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Wright Motorsports' Skeer Pads Points Lead;
Schein Is Also on the Podium
And Kuhlman Clinches Another Masters Title
In Porsche GT3 Cup USA Action at COTA
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 21 - Wright Motorsports' Elliott Skeer celebrated his 21st birthday and moved ever closer to his goal of earning the Platinum drivers' championship in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama series with a second-place finish on Thursday and a third-place finish on Friday at Circuit of the Americas.
Meanwhile, one of his teammates, Kasey Kuhlman of Cincinnati, clinched another Masters' championship in the Platinum class with two Masters class victories and two fifth-place finishes overall with his Kuhlsport #15. His Masters class triumphs were his ninth and tenth of the season so far. He earned the same title at this event last year.
Another Wright Motorsports driver, Michael Schein of New York City, was on the podium on Thursday when he finished third. He followed that up with a strong fourth-place finish on Friday on a very hot weekend that produced a greasy track. Thursday's third-place finish was Schein's third podium of the season.
A fourth driver for the Batavia, Ohio-based team at this 3.4-mile, 20-turn road course, Santiago Creel of Mexico City, Mexico, didn't have good luck on Thursday but he placed a solid eighth on Friday with his UNIFIN EXCORP-sponsored #60 in one of the most competitive battles of the weekend.
Skeer, a rookie from Carlsbad, Calif., leads the overall point standings by 25 points, as he has 241 points to the second-place driver's 216 leading into the last doubleheader of the season this coming weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, Calif. He must finish eighth or better in the last two races to win the title. His #14 is sponsored in part by an IMSA scholarship supported by Porsche and Yokohama; Pelican Replacement Windows, and Town Porsche of Englewood, N.J.
Kuhlman is currently fifth in the overall Platinum drivers' point standings. Schein is right behind him in sixth, and Creel is eighth. Another Wright Motorsports driver, John Goetz, is 15th. He had to miss the races at COTA due to business commitments but he plans to be in action this coming weekend.
Wright Motorsports has a 10-point lead in the team standings, 248 to 238.
Skeer started second on Thursday, while Schein took the green flag in fourth place, Kuhlman in fifth and Creel in sixth. Several cars spun to bring out a full-course caution flag on lap two. Unfortunately Creel was involved in one of the incidents in Turn 11 and retired from the race with left-rear damage.
The green flew again on lap four with Skeer in second, Schein in third and Kuhlman in fourth. There were no more full-course cautions and they remained in those positions until the very last lap of the 45-minute race, lap 18, when Kuhlman dropped one spot after a torrid battle.
Three of the four Wright Motorsports drivers had exactly the same starting positions for the second half of the doubleheader on Friday night, but Creel started seventh. Once again there was a full-course caution on lap two, but luckily this time no Wright Motorsports drivers were involved. The green waved again on lap three with Skeer in third, Schein in fourth, Kuhlman in fifth and Creel in eighth. Creel slipped to ninth on lap five, but he was back in eighth by lap six.
There was no change in any of the Wright Motorsports drivers' positions at the halfway point, and they were still running in those spots when a second full-course yellow waved on lap 14 for a car stopped on the course. That closed things up for the restart on lap 15 with 7 minutes remaining in the race, but the Wright Motorsports drivers remained third, fourth, fifth and eighth, respectively. Kuhlman clinched his second consecutive Masters title with his fifth-place finish.
Live video streaming of the races and more info are available on imsa.com.
Post-race quotes follow:
Elliott Skeer: "It was a good weekend for the team, for sure. There was some stressful racing, but we managed to bring home podiums and some solid points! I have to thank Wright Motorsports for the work this weekend. They really went the extra mile! Onwards to the finale at Rennsport!"
Michael Schein: "It was a good weekend for me at COTA — P3 in the first race and fourth in the second. I'm happy to come away with a good points haul for the weekend. Wright Motorsports gave me a great car for the whole weekend. I'm looking forward to the finale at Laguna."
Kasey Kuhlman: "The heat in Race 1 made it difficult to focus in the second half of the race. I was under pressure the entire race from the 47 car. The combination of heat and pressure made this race more challenging than usual. I was happy to finish in the top five.
"Race 2 into the darkness was unique in it created a continuous challenge in finding and hitting your marks in the transition from setting sun to full darkness. I had another great battle with the 47 car but this time I was able to prevail and secure a top-five finish. It was satisfying to run a solid, clean race and secure the Platinum Masters championship. Now I can go to the final event at Laguna and just let it rip! I need to drive really hard to move up to fourth in the season-ending points championship. That is now my goal."
About Wright Motorsports:
Wright Motorsports is the premier Porsche race engineering facility in Ohio and a multi-series, international racing team known for superb car preparation, expert race strategy and driver development. Located in Batavia, Ohio near Cincinnati, it is owned and directed by John Wright, a certified Porsche factory-trained technician. As a crew chief John Wright has played a key role in winning eight driver and seven team championships in World Challenge, IMSA (ALMS) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series. Wright Motorsports won the team championship in Porsche GT3 Cup USA in 2012 and 2013. In 2014 it had four podium finishes in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. For more information see WrightMotorsports.com and follow it on Facebook and Twitter.