SHEA RACING CONTINUES TO ADVANCE IN PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIP
Orlando, FL – (August 6, 2013) Shea Holbrook and teammates fought through a series of mechanical difficulties and manic on-track moments at the Pirelli World Challenge double-header weekend during the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Despite these challenges, the Team emerged from the weekend with one top-five and three top-ten finishes, advancing each Shea Racing driver in their respected championship battle.
Photo by Melissa Smith
Jon Miller, driver of the No. 68 Titan Motorsports, loudbasstard, TrueCar Honda Civic Si maintained his fourth place position in the Touring Car Championship as he scored a ninth and sixth place finish and picking up the Optima Batteries Best Start Award for gaining four spots (from ninth to fifth) at the start of race one.
“My tough weekend at Mid-Ohio was definitely a character builder. After qualifying for race one, we decided to put the car on the dyno and discovered we were down on power. Heading into Saturdays race I knew it would be hard to run up front after diagnosing the issue but managed to run a solid race to keep us in fourth place for the championship. Everyone worked hard, but things that we had no control over kept us off our normal pace. I look forward to getting back on track in Sonoma,” said Miller.
Photo by Tiffany Smith
Shea Holbrook, co-owner and driver of the No. 67 Radium, TrueCar, Lucas Oil Honda Fit fought for her sixth top-ten and third top-five finish of the season, capturing a ninth and fifth place finish and moving her up to sixth in the Touring Car B Championship. The 22-car field called for intense competition as Holbrook explained, “I had an incredible first race with teammate P.J. Groenke bumper-to-bumper drafting and working together to chase the front pack down. Some of the best and most fun racing I’ve ever experienced. With a few laps to go I was able to get PJ in the Keyhole (Turn 2) for ninth.”
During race two an incident happened on the first lap in turn four that caused a chain-reaction in the TCB field.
“It all happened so fast that I’m not even really sure what happened. All I know is that I’m thankful I got out of it alive! I had to check-up twice to avoid cars coming back on track and positions were being picked up and lost,” said Holbrook.
Photo by Kiki Okutsu
P.J. Groenke pilot of the No. 66 Mulligan Gold, Tundra Technical Solutions, Verax.ca, Honda Fit took home an an eleventh and twelfth place finish. Groenke ran a close battle with teammate Shea Holbrook in race one but unfortunately got caught up in the first lap pile-up during race two.
“Although Shea and I didn’t finish quite as high up as we would’ve liked in race one, we had a blast working together and battling each other as teammates. I was disappointed with the results from race two. After I got hit on lap one, I went back out and got hit again later in the race but that’s racing.. We suffered quite a bit of damage to the car, but were able to run strong the rest of the race. So considering our two on-track incidents a twelfth place finish felt great,” said Groenke.
Photo by Kiki Okutsu
Brian Fowler in the No. 65 TrueCar, Pulse Protects, Tundra Technical Solutions, Ford Fiesta encountered a mechanical problem causing him to pull into pits early in both races finishing twentieth and nineteenth respectively.
“This was definitely a very humbling experience and I have a lot to learn coming from only driving downforce rear-wheel cars. At Mid-Ohio we encountered a minor issue that set us back but now that we’ve diagnosed and addressed the issue, we can move forward and have higher aspirations for Sonoma,” said Fowler.
Watch onboard footage with Shea Holbrook at Mid-Ohio.
The team heads to the Sonoma Grand Prix August 22nd – 25th for Rounds 11 and 12 with Pirelli World Challenge alongside the IZOD IndyCar Series.
Follow Shea Racing
Events at the Sonoma Grand Prix get underway on Thurs., August 22nd at 9:15 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. pacific time for official testing. Fri., August 23rd at 3:45 p.m. pacific qualifying. Sat., August 24th 2:00 p.m. pacific driver autograph session and Race 1&2 at 4:05 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. pacific.
To follow live timing and scoring of the events click here. Watch live streaming of the races on www.world-challengetv.com
Follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and for more information visit www.shearacing.com.
Watch the Shea Racing Team on TV
Be sure to catch all of the action from the Streets of Toronto and Mid-Ohio on NBC Sports, Sunday, August 18th at 2 p.m. eastern.
Win Shea’s Helmet!
Click here to enter for a chance to win Shea’s Custom Kocher Paint Bell Helmet in benefit of Duchenne muscular dystrophy!
The team and drivers thank their partners for their continued support and look forward to a successful season: Radium, TRUECar, Lucas Oil, Mulligan Gold, Tundra Technical Solutions, Verax.ca, Titan Motorsports, loudbasstard.com, Eibach Springs, CoolShirt, P2R, VisionX Custom Graphics, Hendrick Honda, K&N Filters, Penta Water, OMP, Bell, and E3 Spark Plugs, Momo, Clairhaven Ltd., Martinrea International Inc., TPL Lighting, Warp Speed Computers Inc., Walter D’Andrea Bodyworks, Muhu.mx, ARS Access Restoration Services, Affinity Luxury Car Rentals, Alpha Laboratories Inc., Amsterdam Beer, Confident Paintless Dent Removal, Desson Manufacturing Ltd., Diplomat Trucking Ltd., Eventscape Inc., Payne Capital Corp., Pulse Protects, Pelto Agri Investments, Proprint Services Inc., Ro-Ro Property Management Corp., and 4Print.
