Grand-Am

Millville: TRG preview

TRG Ready for First Visit to New Jersey Motorsports Park No. 65 Porsche PETALUMA, Calif. - The second-to-last race of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 will also be the inaugural visit to Thunderbolt ...

Published: Aug 27, 2008, 10:09 PM

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TRG Ready for First Visit to New Jersey Motorsports Park

No. 65 Porsche PETALUMA, Calif. - The second-to-last race of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 will also be the inaugural visit to Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park and TRG will field a GT-class leading four Porsches in Sunday's Supercar Life 250.

While TRG drivers Tim George Jr. and Ted Ballou head into the weekend at or near the top of the MESCO Building for the Future Rookie of the Year standings and the Bob Akin Award standings for the top sportsman driver in the GT class, it will be a huge weekend for TRG driver RJ Valentine, who has an ownership stake in New Jersey Motorsports Park. Look for TRG to pull out all the stops this weekend in an effort to return to Victory Lane.

"This is going to be a really big weekend for RJ and I'd love it if he and Bryan Sellers were able to get the No. 68 Porsche to Victory Lane in the first race at Thunderbolt Raceway," said TRG owner Kevin Buckler. "That being said, I'd be ecstatic if we can win with any one of our Porsches. With this being a new facility, it's somewhat difficult to know what we can expect from the race. With RJ on our team, however, I'd like to think we have a little bit of a 'home field' advantage."

George currently leads the Bob Akin Award standings and is within reach of the Rookie of the Year points lead with just two races remaining on the calendar heading into the Supercar Life 250. He will join forces once again with co-driver Andy Lally in the No. 67 TRG Porsche GT3. George and Lally have finished inside the top 10 in both of their starts since being paired in the No. 67 machine, topped by a best result of third at Barber Motorsports Park last month. Overall, George has finished in the top 10 in eight of his 11 starts thus far, while Lally-a three-time Rolex Series champion-has posted top-10 results in five of his six Rolex Series starts this season.

Ballou, meanwhile, is currently second to George in the Bob Akin Award standings and is third in the Rookie of the Year point standings. He will once again team with Spencer Pumpelly in the No. 66 Mitchell Rubber Porsche GT3 at Thunderbolt Raceway. In their two starts together thus far this season, Ballou and Pumpelly own a best result of fifth at Barber Motorsports Park. In total, Ballou and Pumpelly have both finished inside the top 10 in seven races this season.

Valentine and Sellers will make their seventh start of the season together in the No. 68 CRG/Maxter/Rotax/MBA Group/F1 Air Porsche GT3. Both drivers have one top-five result this season as Sellers claimed a third-place result in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, while Valentine finished fourth in the twice-around-the-clock season-opener. Valentine is also currently fifth in the Bob Akin Award standings.

Sharing the No. 65 Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing/Total-R Insulation Solutions Porsche GT3 for TRG Riegel Autosport will be Craig Stanton and John Potter. Stanton, the 2005 Rolex Series GT champion, has finished inside the top 10 in five of his seven starts since joining TRG in May, topped by a best result of fifth at Mid-Ohio in June. He will share the No. 65 Porsche with Potter for the first time since the duo claimed a 13th-place result at Lime Rock Park in May.

"We have a great lineup in all the cars," commented Kevin Buckler. "I am pleased to have John Potter, who did such a great job in his first race at Lime Rock, back with Craig in the Riegel Autosport No. 65 car. The 66, 67 and 68 guys are all ready. This is going to be a good weekend for us. Let's get it going."

After a promoter test day on Thursday, August 28, the weekend schedule gets underway in earnest on Friday, August 29 with several practice sessions. The schedule on Saturday, August 30 will begin with a practice session, but will also include qualifying from 2:15 to 2:30 p.m. ET for the GT class.

-credit: trg

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