Drissi Quickest on SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series Practice Day at Road America

ELKHART LAKE, June 18, 2010: Defending SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series champion Tomy Drissi returned to the top of the combined speed charts on a day featuring three Trans-Am practice sessions at Road America in preparation for Sunday’s fourth round of the 10-race season. The race is part of the inaugural Bucyrus 200 presented by Menards weekend with the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Drissi, of Hollywood, Calif., posted the fastest lap of the day in the second session this morning at 115.559 mph (2:06.107) in the No. 5 Knight and Day Jaguar XKR. He heads into Sunday’s race sitting second in the championship standings, and has finished on the podium in two of the season’s first two races, including a victory in the 2010 season opener at New Jersey last month. He was second quickest in the day’s final practice session.

“We were just maybe a couple tenths off this last session,” said Drissi. “The track got a little slower with the sun and stuff. That one lap that we did, it felt really good. We’re not going to be out on the track at the same time as we did this morning for that qualifying lap, so will it be the same? It’s supposed to be 10 degrees cooler tomorrow, so I’m really looking forward to qualifying.

“We had a little bit more, even, than that fast lap. Every time I went through a corner, I was like, ‘Oh, there was still more.’ I thought I was pushing, but the car just did it. The RSR guys worked their butts off to get this car going. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. (Tony) Ave has got the lead right now, and our goal is to put it on the pole or the front row and lead the right lap at the end of the race.”

Posting the second-quickest time of the day was Mike Skeen, of Charlotte, N.C. Driving the No. 81 Baker Manufacturing/Next Table Chevrolet Corvette; Skeen turned a best lap at 114.815 mph (2:06.924). His best lap also came in the second session this morning.

“It’s awesome being out here,” Skeen said. “We’ve got a big field, we’ve got the Nationwide guys here and there’s lots of fans already and it’s only Friday afternoon. It’s fun having everybody out here and around and coming by and seeing the car. We’re having a good time. On the track, we’ve had a few issues. Nothing big, but it’s just kind of keeping us from really concentrating on the setup, so we’ve hopefully got a little bit more in the bag once we dial that out. We’re pretty happy with the car. The general setup was good right off the truck, so we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”

Points leader Ave, of Maiden, N.C., was fastest in the final session and third quickest on the day at 114.783 mph (2:06.959) in the No. 4 Tony Ave Racing/Pro Motor Engines Chevrolet Corvette. It’s a busy weekend for Ave, who is also entered to drive the No. 35 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race, and was 15th quickest in Friday’s first Nationwide practice at 105.000 mph (2:18.789). He is looking for his second straight Trans-Am race victory on Sunday.

“It’s going good,” Ave said. “We haven’t run very many laps, one or two laps a session, and I’ve got my hands full with the Nationwide thing. We know we have a good car for here and hopefully we’ll be fast enough for the pole again, but the big thing, obviously, is our race. I think we’re doing okay. We’ve had some little gremlins. We broke a steering rack and we had to fix it, so we just made a quick pass out there to make sure it was okay. Now, we’ll do a little fine tuning and be ready for tomorrow.”

RJ Lopez, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, posted the fourth-quickest lap of the day at 114.410 (2:07.373) in the No. 6 Disco 106/ECR Engines/Goodyear Chevrolet Corvette. Lopez is looking for his fourth consecutive podium result this weekend. Amy Ruman, of Kent, Ohio, completed the top five at 113.803 mph (2:08.052) in the No. 23 McNichols/Goodyear/Cenweld Chevrolet Corvette.

Saturday’s schedule for the Trans-Am Series calls for a driver autograph session beginning at 11 am CDT, followed by qualifying from 1 to 1:30 p.m. CDT. The green flag drops on the race at 1 p.m. CDT on Sunday.