Full Weekend at HSR Atlanta Fall Historics Included Announcement of The Maranello Cup Racing Series; Juan Lopez-Santini and Johnny Gray Triple Sweep
BRASELTON, Georgia (September 21, 2015) – A record nine different drivers won races in three days of competition for The Stuttgart Cup and Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy USA this past weekend at the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Atlanta Fall Historic at Road Atlanta, September 18 – 20.
The pair of Porsche-based racing series stepped into the spotlight in their own run group at Road Atlanta and competitors shined in both The Stuttgart Cup, which is for Caymans and Boxsters, and the Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy USA.
The big winners were Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy drivers Juan Lopez-Santini and Johnny Gray who swept all three of the weekend’s points paying races in their respective classes.
Santini earned overall and 3.8-liter GT3 Cup Trophy class honors in both Saturday sprint races and won his division in Sunday’s featured B.R.M. Chronographes Enduro. The Sunday win was all the more impressive as Santini raced his 901 Shop-prepared No. 810 Porsche 997 to an impressive second-place overall in the full Enduro field of prototype and production-based race cars.
Gray is best known as a winning drag racing competitor but he proved this weekend he has ample road racing skills as well. Gray went three-for-three on the weekend, winning both sprints and his division in the Enduro, in his Orbit Racing No. 31 Porsche GT3 Cup race car that competes in the 4-liter class.
Other multiple race winners at Road Atlanta included Jonathon Ziegelman and Dominique LeQueux. Ziegelman took Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy 3.6-liter class honors in Saturday’s opening sprint and then joined his father, Allan Ziegelman, in taking the Enduro win on Sunday in his KMW Motorsports Porsche 997.
LeQueux closed the gap to The Stuttgart Cup Cayman class points lead with victories in both Saturday sprints at the wheel of his No. 30 MOMO-themed Cayman S prepared by Atlanta-based Goldcrest Motorsports.
Other victorious Stuttgart Cup drivers included Bill Riddell who captured Cayman honors in the Enduro in his No. 05 Racelink Cayman S.
Jack Baldwin, fresh from another winning season in Pirelli World Challenge, brought his GTS-spec No. 73 GTSport Racing Cayman S to Road Atlanta and scored a 3.8-liter class win in Saturday’s first sprint race.
Paul Reisman and his son, John Reisman, combined to score wins in both The Stuttgart Cup and Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy at Road Atlanta racing with Hudson Historics. John Reisman won in The Stuttgart Cup’s Boxster class in their No. 70 Boxster in Saturday’s first sprint before his father stepped up to win in the 3.6-liter Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy class in their No. 71 Porsche 997 in Saturday’s second race.
Other notable podium appearances from the weekend included Jonathon Ziegelman who managed to finish not only first but second as well in the Enduro in the 3.6 class. In addition to his winning co-drive with his father, the younger Ziegelman also co-drove with KMW teammate Linden Burnstein in the No. 917 Porsche 997 Cup race car. Burnstein also finished second in the No. 917 in Saturday’s second sprint.
Terry Gray, Johnny Gray’s wife, also picked up multiple podium runner-up honors behind Lopez-Santini in Mission Foods GT3 Cup 3.8-liter competition. She drove her Orbit Racing No. 60 to second in both sprints and then co-drove with Lonnie Pechnick to take second in class in the Enduro.
Other drivers to reach the podium at Road Atlanta this weekend included Mission Foods GT3 Cup competitors Juan Gonzalez Jr. (901 Shop) and Carmine Reppucci (Gilsdorf Racing) as well as Stuttgart Cup championship contender Rick Stavola (Racelink).
The weekend’s Pirelli Tire Award went to double race winner Jonathon Ziegelman who earned a full set of four Pirelli P Zero racing tires.
Pirelli Tire North America also donated two pairs of tickets to next month’s United States Grand Prix Formula 1 race that were won by Stavola and his fellow Stuttgart Cup competitor Randy Cassling, who races the popular No. 23 “Pink Pig” Cayman S prepared by CARS.
The drawing for the Formula 1 tickets was part of a Saturday night reception at the well-known Lucky Dog Garage, a unique race shop owned by longtime historic and vintage racing competitor Jerry Peters and his wife Lara Peters.
The Lucky Dog reception included the formal announcement by officials from America’s GT Cup of the new racing series, The Maranello Cup, which will showcase previously eligible Ferrari Challenge race cars. The new series, which will follow the same competition format of The Stuttgart Cup and Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy USA, will debut at the Sebring Historics this December in advance of a full season of competition in 2016.
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Contact: Adam Saal, (321) 890-2848 and SaalGoodPR@gmail.com