(Kansas City, Kansas) — Fans always ask how a team is enjoying the “off-season,” that time between the last race of the year and beginning of the next.
For Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge champions Compass360 Racing (C360R), the answer is: there is no off-season!
Exactly one month after the CTSCC season finale at Lime Rock Park, C360R’s Honda Civic Si’s will be back on track for Grand-Am’s test at Kansas Motor Speedway. The team will field two cars at the event, and are the sole Street Tuner entrants for the event.
“We’ve got a bunch of great drivers coming to Kansas, and we’re really excited to be at the facility for the first time,” remarked Team Principal Karl Thomson. “I think us being the only ST team here will give us a leg up on the competition when we come to race here in August 2013. It looks like a great facility and an exciting track and I know our guys are thrilled to be there.”
Ohio’s Ray Mason returns to the team for his third season in 2013, and he’ll be driving the #74 Columbus Truck / HPD entry with Jayson Clunie (hailing from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), who steps into a C360R Honda after having a solid rookie season at the helm of an iMoto MazdaSpeed3. Joining them will be Grand-Am regular Eric Foss, a long-time friend of the team and a shoe who’s run in the 2012 Rolex GT and World Challenge GTS series.
The #77 car also will see an interesting driver line-up, which includes former Champ Car pilot “Speedy” Dan Clarke, who comes to the team having just won the 2012 Cayman Intercontinental Trophy Cup championship. He’ll be joined by former open-wheel and drifting star Jeff Westphal, who impressed in his run in CTSCC with Insight Racing earlier in the season.
“The Kansas test is a great opportunity for our team to get some valuable data on a new track, one that we will be racing at for the first time in 2013,” noted Technical Director Ray Lee. “We’ve also got a chance to evaluate some new drivers, so having four new guys testing with us is fantastic as we set our driver line-ups for next season.”
“It’s clear the level of competition in ST keeps getting higher and higher,” said Thomson. “As always we’re looking to put the best multi-car driver line-ups together so that we can win Driver, Team and Manufacturer championships like we did in 2009 and 2010. The series is so tremendously tight now that tests like this are really beneficial.”
Fans are welcome to attend the Kansas City test. For details visit http://grand-am.com.
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