Race Debut of No. 60 Porsche Cayman S at Mid-OhioGleason Starts and Finishes Third in Solid First Race Saturday with New Napleton Porsche EffortKevin Gleason and Napleton Porsche hit the podium in their first race together in the Pirelli World Challenge Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course where the No. 60 Napleton Porsche Cayman S both started and finished third in the opening round of this weekends doubleheader on the Buckeye road course.Thanks to the Napleton guys we had a great car today, it was very drivable, very raceable and stayed really consistent throughout the race, Gleason said. Not too many close calls today but it was a learning experience, the GTS class is in the middle, so you have slower Touring cars to pass while the faster GT cars are passing you. You really have to be on top of things and there is an art to driving through traffic and letting traffic by without slowing down too much. I definitely learned a lot.
Gleason never lost sight of pole-sitting race-winner Peter Cunningham or his RealTime Racing Acura TSX teammate Nick Esayian who started and finished second in Saturdays race.
We ran a strong third the entire race, never really had an opportunity to make a move for second, the Acuras drove a great race, Gleason said. A couple of times getting caught up with Touring class traffic, and GT cars coming up from behind, I thought I would get a chance but the gap never closed enough to make a move on them.
The new combination of Napleton Porsche and Gleason is making its Pirelli World Challenge debut at Mid-Ohio but the team and driver are far from new to racing. Gleason and his brother Chris Gleason Jr. won a GRAND-AM Challenge race in an APR Volkswagen GTI in 2011 at Watkins Glen while Napleton Porsche built and at the time maintained the No. 68 Team Hot Wheels Cayman S that Jack Baldwin drove to the GTS victory in April at Long Beach.
Sunday's Pirelli World Challenge race begins at 9:55 a.m. EDT. Live video streaming will be available on .world-challengetv.com starting at 9:50 a.m. EDT, and NBC Sports Network will televise the race at 1:30 p.m. EDT/10:30 a.m. PDT, Saturday, August 25.ABOUT NAPLETON PORSCHE: Napleton Porsche is a performance and competition division of the Chicago-area auto dealership Napleton Porsche of Westmont. An established and full-service racing division and prep shop, Napleton Porsche specializes in amateur and beginner-level competition on up to entry-level and top-tier professional racing series. The performance-focused operation is just one division within Napleton Porsche of Westmont, which is the Ed Napleton Automotive Groups flagship Porsche dealership. A family business that was established in 1931 by their grandfather Edward W. Napleton with a single dealership on Chicagos south side, Ed Napleton and his brothers today own 60 franchises in four states. The Ed Napleton Automotive Group operates 29 of these franchises in 14 locations.
