Shane Lewis Charges to Top-10 in SPEED World Challenge

Shane Lewis Charges to Top-10 in SPEED World Challenge

MONTEREY, Calif., September 6, 2003 – Shane Lewis raced the No. 18 ARC
Racing Mazda Protégé ES 2.0L I4 to seventh in today’s SCCA Pro Racing
Speed Touring Car (ST) class of the Speed World Challenge. Starting 12th
in only his second series start of the year, Lewis piloted the red,
white and yellow front-drive Mazda through the field lapping at some of
the quickest times of any car in the event. The Jupiter,
Florida-resident was plagued by a sticking throttle throughout the
50-minute race, forcing the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) regular to
pick his passing points cautiously. However, he overcame the
difficulties to give the No.18 one of its highest career finishes. Lewis
was enthusiastic about the finish especially after he was involved in
another car’s accident in the fifth-turn of the first lap of his team
debut on August 25th at Road America. 

“It was a lot of fun,” commented Lewis following the race. “We really
struggled at Road America. We had a number of problems and just never
got any laps. Then, we were taken out of the race in the first lap. The
ARC guys have worked their tails off since then and this is a little bit
of a pay-off. I had to work pretty hard out there today. The throttle
stuck pretty much from the start so I had work around that and try and
pick-out my passing points really carefully. We had a better car in the
race than we did all weekend. Everything came together at the right
time. It’s just disappointing that we had the throttle problem. I think
we could have passed about five more cars but the throttle issue just
made the risk too great. I didn’t want to get down there and not be able
to get the throttle back and take-out a bunch of cars.”

Lewis competed in one season of SCCA Speed World Challenge prior to the
two 2003 events. In 1996, he earned three Sports 2 (S2) class victories
in what is widely considered the fastest World Challenge entries to ever
race. 

Shane Lewis is the 1998 Professional Sports Car Racing Rising Star award
winner and is a multiple race winner in IMSA, SCCA Pro and Grand-Am
sanctioned events. He has raced in three 24 Hours of Le Mans, six 24
Hours of Daytona, seven 12 Hours of Sebring and four Petit Le Mans. He
drives the ACEMCO Motorsports Ferrari 360 GT Modena in the ALMS and the
Nuzzo Motorsports Mini Cooper S in Grand-Am Cup.