SCCA
Paul Gentilozzi Portland preview
Portland, Oregon - Two-time Trans-Am Series champion Paul Gentilozzi is seeking his fourth win in five races, and his second win at Portland, when the Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup returns to Portland International Raceway for the ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Portland, Oregon - Two-time Trans-Am Series champion Paul Gentilozzi is seeking his fourth win in five races, and his second win at Portland, when the Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup returns to Portland International Raceway for the Tommy Bahama 125 on August 3-4. Gentilozzi, driver of the No.3 Johnson Controls/HomeLink Jaguar XKR, scored three consecutive wins at Mosport, Detroit, and Cleveland. Two weeks ago at Sears Point, Gentilozzi stood second on the podium.
Gentilozzi's recent dominance in the series has put him in the lead in the Drivers' Championship point standings where he maintains a 14-point advantage over Brian Simo in second.
Gentilozzi, who won the 1992 Trans-Am race at Portland despite starting 19th because of a pre-race technical penalty, is enthusiastic about the return of Trans-Am competition to Portland.
"This is a great track," said Gentilozzi who has 22 Trans-Am victories to his credit. "It's a very high speed track and you develop a real sense of rhythm. It requires some cunning to set-up the car here because the track conditions can change so much during the race.
"I really liked it even more in the 'old days', before the chicane," revealed Gentilozzi who ranks first in all-time Trans-Am top-five (83) and top-ten (110) finishes, "Fast Five" starts (98), race starts (168), and prize money winnings. "But there's not much grip on the concrete and that creates lots of opportunity for drama. Guys get more careful as the speed increases, but at 35 mph, fools become brave," he said referring to numerous incidents in the chicane.
"You've got to have horsepower here to do well, but it's still very much a handling track. I think that's most critical," explained Gentilozzi who can tie three-time Trans-Am champion Tom Kendall's record for all-time top-three finishes (53) with a podium finish this weekend.
The race also includes a mandatory green flag pit stop, the second of the season. "It's so easy to make a mistake and get a penalty," said Gentilozzi. "So much depends on when you pit, if you elect to change tires, or if there's a caution after you pit. The win here is really up for grabs. "But Portland has really good race fans who understand and appreciate this style of racing and we intend to give them a great show," concluded Gentilozzi.
-RM
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article HPROP: Miss Budweiser Seattle pre-race notes
Next article Laughlin Desert Challenge overall results
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Brian Simo
Tony Stewart Leads NASCAR Cup Drivers To Infineon Raceway
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Tony Stewart Leads NASCAR Cup Drivers To Infineon Raceway
2010 Final standings
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
2010 Final standings
Standings after Phoenix II
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Standings after Phoenix II
Latest news
Marco Bezzecchi not throwing in the towel on MotoGP title fight
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
1 min
Marco Bezzecchi not throwing in the towel on MotoGP title fight
Marco Antonelli: "I saw the champion in Kimi after his Australia crash"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
40 min
Marco Antonelli: "I saw the champion in Kimi after his Australia crash"
Harvick: NASCAR may penalize Hocevar for 'dirtiest of dirty tricks'
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
1 h
Harvick: NASCAR may penalize Hocevar for 'dirtiest of dirty tricks'
Why Honda’s power unit lasted barely five laps in F1 Mexico GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
1 h
Why Honda’s power unit lasted barely five laps in F1 Mexico GP
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe