Andy Priaulx will spend his birthday on Friday at the picturesque Road America track in Elkhart Lake. This will be yet another new adventure for the BMW Team RLL driver, who is lying third in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship driver points along with his American team-mate, Bill Auberlen. This is the sixth round for the GTLM class in which Andy’s black number 55 BMW Z4 GTLM competes. As usual, the white number 56 sister car will be driven by Germany’s Dirk Muller and America’s John Edwards.
Looking forward to the race, Andy said: "Recently the new challenges have been coming thick and fast, and I am again heading to unknown territory. If Road America lives up to its reputation then I am in for another real treat. I seem to have coped pretty well with learning the new tracks, and so will do my usual by arriving a day early and getting to know it well before we head out for the first free practice. With all four classes on track for this race things will be busy again, but as Road America is four miles long, as compared to the Indianapolis and Toronto tracks that were only two and a half, hopefully the race won't be quite as busy for us. Even though Bill and myself are now third in the points, we are still in reach of the leaders as regards the points, so we have everything to play for at this race as well as in the three after that."
The track itself its was built in 1955 because of the need for a permanent circuit after racing on the public roads round Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin was banned. Over the years a lot of money has been spent on developing the 640 acre park-like grounds, but the track itself has not changed. It is 4.048 miles long and has 14 turns. It is based midway between Milwaukee and Green Bay.
The first USCC free practice will be on Friday (8th August) from 16.40 to 17.40. On Saturday there will be two further sessions from 09.15 to 10.15 and 15.10 to 16.10. Qualifying for the GTLM class is from 16.40 to 16.55. On Sunday there will be a 20 minute warm-up from 09.05, and then the 2hrs 45 mins long race, known as the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase, will start at 13.15. All these times are local, which is five hours behind BST.
2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Calendar
23rd to 26th January - Daytona International Speedway
12th to 15th March - Sebring International Raceway
11th to 12th April – Long Beach Street Circuit
3rd to 4th May – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
30th to 31st May – Detroit Belle Isle – No Class for GTLM
6th to 7th June – Kansas Speedway – No Class for GTLM
27th to 29th June – Watkins Glen International
12th to 13th July – Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
24th to 25th July – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
8th to 10th August – Road America
23rd to 24th August – Virginia International Raceway
19th to 20th September – Circuit of the Americas
1st to 4th October – Road Atlanta
