SAMAX - Lime Rock preview

SAMAX Motorsport will spend the U.S. Memorial Day holiday on track,
competing in the May 29 Rolex Sports Car Series race at Lime Rock Park in
Lakeville, Conn. Mark Greenberg of Boston will join Ryan Hunter-Reay of Boca
Raton, Fla., in the No. 17 SAMAX Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. Father and son
Greg and Mark Wilkins of Toronto will drive the No. 71 SAMAX/ Doncaster
Racing Porsche. 

 

family setup

 

The Wilkins have driven together in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, but Monday's
race will be their first without other co-drivers. Mark Wilkins is gearing
up to race in the Daytona Prototype class starting in late June, but he
quickly accepted the opportunity to race a GT car with his father. Neither
has raced on the 1.54-mile Lime Rock road course, so their first task will
be to find the right car setup for the two-hour 45-minute race.

 

"It's exciting to run with just my dad. I'm confident we can do fairly
well," Mark Wilkins said. "The track is not overly complex, so between the
two of us we should be able to figure out the track and the car. He's a
little bit more conservative; I'm more aggressive. For Daytona, we've always
gone with a fairly conservative setup that's easy to drive for the long
race. We're definitely going to want to set it up more aggressively for the
sprint race."

 

second home

 

Ryan Hunter-Reay mastered the Lime Rock track early in his career. He earned
the first Skip Barber Karting Scholarship in 1988, won the first Skip Barber
Formula Dodge National Championship in 1999, won the 1999 Skip Barber
Formula Dodge Eastern Race Series championship and won his first Barber
Dodge Pro Series race – all at Lime Rock Park.

 

"I've grown up being a Skip Barber driver; I've had a lot of good memories
[at Lime Rock]. It was my home-away-from-home track," he said. "I got all my
most memorable wins coming up through the ranks there. It suits my style,
it's fun. It takes a certain rhythm – I love the uphill and downhill and
everything about it."

 

Despite his past success, Hunter-Reay isn't taking anything for granted.
Although he has notched two podium finishes with SAMAX, he knows the
competition will be tough.

 

"I'm very aware of the speed the [Pontiac] GTOs have, and the Tafel
Porsches. One of the BMW drivers, Bill Auberlen, has a lot of experience and
has been very successful at Lime Rock, as well, so it won't be easy," he
noted. "It will certainly be tough to stay at the front end, but we'll give
it all we have."

 

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Sylvia Proudfoot
HYPERLINK "mailto:sylvia@spurcom.ca"sylvia@spurcom.ca
403 287 3945