Las Vegas Opening
The Yokohama Drivers Cup USA racing series kicked-off their 2008 season in strong form at Las Vegas Motor Speedway February 16 - 17. “ Our objective is to take every facet of our series this year and raise it to the next level,” explained Greg Franz,
Race Series Director.“This weekend saw the fruits of our off-season improvements. In a word, there is ‘more.’ More partner integration. For example, we will be doing the full fourteen race season with MoTec data acquisition support and training at every event. We will increase the one-on-one interaction from our coaching staff, including our Director of Coaching, Craig Stanton. There will be increased exposure to a variety of tracks to help bring our drivers to the next level. The oval portion of the track here at Las Vegas was a good learning experience. And we will continue to build on one of our founding tenets that we are all about learning in an enjoyable atmosphere.”
“That is what is notable about the Yokohama Drivers Cup series,” said team manager, Jay Jarvis. “There is total team spirit between the series organization, the teams and the drivers. There is open sharing of information and everybody is watching out for each other both on and off the track. There is a high level of competition, and it can get fierce at times, but we do not loose sight of the fact that we are here to learn and enjoy.”
Commented long time team owner Dennis Aase: “I sent an e-mail to all my clients at the beginning of the year telling them about the advantages of this series. In other series, you get maybe three or four hours of track time and that includes coming in on a Tuesday or Wednesday and running the promoter’s test day. You end up away from the office for a week. That is a big chunk of time for business people. Here you start on Friday and in three days you get five and a half hours of track time and you can be back in the office on Monday.”
“This year will continue to see us differentiate ourselves from club level events and offering what no other series does,” said Franz. “We are the transition series in the US between club level events and IMSA Challenge, Rolex GT and the Koni Cup. This is truly a drivers coaching series – for and about the drivers.”
The next races are at California Speedway April 4 – 6, followed by a swing eastward with Mid-Ohio July 11-13, Road America August 1 -3, then a week later at Road Atlanta August 8-10, Miller Motorsports Park September 12-14 and the season ender will be held at Infineon Raceway October 24 – 26.
Yokohama Drivers Cup USA is the premier American racing series that focuses on education and coaching to make its participants competent drivers at all levels. Drivers race their own Porsche GT3 996 and 997 Cup Cars during three day weekends in an enjoyable atmosphere with one-on-one professional coaching and direct help from its technical partners. This unique blend of racing and education produces drivers that enjoy their on-track experience with competence.
