. Owens will be one of two women driving at the Pennsylvania ARCA 200 on August 1, 2009.

“This is a new idea for our sport and for ARCA RE/MAX - support from small businesses, who typically could not afford a large sponsorship in any series. But there should be no discount for the ‘passion’ of women in business, like myself,” said Alli Owens. “We are amazingly driven in whatever we do. I’m so happy to be able to promote some of the best small businesses across the country, run by women - since they support the effort of women in racing! As one of my young fans just said last week, ‘You Rock and Girls Rule!’”

“As a team owner, I’m enthusiastic to have support by so many companies for our team,” said DMS team owner Eddie D’Hondt. “It’s a very different way of approaching the business aspect of our sport, but it’s also an innovative way to market. Alli is already unique to the sport, being a woman - her platform of awareness is heightened, and that makes it attractive for a potential sponsor. Her reach is great, and the female consumers drive 85% of the purchasing decisions in a family. We are listening; and we are happy to support women & women-run businesses to complement our full line of great sponsors.”

To view the full list of female-centric sponsors that will be participating in the August 1st event, please visit www.arcaracing.com/news.

Presented by Mazda beginning Saturday, July 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Coverage from The Autobahn Country Club continues on Sunday,
July 26, beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET.

This weekend’s race events are a Mazda triple-header on both
Saturday and Sunday, featuring:

Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered By Mazda
Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear
SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup

The broadcast team for each event will be veteran commentator Rick
Benjamin and legendary race-driver Elliott Forbes Robinson.

WHEN: Saturday, July 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET
Sunday, July 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET

Gil de Ferran and co-driver Simon Pagenaud took the overall win the American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday at Lime Rock Park, as the de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a LMP1 prototype benefited after the Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura prototype suffered a tire puncture with 13 minutes left while leading.

De Ferran and Pagenaud haven’t lost since the St. Petersburg street race in early April. Pagenaud crossed the finish line 43.776 seconds ahead of David Brabham, who co-drove with Scott Sharp.

RESULTS (Finishing position, car number, drivers, car, class finishing position, laps completed)

1. (1) Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Acura ARX-02a (1, P1), 184

2. (2) Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; David Brabham, Australia; Acura ARX-02a (2, P1), 184

3. (6) Johnny Mowlem, England; Stefan Johansson, Sweden; Ginetta-Zytek 09HS (3, P1), 177

4. (4) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Lola B09 86 Mazda (1, P2), 172

5. (10) Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Jorg Bergmeister, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (1, GT2), 167
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Corvette Racing’s two new GT2 entries are officially on the Mid-Ohio entry list. Click here for Hi-Res.

The Acura Sports Car Challenge will officially mark the start of a new era in Corvette Racing with two new Corvette C6.R entries set to debut in the American Le Mans Series’ annual visit to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Wearing the familiar Nos. 3 and 4, cellulosic E85-fueled, V8-powered Corvettes will go head-to-head with Ferrari, Porsche, Panoz, BMW, Ford and Dodge among others throughout the second half of the 2009 season.

Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen will drive one Corvette C6.R at Mid-Ohio with Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin in the other. The team is transitioning to GT2 from GT1 where Magnussen, O’Connell and Antonio Garcia won in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month and gave Corvette Racing its sixth victory in the world’s greatest race since 2001.

“For several years now, the competition in GT2 has been the closest and most competitive among all our classes,” said Scott Atherton, American Le Mans Series President and CEO. “With the news of Corvette Racing’s official entry into the category at Mid-Ohio, the class quite possibly becomes the most diverse and competitive ever. It also serves as another example of the continued growth and success of the American Le Mans Series. Corvette never truly left, but it’s safe to say that they were missed by the countless participants at our Corvette Corrals and fans worldwide. We would like to be the first to officially say, ‘Welcome back!’”

Corvette Racing owns more Series victories (70) than any other entrant. It won eight consecutive GT1 championships (2001-08) against the likes of Ferrari, Saleen, Aston Martin and many other of the world’s top supercars.