Endurance will be key for the Southard Motorsports No. 3 Preformed Line Products Lexus Riley
Watkins Glen, NY (June 6, 2007) – The Daytona Prototype cars will do battle on the historic long course at Watkins Glen International Raceway for Round Six of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve. Driving in the No. 3 Preformed Line Products Lexus Riley, for Southard Motorsports, will be Daytona Prototype drivers Shane Lewis and Randy Ruhlman.
The Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen will be the first race, since Homestead, that the Daytona Prototypes and GT cars will run together in the feature race. This will make for heated racing within the classes, but with a long, multiple pit stop race, traffic from the slower GT cars will make things interesting on the historic 11-turn, 3.4-mile long course at Watkins Glen.
“As a team we are looking forward to getting back to endurance racing,” says team owner Steve Southard. “We settle into a rhythm and we are really looking forward to being back on track with the GT cars. It adds an extra dimension to the race. We had issues with the car in the last two races and managed to finish 12th in both. We feel as if we are on a roll coming into this weekend and we are ready to compete at the front of the field.”
Saturday's six-hour feature race follows a weekend full of racing activity. A promoter's test day, on Thursday, is followed by two practice sessions prior to qualifying on Friday. The Saturday, June 9th race begins at 11 a.m. EDT and is scheduled for 6-hours at the 11-turn, 3.4-mile long course at Watkins Glen International Raceway in Watkins Glen, New York. Full coverage of the race begins Live at 11 a.m. EDT and 2:30 p.m. on the SPEED Channel.
The No. 3 Preformed Line Products Daytona Prototype is campaigned by Southard Motorsports of Powell, Ohio. The Riley chassis is powered by Lexus engines with technical expertise by TRD Engineering and carries sponsorship from Preformed Line Products from Mayfield Village, Ohio. Shane Lewis is a four-year veteran of the Southard Motorsports and part of the team's two Grand-Am podium finishes last year. Randy Ruhlman joined the team this year after running last year in Daytona Prototypes and following a successful career in the Trans-Am Series.
Lewis is widely considered one of the sports leading development drivers and has competed in twenty-four 24 Hour Races--nine-times in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, three-times at Le Mans and twice at Nürburgring. Always a fan favorite, Shane Lewis earned two Daytona Prototype podium finishes with Southard Motorsports in 2006, at the Long Beach Grand Prix and Phoenix. He has multiple wins in the Rolex Sports Car Series and Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series and was the 1998 Professional Sports Car Racing Rising Star award winner.
Randy Ruhlman has been a professional driver since 1990 and has extensive racing experience, predominantly in road racing in the Trans-Am Series, as well as in IMSA, ASA and the NASCAR short track series. Last year, Ruhlman drove the No. 40 Preformed Line Products Daytona Prototype for Derhaag Motorsports. Ruhlman was the top American driver in the 2005 Trans-Am Drivers' Championship, holding the points lead throughout the season and scoring a pair of wins--the season opener at the Long Beach Grand Prix and the Cleveland Grand Prix. Ruhlman was named the 2005 BBS "Most Improved Driver of the Year" and makes the record books as fourth in Top Ten finishes in Trans-Am history.
Preformed Line Products (PLP) is an international manufacturer and supplier of hardware and support systems for the communications and energy industries. Products include COYOTE® Fiber Optics and VORTEX® Vibration Dampers used in the telecommunications, cable and energy industries. Manufacturing facilities are located worldwide in the USA, Canada, China, Brazil, Mexico, England, Spain, South Africa, Australia and Thailand.
For further information about the drivers, sponsor, and team, visit the following links:
Southard Motorsports http://www.southardmotorsports.com
Preformed Line Products http://www.preformed.com
Shane Lewis http://www.shanelewis.com
Randy Ruhlman http://www.randyruhlman.com
Grand-Am Series http://www.grand-am.com