ACTION EXPRESS RACING FINISHES FIFTH AND SIXTH IN THE LONE STAR LE MANS AT CIRUCIT OF THE AMERICAS

AUSTIN, Texas (September 19, 2015) – Action Express Racing finished fifth and sixth in the Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday afternoon, in what was an eventful and trying afternoon in the teams quest for a second consecutive IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Christian Fittipaldi qualified in the third position, and ran in the top-four for his two stints with the Mustang Sampling Corvette Daytona Prototype. Fittipaldi would give way to co-driver João Barbosa who would get the team to the third position before contact with a GT competitor turned a promising day south.

Barbosa and Fittipaldi’s Action Express Racing teammate Eric Curran started the event from the fifth position and found trouble in the first turn as he would spin avoiding a bottleneck with the front four drivers. Curran was determined to make up for the early snafu, and with the help of his Whelen Engineering Action Express Racing pit crew, got the red and white Corvette DP to the third position.

Curran spent the remainder of his stint fending off a hard charge from the Jordan Taylor before pitting and relinquishing the Whelen/Team Fox Corvette DP to co-driver Dane Cameron.

Like the Mustang Sampling Corvette, Cameron and his Whelen Corvette team would also experience some misfortune after contact with a PC competitor. Cameron would be forced to serve a drive through penalty, resulting in a major loss of track position.

At the end of the two hour and forty minute event, the Whelen Corvette finished fifth, with the Mustang Sampling Corvette in sixth. Team manager Gary Nelson spoke briefly after the event.

“Today was certainly a difficult day for our team,” said Nelson. “We took a hit in our championship efforts, but as a team we’re going to regroup and make every effort to be as strong as we can when we unload at Road Atlanta. Our pit crews executed at a high level in the difficult conditions they were faced with and that’s a huge testament to how hard those guys work to prepare for each and every event.

“At two different points today we were the championship leaders, both cars had the lead at different stages. We’ll go to Road Atlanta and hope that at the end of 10 hours, one of those two cars is the champion. There are two titles on the line at Road Atlanta and we’re going to make every effort as a team to bring them both home.”

The two Action Express Racing Corvette DPs are tied for the second position in the championship standings, trailing by six as the series prepares for the season finale.