FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Braselton, GA (Feb 27, 2011)
The Inaugural Race for the US GT Championship sanctioned by the North American Road Racing Association (NARRA) has Viper drivers scratching their heads. Where did these Corvettes come from?
The US GT Championship is an exciting grid of GT class racing cars including Vipers, Porsches, Lambos (Lamborghinis), Ferraris, Corvettes, BMWs. Hosted by North America’s most recognizable TV car guy, Tom Hnatiw, the US GT Series will be produced as web broadcasts and will be shot exclusively with GoPro Cameras. The series will also host coverage of the Dodge Viper Cup on the Versus network. NARRA offers unique and leading edge High-Performance Driving Schools and the Challenge HPDE Series programs along with their Racing Leagues.
The GT race brought out a fury of skilled drivers boasting credentials from World Challenge, Grand-Am, and American LeMans Series with names like Curran, Wittmer, Whelen, and Jackson. By the end, the Vette-Viper Wars had ignited and several local Corvette racers brought the heat.
The Corvette firestorm was led by Reese Cox in the MTI Racing C6R posting a laptime of 1:26.2. With the top 5 cars qualifying within 1 second of each other, Reese knew this was going to be a knife fight. Another note to consider was that the top Viper was a prototype ACR-X built for the American LeMans Series.
With a great jump at the start, the MTI Racing C6R of Reese Cox took the lead into Turn 1, chased by group of really angry Vipers. If snakes had claws, they would have ripped his rear bumper off. As the race goes on, Reese’s Corvette was able to pull away from the Viper of Ben Keating, with Kuno Wittmer hot on Keating’s tail.
When Turn 6 was oiled down by a prior engine failure, Cox and Keating got sideways while the Yellow caution flag waves in desperation to the rest of the field. Here comes controversy. No good race is without controversy. As Cox and Keating go off and come back on the track, Wittmer passes the two front running cars. Did he pass under Yellow or not? The officials were undecided, so the Pace Car picked up Reese as first with Keating as second. When the green flag resumed, officials mistakenly realized that Wittmer passed the pacecar and was shown as 1 lap ahead of the front running cars. Wittmer was given the checkered flag. Controversy? Hmmm….
“The MTI Racing Corvette did awesome today”, says Reese Cox. “I don’t know what happened there during their ruling, but we had a great time, and it was a lot of fun being here”.
The MTI Racing C6R Corvette:
Engine: RHS/MTI Racing LSX engine built in-house by MTI Machine
Suspension: Penske Corvette coilover setup custom-valved by MTI Racing
Transmission: Pfitzner/Keisler Dog Ring Transmission by MTI Racing
Brakes: Brembo Gran Turismo System for Corvette
Exhaust: American Racing Corvette Z06 Headers with modified muffler exits
Wheels: Forgeline Wheels for Corvette
Tires: Hoosier Tires
For more information on road racing Corvette parts, please visit www.MTIRacing.com. To learn more about NARRA visit www.NARRAonline.com.
Here are some of the Corvettes that helped lay the smackdown on the Vipers...
