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TRG Makes Midnight Run to Race in Koni Challenge at Watkins Glen July 6, 2007 -- TRG team management and drivers will blanket the USA's east coast in the dark of night to compete at Watkins Glen International Raceway when the Grand-Am Koni ...

Published: Jul 6, 2007, 3:39 PM

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TRG Makes Midnight Run to Race in Koni Challenge at Watkins Glen

July 6, 2007 -- TRG team management and drivers will blanket the USA's east coast in the dark of night to compete at Watkins Glen International Raceway when the Grand-Am Koni Challenge Series stages Round Eight for the Grand Sport (GS) division on July 7th.

TRG team owner Kevin Buckler, drivers Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly, as well as team engineers and marketing and hospitality staff will be in Daytona Beach, Florida for the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT-class race just prior to the drop of the green flag for the Koni Challenge GS race at Watkins Glen in upstate New York.

TRG will be looking for its third consecutive GT-class win when it fields a three-car effort in the Brumos Porsche 250 At Daytona. The two-and-a-half hour race on Thursday evening is scheduled to start shortly after 8 p.m. with the checkered flag expected to fall near 11 p.m.

To cover the 1,200-miles between the two race venues in time for the Koni Challenge practice on Friday, the TRG group will hustle from aytona International Speedway immediately following the GT race and catch a chartered jet for the overnight trip northward. Arrival in Elmira, New York is expected around 4 a.m., at which time Team TRG will make its way to Watkins Glen and what they plan to be their first Koni Challenge GS win of 2007.

"This is a great opportunity and of course, a huge challenge for us," said Buckler. "The chance to compete in two different races at two different tracks within 48 hours is quite a feat. TRG is totally committed to always doing our best and we'll do whatever it takes to make that happen. We've never had to charter a plane before, but this is the only way we can get to New York by tomorrow morning. I'm so proud of the (Koni) GS guys after hearing that all four cars were running up front today. Maybe I should just stay in Daytona!"

TRG will have a four car lineup for the Koni Challenge race at 'The Glen.'

The No. 39 car for TRG is the Carlsen Porsche/Adam's Polishes/DigiTrust entry of Duncan Ende and Grant Maiman. The pair ran several early season events for TRG with successful outings at Daytona and Homestead-Miami. More recently, the pair led its first race at Lime Rock, but then had setbacks at Mosport and Mid-Ohio. TRG expects Ende and Maiman to return to their race leading form at Watkins Glen.

Driving the No. 40 Carlsen Porsche/CDI/Carrera Design entry for TRG is John Bibbo and Scott Schroeder. This season-long duo has had flashes of speed and brilliance since the beginning, leading the Lime Rock race for quite some time. After having some mechanical gremlins and fighting to a strong 15th place finish at Mosport, the duo rebounded to claim 10th place at Mid-Ohio.

In the third TRG entry, the No. 41 TRG Mitchell Global/Carlsen Porsche 997, will be Andy Lally and teammate Ted Ballou. Ballou and Lally battled to a sixth-place finish at Mosport after Ballou was driven off track by a competitor, but they rebounded to lead the northern California-based team to a strong second-place finish at Mid-Ohio -- making it their third podium for '07.

The final pairing for TRG will be the No. 42 Carlsen/Canada.com/Maxwell Paper of Daniel DiLeo and Pierre Bourque. DiLeo has driven Koni Challenge and Rolex Series entries for TRG, delivering a terrific second-place GT-class finish at Laguna Seca as well as doing much of the team's developmental work. Bourque is a standout in the Canadian Nascar series and put in a strong performance for TRG in this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona.

-credit: trg

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