Both CRP Racing and Nissan are excited to be entering a new era with the Nissan GT-Rs in World Challenge. “Nissan is looking forward to partnering with CRP Racing to campaign the Nissan GT-Rs in the 2012 Pirelli World Challenge GT class,” said Ron Stukenberg, Senior Mgr., Motorsports Marketing Communications at Nissan. “Both CRP Racing and the Nissan GT-R have a long history of winning races and we anticipate that success will carry over to the Pirelli World Challenge series.”

Nicholas Short, owner of CRP Racing, agrees. “We’re very happy with this new collaboration between CRP Racing and Nissan North America to develop the Nissan GT-Rs into a race winning package. We now have two great partners in the Hawk Performance Group and Nissan, which will allow CRP Racing to show its true potential as a car builder and a race team.” The Nissan GT-Rs are currently being built at CRP’s Harrisburg, NC, shop.

Hawk Performance Products and Cragar Wheels are owned by Carlisle Companies Inc., a diversified manufacturing company headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Carlisle’s Chairman, President and CEO, Dave Roberts, recently spoke of the CRP/Nissan partnership. “Nicholas Short approached me about teaming with Nissan to run the GT-Rs in World Challenge for the 2012 season. After two successful seasons, with Ron Fellows, Mike Skeen and Patrick Lindsey driving the CRP Racing prepared Hawk and Cragar Corvettes, I told Nick that if he thought the Nissan GT-Rs would provide our drivers the opportunity to compete for a series championship, we would support the change. While we enjoyed competing with the Corvettes, the Nissan GT-Rs provide us the opportunity to attract Performance Sports Import owners to our new and expanding line of Hawk wheels and brakes. Everyone at Carlisle, and especially everyone within our Hawk Performance Products Group, looks forward to the season opener in St. Petersburg on March 24th and 25th.”

Back for the 2012 season is Mike Skeen, who will pilot the #2 Hawk Performance Nissan GT-R. Skeen had an impressive debut in World Challenge, having already scored four wins in the series and finishing third in the Driver’s Championship in his first full season of competition. “I am excited to be back with CRP in World Challenge for 2012,” says Skeen. “Our performance with the Cragar Wheels Corvette was always strong, and hopefully gave the fans something to look forward to at each event. The move to the Hawk Performance Nissan GT-R is an exciting challenge, and I am looking forward to it and have no doubt that we will be successful.” A second driver for the CRP Team will be announced in the near future.

CRP Racing is a leading edge race car engineering company with a winning pedigree that offers full service race car prep, full track set-up, restoration and custom fabrication, and shock, dyno and design services. Owner Nicholas Short has made a career out of motorsports with experience in IndyCar, NASCAR, Trans-Am, Group C Endurance Racing, Baja desert racing, Vintage SVRA and HSR and the World Challenge series.

CRP Racing plans to not only have a winning team, but one that is fan-oriented as well. Updates from the track, videos (including exciting in-car footage), and photos will be posted each race weekend at www.CompetitionRaceParts.com and the CRP Racing Facebook page. The team invites fans to stop by the transporter at all World Challenge races to meet the team and to check out the Hawk Performance Nissan GT-Rs up close.

Sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing and managed by WC Vision, the World Challenge Championship will offer four categories this year – GT, GTS, Touring Car, and Touring Car Spec-B. The series will feature 12 races at eight different venues, beginning with the doubleheader weekend at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg March 23-25, 2012. It promises to be an exciting, fun-filled weekend for all race fans.

Class 1 Buggy #120

Baja 2011 was, well, Baja.  This was the 44th running of the Baja 1000 and we entered two cars.  The number 1803 Kawasaki powered, Hawk Performance Sportsman UTV and the number 120 Chevrolet powered, Black Rock Wheels Class 1 buggy.  We expected big things from both in the race.

This year’s 1000 was the loop configuration of the race course.  The race started in Ensenada and ended back in Ensenada after making the run over the summit, through the San Felipe loop and the trek back to Ensenada on a southern route.

Sportsman UTV #1803

Our driver teams in the UTV consisted of Chris Koch and Shannon Rippe taking the car from the starting line, over the summit to the driver swap location near the military checkpoint in north San Felipe on Highway 5, race mile 210.  At this location, Bob Viau and Steve Rone would get into the car and take it through the San Felipe loop, turning the car over to John McCarthy and Nick Short to drive it across the finish line in Ensenada for the win.

The Class 1 car was started by Todd Romano and Jack McCormick.  They were to take the car over the summit to the driver exchange point at race mile 210.  From there, Mike Skeen and I were to get into the car and take it through the San Felipe loop and then turn the car back over to Todd and Jack to take it back to Ensenada.

The weather two weeks leading up to the race was rainy and wet.  As a result of the weather and four races that were held on the same circuit this year, the San Felipe loop was in the worst condition I have ever seen it.  It was 250 miles of deep whoops.  The only break was the dry lake bed, which was smooth and fast.  Too bad you are only on it for about 20 miles.

Baja 100 Course Map

Half of the team arrived on Saturday night and the second half arrived on Monday morning.  As Mike Skeen and I arrived on Monday morning, we got into the Class 1 pre-runner and headed south to run the course from race mile 320 back into San Felipe.  We decided that Mike should drive since it was his first time at Baja.  Our chase crew headed south in a suburban and met us where we were to head onto the course and filled the fuel cell.  You can never have too much gas in the desert.  Once fueled, we followed the course into one of the river washes.  These washes are narrow, filled with loose sand and covered with very large granite river boulders.   As Mike and I got into the wash we saw a number of motorcycles and cars pre-running the same section.

It is off-road etiquette to stop and make sure everyone is okay when you see a car or bike stopped during the pre-run.  During one of those stops to see if a car and crew were okay, we pulled onto what we thought was hard pan.  As we were pulling away, the rear tires sunk into very fine sand and buried the car up to the floor pan, high centering the car.  Mike tried to drive out to no avail.  It was time to start digging, and digging in this case was with our hands.  It took approximately 2 hours to dig under the tires with the car supported by a Harbor Freight jack.  We gathered up river rock boulders, putting them under the rear tires, and finally got enough traction to drive the car out of the sand.  The remainder of the pre-run went without issue and it didn’t take Mike long to adapt to off-road racing.

Back at the El Cortez Hotel, we decided to have a quick dinner and go out as soon as it got dark to run a northern section of the course, an area along the power lines that is notorious for whoops.  We decided I would drive the car through this section.  This is generally the worst place on the entire race course.   At dark we drove the car through the San Felipe city streets to catch the race course at the San Felipe garbage dump.  We ran this section up to Zoo Road, turned off the course onto Zoo Road and took it back to the paved highway leading back into San Felipe.  Once on the pavement, we decided to run that section of the course again.  We just couldn’t get enough of the whoops. After two runs down that section, we headed back to the hotel to call it a day.

On Tuesday, we ran the northern section from the military check point to the dry lake bed, which was “whooped out” as badly as I have seen it.  It was incredibly rough.  After running the whoops, the dry lake bed and the silt bed, we reached the back side of Zoo Road where it crossed the course headed south.  I decided I had enough and headed back to the hotel.  I had seen everything I wanted to see.  The race course took the same route as the Baja 250 race earlier this year and I was done with pre-running.  Mike, on the other hand, wanted to go run the southern section.  Back at the hotel, Bob Viau said he would ride with Mike through the southern section and off they went about two hours before dark.

Those of us who weren’t pre-running waited at the hotel, had dinner, but quickly began to wonder about Mike and Bob.  The sun had set and it was the typical darkness that befalls the desert.  After waiting for another hour, we decided to drive south on the highway to see if we could reach them on the radio.  Down near the southern end of the course, we saw bright lights about two miles on the horizon coming our way on the pavement.  Finally able to reach them on the radio, we learned that they had decided to return to the hotel rather than run the entire southern section.  Since we were going to be racing it at night, Mike thought it would be good to see, or not see as the case may be, that canyon at night.  Mike and Bob made a wise decision.  There weren’t any cars out pre-running and the last thing you want to do is breakdown or get stuck in one of the washes where a chase truck cannot get to you very easily and you have no communication back to your team.  It makes for very long nights in the desert.  They ran most of the southern section without incident and wisely decided to retire for the night.

On Wednesday, we headed to Ensenada with all of the team drivers to register for the race and put the cars through tech inspection.  Each driver has to go through registration to get his or her wristband.  Without the wristband, if you are injured SCORE will not offer medical help or provide transportation back to the states.  I am not sure if that is truth or myth, but I didn’t want to be the first person to test the theory.

Speaking of medical assistance, we were very lucky to have Dr. Leigh Miller with us this year.  Leigh is dating Jack McCormick and she decided to come down to Baja to provide medical support for the team.  It was very comforting to have a doctor with the group.  The usual assistance is for stomach ailments created by eating or drinking the wrong thing in Mexico, but occasionally someone receives a minor injury.

On Thursday, we took our helmets to tech inspection to get our sticker and then walked though Contingency.  Contingency is where the race cars that did not go through early tech, line up and the crews push their cars through the streets of Ensenada to inspection.  The cars are lined up bumper to bumper with thousands of fans gathering around the cars.  After doing this once, I am not sure why anyone would do it again.  It is one of those events that is fun once, maybe twice, but no more than that.  We quickly walked through contingency, and then looked for a restaurant to have a leisurely lunch.  We went to a restaurant which claimed to have the best taco meat in Ensenada.  The waiter explained the difference of the four different grades of meat available for you tacos.  I liken it to ordering Kobe beef or Grade “A” beef.  As the food was delivered, we noticed it was being walked up the street.  When asked, the restaurant told us their kitchen was closed during the day and they had, my words not theirs, outsourced their kitchen.  The tacos were delivered with two plates per meal, one below and one on top of the meal.  It keeps the flies from feasting on the meal on the way to the sidewalk café.  By the way, it wasn’t Kobe beef!

While we were at contingency, Chris Koch and Shannon Rippe were out pre-running the start of the course with Steve Ford and Colm Gallagher.  This was the first time Steve and Colm had been in Baja and they seemed to truly enjoy the experience.

That afternoon, those of us getting into the race cars when they reached race mile 210, headed back to San Felipe to wait for our turn, which would come Friday afternoon.  After another fine Mexican dinner of Fajitas and Tacos, we went to bed, restlessly tossing and turning, not knowing what the desert would hold for us the next day.  Running Baja is the most unpredictable event I have ever participated in as a driver.

Friday, RACE DAY.  The excitement continues to build as the motorcycles and ATV’s go off a few hours before the rest of the field.  They begin the race by leaving Ensenada at 6:00am, with a bike leaving every 30 seconds followed by the ATV’s departing at the same 30 second interval.

Your starting position is determined by a blind draw.  I am not sure if they actually use a hat, but the name of the “Driver of Record” is placed in a hat.  The blind draw then begins and where your name is drawn determines your position on the starting grid.  Our Sportsman UTV received number 1803 which meant we were the 4^th name drawn from the hat and would be the 4th car off the starting line on race day.  The C1 car had number 120, which meant we were the 21st car selected during the blind draw.  The only disadvantage of having your name drawn late, means the dust is very thick and heavy at the start of the race, reducing your visibility.

After a small breakfast Friday morning, we packed our survival bags.  The bags are packed with snacks, water, matches to light a fire, rags, a first aid kit and a much needed jacket for the nighttime cold.  We also packed our passports, because without them you can’t get back into the US if there is an emergency.

It was now lunchtime and those who were not getting into the cars until late evening ate lunch.  I powered up my laptop and went to www.racetheworld.net.  This web site tracks the location of every race car during the race.  After the bikes and ATV’s, a few hours later the Trophy Trucks are off.  While watching the start on the computer, we noticed that only a few trucks departed the starting line on time.  The others were sitting on the grid.  We learned quickly that “Occupy Ensenada” was underway.  Apparently, a disgruntled Ensenada citizen would rather not have the race take place in his beloved Ensenada.  To prove this point, he pulled a camper onto the track and over turned it.  The race was halted while the trailer was cleared.  We are not sure what exactly happened, but it appeared that all of the Trophy Trucks were sent to the location of the blocked track and the field was started from there after the traffic mess was cleared up.

As we watched the start of the race on the computer, we saw Todd start 20th and begin to quickly pick off cars.  Chris did the same thing in the UTV.  Todd had moved to 6^th on the road and Chris started 4^th but was quickly in the lead.  Very good results at the start of the race and we became very optimistic—the wrong feeling to have only 50 miles into a 1000 mile race.

At about the two hour mark, it was time to depart the hotel and head out to the race course to wait for the race cars to arrive.  The drive was about an hour from the hotel.  Mike Skeen, Bob Viau, Steve Rone and I gathered up our gear and were driven to the race course by Mister Neon.  A gentleman named Ed Everret is Mr. Neon and has helped us at every Baja race we have run.  He knows the countryside and always seems to get to us quickly if we need something.  He also owns the Chevy Suburbans we rent to use as chase trucks.

As we headed to race mile 210, Bob Viau had the race on his iPhone tracking the action.  At one time, Chris was only 10 miles behind Todd in the C1 car.  Todd told us earlier in the week that the early miles of the track were very narrow and technical.  He thought the UTV would be as fast as the C1 car.  He was right.

As we tracked the cars, Todd got to 6th in the C1 car.  A remarkable start considering he started 20th, but we noticed that the car was stopped on track.  Chris continued to stretch the lead on the UTV class as cars headed up the summit.  He reached race mile 110 and stopped.  Without communications with either car, we had no idea what was happening, but at least we knew where they were.  With the 120 car moving again, Mike and I put on our driving gear.  It was another 45 minutes and a call came from car 120.  They were close.  As we were waiting we noticed nine C1 cars along with a few Class 10 cars go by our location.  We knew something was amiss as Todd and Jack gave back some of the positions they had gained.

When the car was about 5 miles out we heard a call on the radio that they needed a spare tire.  A flat tire had cost them the three class positions.   As they arrived at the pit location, Todd and Jack jumped out and Mike and I were in the car.  We decided that Mike would drive the car first and I would navigate.  As we got into the car, there was still no word on 1803.

With a full fuel cell and a new spare mounted on the spare tire rack, we were on our way.  Within a few miles from the pit, Mike was doing some countryside landscaping.  We were knocking down bushes as Mike hunted for the fastest route, all while avoiding spectators.  Once we were out of the congested area, Mike was fast.  We passed a few motorcycles, ATVs, the class 10 cars and the three C1 cars that passed Todd when he had the flat tire.

The going was tough, however.  It was non-stop whoops until we reached the dry lake bed.  What a relief, Mike was running the car at 125mph and we were driving by the navigation system, keeping the car on the long green line on the screen.  “Bring the car slightly right Mike.  Good, stay right there.  We need to come back to the left slightly. Great, hold it right there”.  At 125mph, we ate up the 20 miles of the dry lake bed in no time.

Off the lake bed and into the silt bed we made our way to the Zoo Road intersection.  From there the whoops got bad again.  We knew it would be rough but this was ridiculous.  As we entered Matomi wash, my stomach was beginning to feel the effects of reading the navigation system and looking up at the road to spot obstacles.  About 30 miles from the BFG pit where we were to fuel the car, my stomach could no longer take it.  Thankfully, I had not eaten lunch, but I did have two bottles of water and a small package of Oreo cookies.  The driver and navigator are tied together with a live communication link that has open microphones.  No need to push buttons to talk this way.  I felt sorry for Mike having to listen to me.  Without requesting we slow the car, Mike slowed to a pace where my stomach seemed to be okay.

While my stomach was upset with me for putting it through the past few hours of abuse, the car began to pick up an intermittent engine miss.  It would run at full throttle for a few seconds and then lay down.  It would catch again and run at full throttle then lay down again.  We knew something was wrong but weren’t sure what it was, but were pretty sure it was a fueling problem.

I can’t tell you how happy I was as we neared the BFG pit.  I radioed we were five miles out.  I mentioned the engine problem and asked if there was anyone available to take my place in the car.  A resounding “yes!” came back on the radio.  Two of Todd’s good friends, Hans and Paul Cummins, were there and Paul was willing to get into the car.  Problem was he didn’t have a driver’s suit or helmet.  Fortunately, while slightly taller than I, which isn’t hard for many people, he was about my size.  We got to the pit, Paul put on my driver’s suit and helmet, despite the fact that it was “wet”.  I pulled the dirt skirt off the helmet as it was the most soiled of the garments I was wearing.  I put on Paul’s jeans and made my way to the chase truck.  I needed to sit down in a non-moving object.

With my driver’s suit on and without being able to diagnose the engine problem, Mike and Paul headed off into the darkness.  In the chase truck with John McCormick and Hans, we began our drive out of the wash.  We had about five miles through very rough roads to get to the highway.  The drive wasn’t helping my stomach any, but at least I didn’t have a helmet on and the truck’s power windows were very fast.  We were headed to San Felipe to make sure the C1 car came through the garbage dump before heading further north to meet it again at race mile 210, where another driver switch would take place.

We arrived in San Felipe to wait for the car.  Back in cell phone coverage, I called Bob who was still up at race mile 210 waiting for the 1803 car.  He said they had not heard from the car, but it wasn’t moving.  We sat in San Felipe and began to wonder about the C1 car.  In another call to Bob, he said the C1 car was sitting stationary at race mile 350.  We waited 15 minutes thinking that they may have had a flat tire and were replacing it.  Another call to Bob to learn the car was still sitting.  There was no way to get to Mike and Paul from this side of the race course.  To get to them, we needed to drive more than 50 miles down the highway and Zoo Road to the other side of the race course.  We needed to make radio contact with the C1 car to understand the problem they were having.

We began the drive at approximately 1:00am Saturday morning.  As we got to the southern end of Zoo Road we began radioing the race car.  Finally, as we got to approximately race mile 350 they responded.  They were stuck in silt and couldn’t get the car free.  The best way to get through silt is to bury the throttle, never lifting.  As they were navigating the silt, the engine cut out causing the car to sink in the silt.  They had only gone 30 miles from the BFG pits where I got out of the car.  It was now nearly 2:30am.

After another 30 minutes they had the car free and were moving again.  We again lost radio contact.  Another 30 minutes passed and Paul called to say the engine was cutting out.  They would go a mile or so and have to set and wait for the engine to decide to run again.

Sitting at the southern end of Zoo Road, the only way I had to communicate with Bob Viau was with the satellite phone.  Bob was tracking the race through Nick Short, who was on his laptop back at the hotel—a rudimentary, but effective means of communication. They had learned that the 1803 had a broken steering rack.  Shannon Rippe, the navigator in 1803, attempted to make a temporary repair to the rack with a tie-down strap.  They wanted to get the car to the next Baja pit where they could have the rack welded.  As they tied the rack together with the strap, they didn’t realize they also had a broken brake line.  The rack broke 300 meters from the top of the summit.  They now had 1803 moving again, but as Chris and Shannon began their downward trek they realized they didn’t have brakes.  To get the car stopped, Chris steered it into the side of the mountain.  1803 was out of the race while leading the class.

Now the arduous task of retrieving car and crew began.  Tom Roberts headed up the summit in one of the Mr. Neon rented Suburbans, but the truck was too big and lumbering to make a quick rescue.  The only answer was to send Nick, one of the top technicians from DragonFire and his fiancé, Ashley, to the summit in one of our Teryx pre-runners.  The Teryx was at mile 210 and the race car was out of commission at race mile 110—a monumental task to say the least.

Back in the C1 car, Mike and Paul continued to struggle with the engine. We were able to contact them again and told him to come to race mile 368.  There, they should head across the desert toward us.  Hans and I walked out to the race course with a flashlight and a hand-held radio to direct them to the waiting chase truck.

We heard the engine and saw their lights coming up the track.  Via radio communications, we directed them to turn left and head our way.  Not sure how many of you have spent time in the desert at night, but it is dark.  We told them to head toward me as I was standing in the middle of the road waving my arms.  As they came up at a high rate of speed, I jumped out of the way just as they came to a stop.  It was about eight hours from the time Mike and I got into the car.  Our plan was to run this section in four hours.  When the car reached me, we still had about 100 miles to go just to complete our section.  It had taken eight hours to get this far.  For the 120 car and crew, the race was over for another year.

Using Zoo Road and Highway 5, Mike took the car back to the hotel.  We followed at a distance because we couldn’t drive as fast as the C1 car in the Chevy pickup truck chase vehicle.  While Zoo Road is a graded stone road, it is washboard rough.  On the way back to the hotel in the chase truck, we stopped at a Pemex station to fill the gas tanks.  Jack, Hans, and the rest of the Ensenada-based crew were headed back to Ensenada for what remained of the night and needed fuel to get there.  As John got out of the truck, he called to Hans.  Hans and I got out of the cab to see the front bumper hanging off the truck and nearly dragging on the ground.  Apparently, the roughness of Zoo Road caused the bumper mounting bolts to break though the hard plastic of the bumper.  It is a good thing we stopped for fuel as in a few more miles the bumper would have fallen off and under the truck.

When we got back to the hotel in San Felipe, it was 5:45am.  In Nick’s room, we found him watching the laptop and tracking the progress of the 1803 car as it was being towed off the summit.  They had broken about 4:00pm Friday night and were still not off the mountain.  This is where the survival bag comes in handy.  With water to keep yourself hydrated, a jacket to keep reasonably warm and matches to start a fire, you have a chance of making it through the night in good spirits.  Chris and Shannon built a large bonfire to keep warm which actually served as a marker for the chase crew to find them.

Back at the hotel and now 6:00am on Saturday morning, I decided to get the entire crew out of Baja as early as possible.  I e-mailed our pilots and asked them to have the plane in San Felipe by 8:00am.  When the plane landed, we loaded Bob Viau, John McCarthy, Steve Rone, and me to head to the US.  Chris was on his way and only 27 kilometers from San Felipe when we reached him by cell phone.  We held the plane for him.

Off in the distance, we saw the Mr. Neon white suburban headed up Airport Road.  They decided to abandon the race car and get Chris to the plane. He climbed aboard still wearing his driver’s suit.  Thankfully he had removed his helmet or he may have been confused as the STIG by the large crowds lining the streets.

When flying out of Baja, we stop in Tucson to clear customs.  As Chris disembarked the plane still in his driver’s suit, the US Customs agent gave him a nickname, “Ricky Bobbie”.  It was a nice piece of levity after spending the past 30 hours in the Baja Desert.  We cleared Customs and made our way to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport with the plane returning to San Felipe to pick up the remaining crew members.  The race was over for the Black Rock and Hawk Racing Teams.

This year’s 1000 was the most difficult race in recent memory.  24 Class 1 cars started the race and 5 finished.  SCORE’s premier class, the Trophy Truck had 40 entrants.  Only 10 finished.  Most of the big names in the sport didn’t finish.  Robby Gordon crashed his Trophy Truck at over 100mph on the road to Mike’s Sky Ranch.  Larry Roesler, the driver with the most overall wins at Baja, rolled the Terrible Herbst’s Trophy Truck at Ojos, just 40 miles out of Ensenada.  In the Sportsman UTV class, 9 cars started and none finished.  This year’s track was brutal. I can honestly say this is the first time I didn’t wish I was back in the car 15 minutes after I was out of it.

For Team Black Rock Wheels and Team Hawk, the 2011 edition of the Baja 1000 was a disappointment.  We really thought that we had a chance at class wins in both classes.  It was also a major accomplishment.  For 16 people who have day jobs to go down to Baja and compete in this race is a major accomplishment.  Despite that, it felt good to be back on American soil!

Photo: Don Yaun, SilverEIGHTstudio.com

BRASELTON, Ga. –  Johnny O’Connell, of Flowery Branch, Ga., scored a win in Friday’s Cadillac World Challenge Road Atlanta Grand Prix, the final Round of the 2011 Pirelli World Challenge Championship. Eric Foss, of Dallas, Texas, and Toronto’s Aaron Povoledo won the GTS and Touring Car class races, respectively.

Starting from the pole in his No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, O’Connell got the jump on the GT field at the standing start and sped away on the opening lap. Two separate Touring Car incidents brought out the full course caution as the first lap was completed. But, even after the lap-six restart, O’Connell was never seriously challenged, scoring a 0.901-second victory behind the Volkswagen Golf R safety car over the No. 2 CRP Racing/Cragar Wheels Chevrolet Corvette of Charlotte’s Mike Skeen.

O’Connell completed 29 laps (73.66 miles) of the scheduled 31 laps, in a race that ran against its 50-minute time limit, averaging 88.489 mph.

“You always want to win your home race, and the biggest thing is the accomplishment of the team,” O’Connell said. “We’re improving the car, we still have a lot to learn but I’m so excited about what everyone is doing at Cadillac.”

Skeen started second but got away slowly, allowing O’Connell to comfortably lead the opening lap as the caution came out. O’Connell similarly pulled away after the restart, until lap 14, when Skeen closed the gap in traffic to less than a second. As the lead paid got back to clear track, O’Connell was able to stretch the gap, leaving Skeen all by himself in second. It was Skeen’s sixth podium finish.

“I’m really proud of Cragar and CRP Racing to be back up front again,” Skeen said. “We started second and finished second, it was kind of a boring race as these World Challenge races go. We got close to Johnny a couple of times in traffic, but the Cadillac was just way too strong for us this weekend. Congrats to Johnny and those guys for getting a win here at the end of their first season, but we’ll back next year and go after it then.”

O’Connell’s teammate Andy Pilgrim, of Boca Raton, Fla., won the race-long battle for third with Patrick Lindsey, putting two Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V cars on the podium in the race that their brand sponsored.

“We had a bit of a problem in qualifying and the guys made a massive change to the car for the race,” Pilgrim said. “I’m very, very happy we’ve got such a great crew. They made a big change and it worked, so I got something to work with. I had a good run with Patrick, I had a good run with Eric Curran at the beginning and Randy Pobst. This car almost stalled on the freaking line, so I dropped back to sixth. It was really a fun race. I couldn’t see these guys out front once I got by Patrick, but congratulations to Mike and Johnny. It was a good run, and a great weekend.”

Lindsey brought the No. 12 Hawk Performance Chevrolet Corvette home fourth, giving General Motors a top four sweep. Patrick Long, of Bellaire, Fla., was able to finally get his No. 45 TruSpeed/Privacy Star/EnTrust Porsche 911 GT3 around the similar No. 14 GMG Porsche 911 GT3 of James Sofronas, a move that earned him the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race, to finish fifth.

Long clinched the 2011 Pirelli World Challenge Drivers’ Championship one race ago, and finished the season with 1,327 points. O’Connell’s second win of the season moved him to second in the Championship, with 1,222 points. Skeen finished third, with 1,197 points, followed by Sofronas (1,112) and Pilgrim (968).

Like Long, Porsche clinched the Manufacturers’ Championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and finished with 78 points, followed by Cadillac, with 58, Volvo (31) and Nissan (1).

Today’s Pirelli World Challenge season finale—the Cadillac World Challenge Road Atlanta Grand Prix, will be broadcast Saturday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. on Versus.

Skeen, from Charlotte, N.C., took the lead in his No. 2 Cragar Wheels/CRP on lap 21 with a pass on the outside of turn 10, when he and then-leader Randy Pobst split a slower Touring Car. Skeen used traffic to his advantage to take the lead and earn the Cadillac CTS-V Move of the Race Award. From there, Skeen pulled away for a 4.139-second win, his third of the season.

Skeen averaged 72.459 mph over the 27-lap, 60.426-mile race that was slowed twice for seven laps under caution.

“Winning the race is just awesome,” Skeen said. “We’re really glad to be back in victory circle for CRP Racing. It’s been a while – we had some tough luck at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma. This team really deserves to have a car back up front. “

“We had a really tough race. We qualified well yesterday and Randy [Pobst] just beat us at the end of qualifying. I didn’t have a great start so we dropped back. All of those yellows just made it tough to make a move. We finally had a long run at the end, and got lucky in traffic a couple of times. We split a Touring Car coming down the hill into 10 and got Randy around the outside. I appreciate him giving me room, and I’m happy to be up here.”

Pobst, the polesitter, held on for a second-place finish in the No. 6 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 after leading the opening 20 laps. It was the highest finish of the season, and only the second podium, for the defending GT Drivers’ Champion who has been slowed by assorted issues this season.

“It was a really good race,” Pobst said. “We ran hard, using the all-wheel drive of the S60 Volvo to come off the corners strong. I hung on as long as I could. Mike Skeen did a great job, came up from behind and he and O’Connell were all over me. I’m just happy the K-Pax Volvo ran so well. No issues, the gremlins were gone, and we had a great car the whole time.”

Skeen’s teammate, Patrick Lindsey, was third in the No. 12 Hawk Performance/CRP Chevrolet Corvette. Lindsey moved past James Sofronas’ No. 14 Global Motorsports Group Porsche 911 GT3 on lap 12 restart, then moved into third past Johnny O’Connell’s No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V Coupe on lap 20. Sofronas, trying to keep his slim championship hopes alive, moved back into third position on with two laps to go, but a flat tired slowed him to a tenth-place finish on the final lap.

O’Connell would inherit fourth after Sofronas fell out.

Despite missing round four at Miller Motorsports Park, Long – who has won a number of championships behind the wheel of a Porsche in multiple sports car series – clinched his first Pirelli World Challenge Championship with his finish in the No. 45 Privacy Star/TruSpeed Porsche 911 GT3 with one race remaining.

“It’s a testament to reliability, because we finished every race that we entered, and in the top six at that,” Long said. “I thought after missing Salt Lake, which was the plan all along, I thought it was going to be tough to make it back. And to wrap it up one race early, that’s a testament to the whole team and to the Porsche 911. Our whole focus was knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em, and when to bet big.”

Brown’s GTS class flag-to-flag win in the No. 50 One Hour Heating and Air/Luminox/Kenny Brown Ford Mustang Boss 302S clinched his first career World Challenge title. Brown qualified on the pole, pulled away at the start, and hustled to a 2.713-second margin of victory.

“I started it just like every other and went as hard and as fast as I could at the start,” I watched the guys moving around at the back. Luckily, or unluckily, there was a GT car that stalled and really screwed up the one line. I just put my head down and worked my butt off.”

The Championship is the first for Brown, who wasn’t sure if the funding was available at the start of the season to run for a championship. The team placed together race-to-race deals to make it to every championship round and now sits on top with a one-race cushion to spare.

“I don’t know how to explain it, it’s really surreal,” Brown said. “I’m just shocked.”

Brown finished ahead of Pratt Cole’s No. 96 USA Cares/Western Metal Ford Mustang FR500S after Cole ran second for the entire race.

A pair of RealTime Acura TSX machines followed, with Peter Cunningham’s No. 1 Acura/RealTime Racing Acura TSX completing the podium. Nick Esayian’s No. 34 Acura/RealTime Racing Acura TSX finished fourth.

Cunningham was slowed on the standing start behind a stalled GT car and was as low as fifth in class on lap 16. Esayian fell as far back as seventh before using attrition and a steady climb to earn his 11th career podium finish.

Ben Crosland (No. 25 RacewithRP.com Ford Mustang FR500S) and Eric Foss (No. 73 Traxxas/St. Jude Hospital/SPX Ford Mustang FR500S) each climbed as high as third position during the race, but mechanical problems left them in seventh and sixth at the finish, respectively.

Brad Adams (No. 75 RaceWithRP.com Ford Mustang FR500S) completed the top five.

Aschenbach, the 2006 World Challenge Champion in the GT class, clinched the Touring Car title with his win after beginning the day in the back of the field. Aschenbach started ninth in class in his No. 71 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si after missing qualifying.

By the end of lap one, however, Aschenbach was already in fourth position, a lap that would earn him the Optima Batteries Best Standing Start Award. Trailing only the Volvos of Aaron Povoledo and Robb Holland, and the No. 33 GermanAutoParts.com/Techtonics Volkswagen GTI of Tristan Herbert, Aschenbach settled in to earn as many points as he could.

“The crazy thing was, I couldn’t see the lights because of the way I was staged,” Aschenbach said. “There was a car blocking my view, so my crew chief had to actually call the start for me. I was a little bit late to jump the start, but fortunately everyone else around me was as well. I was headed into turn one, and everyone slowed on the inside of the track and I went to the outside. That was a big part of how I was able to do what I did today.”

Aschenbach moved past the No. 66 K-Pax Racing Volvo C30 of Holland on 17th of the Touring Car class’ 26 laps, then inherited second place when Povoledo’s No. 88 K-Pax Racing Volvo C30 fell out with mechanical difficulties on lap 19.

After Herbert struggled while working through lapped traffic, Aschenbach moved to the bumper of and past Herbert with two laps remaining to take his fifth win of the season and lock up the Championship.

“Winning two championship in consecutive years with Compass360 Racing and Honda is a really good feeling,” Aschenbach said of this championship, and another sports car championship a season ago. “Honda Racing/HPD has been a huge supporter of this program from day one. We knew this program had to be solid from the beginning of the year, all the way back to me actually getting the ride, and I can’t thank [Compass360 Racing team principal] Karl Thompson enough for the opportunity.”

Herbert earned his third-consecutive podium finish, leading on two occasions for 13 total laps. Herbert earned the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the race after taking the lead from Holland on the lap seven restart.

Holland finished third, followed by Patrick Seguin’s No. 80 Theberge Homes/Capsparts.com Honda Civic Si. Tom Lepper finished fifth in the No. 48 Team Cobalt California/Lepper and Associates Chevrolet Cobalt.

The Pirelli World Challenge concludes at Road Atlanta, Sept. 28-30, with the Cadillac Road Atlanta Grand Prix.

For more information, please visit www.world-challenge.com.

Follow World Challenge on Twitter @WCRacing.

Charlotte, NC—as an exciting end to the 2011 season, Mike Skeen will try his hand at off-road desert racing alongside some of his CRP Racing team mates and Carlisle brand partners.  The team will field a Class 1 Unlimited buggy and Sportsman UTV in the 2011 Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, November 17-20^th.

Skeen will co-drive the Black Rock wheels C1 buggy, which will debut a brand new Black Rock beadlock wheel coming to market soon.  The C1 is a tube frame chassis powered by a 700 horsepower GM small block V8 and is capable of speeds over 135 mph across the desert.  The team will also campaign the Hawk Performance UTV, a Kawasaki Teryx-powered vehicle prepared by CRP Racing and running Industrial Tire Products (ITP) tires.

Black Rock is a function-forward line of purpose-designed aluminum wheels, classic steel wheels, and a serious offering of Black Rock ATV tires and wheels.  All Black Rock steel wheels are produced in Southern California.  Offering functional wheel designs for the aftermarket truck, SUV and Jeep enthusiast market, Black Rock features rugged styling and trendy finishes.  The Black Rock Custom Shop offers ready availability of made-to-order custom backspacing, colors, sizes and other custom features.

SCORE International is an off-road sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing and is famous for its flagship event, the Baja 1000. Founded by Mickey Thompson in 1973, SCORE continues today under the direction of Sal Fish and conducts races in the United States and Mexico.  The 2011 Baja 1000 will start and end a 1000k loop in Ensenada, Baja, Mexico.

Justin, Texas—Pinnacle Autosports has announced that Mike Skeen will return to the SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am series for the final event of the 2011 season during the 14^th annual Petit Le Mans weekend at Road Atlanta.  Skeen will pilot the #40 Chevrolet Camaro in the TA2 category as well as his usual #2 Cragar/CRP Racing Corvette in the World Challenge GT series.

“Driving in both series will make the week a bit busier, but I can’t turn down an opportunity to race!” says Skeen.  “I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Gregg and the Pinnacle Autosports team in the past as a driver coach, so I think we will be able to hit the ground running.”

Skeen was the 2010 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year and he currently owns the track record at Road Atlanta—a record that he broke during his series debut in 2009, and then lowered in 2010.  However, this will mark the first time that Skeen has participated in the TA2 class.

Pinnacle Autosports has already had a successful season with two victories in TA2 and multiple Top 5 finishes for TA driver, Doug Harrington.  Look for another strong team performance on Friday, September 30, with the green flag set to fall at 4pm EST.

The #07 The Cool TV Chevrolet Camaro dropped a lap down due to a missed wave-by when following the pace car under an early yellow flag condition.  The team spent most of the race clawing back to a Top 5 finish and scored the fastest GT race lap in the process.

Look for Skeen to join the team again later this season to fill in for Oliver Gavin, who will be busy with his ALMS commitments during the GRAND-AM weekends at Laguna Seca, New Jersey Motorsports Park, Montreal, and Mid-Ohio.

For the second straight day, Skeen started on pole and led start to finish in the No. 2 CRP Racing/Cragar Wheels Chevrolet Corvette. The 29-lap, 71.311-mile race was slowed to an average of 83.129 mph after running the final seven laps under caution.

Skeen, who won the first race of the doubleheader on Saturday, got a jump on second-starting Patrick Long at the standing start and began to pull away. Long’s No. 45 Privacy Star Porsche 911 GT3 gave chase, and when the pair caught the lapped GTS and Touring Car traffic, the lead fluctuated between nearly two seconds and nose-to-tail.

Skeen had opened his lead to more than 1.5 seconds again on lap 23 when the Touring Car No. 33 Brimtek Motorsports Volkwagen GTI of Tristan Herbert began leaking fluids in Turn 5. Herbert spun off the track in Turn 9, as did the Touring Car No. 60 Gila Monster/Zotz Racing Volkswagen Jetta, the No. 75 VooDoo Music/RacewithRP.com Ford Mustang FR500S and the No. 9 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 of Alex Figge.

That caution, and the fluids on the slippery surface, couldn’t be cleaned up before the race’s 50-minute time limit expired, and Skeen led the field behind the safety car to his second win of the season and the weekend.

“Who would’ve thought it? I’m amazed that this CRP Racing Team came back after a tough start to the year,” Skeen said. “It’s really good to get this double victory here at Mosport. We’re going into the summer break and hopefully we can kind of continue this momentum into the second half of the year and finish out strong.

“When we first went yellow I was pretty worried because I felt like we had enough of a gap that we could manage if it stayed green. There was a lot of give and take with traffic. I got caught a couple of times in [turn] five and it really slowed us down, and a couple times I’d gap them with a lucky break, so it went both ways. I was really worried about the yellow at first but then after we saw a bunch of cars off the side of the road and how close we were to the finish, we kind of had the feeling that we were going to finish under yellow.”

Long, who struggled to a fifth place finish after contact on the start in Saturday’s race, missed an opportunity to chase down Skeen for the win, but was happy with the points he earned with the second-place finish.

“In a lot of ways it feels like a win,” Long said. “The Corvettes were in a league of their own this weekend, and quite honestly, I think the Cadillacs were pretty darn good as well. It was about getting a start and putting the pressure on Skeen as much as I could in traffic but I knew it was inevitable, once there was a bit of a break, that we were going to have to maintain second and try to put points between James [Sofronas] and I. Unfortunately, I think he had some fuel issues at the end but that helps us for the championship. There is a lot of competition in this series and I’m glad to be here. Although we missed a race we are going to fight for the Championship to the end.”

Johnny O’Connell earned his second podium finish in as many days with a third-place finish in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. O’Connell was charging towards the leaders at the end of the race, but was denied any opportunity for what-might-have-been.

“We just didn’t have enough for those guys,” O’Connell conceded. “I don’t know whether Porsche found another number on their map switch or what, but they showed dramatic improvement overnight. We had a good car. Actually, we might have even run faster than we did yesterday. If they’d gone green, I think I might have had something, because on clear laps, we were pretty darn close, but it didn’t happen. I’m just stoked for everybody at Cadillac. I mean, we have moved forward. We are five races into this gig and to get on the podium twice this weekend, we’re constantly improving and that’s been our objective all along.”

When the circuit went to full course caution, James Sofronas sat fourth in the No. 14 GMG Porsche 911 GT3. While circulating behind the pace car, the Porsche ran out of fuel before the checkered flag on the final lap, and the slowed car crossed the finish line in seventh position.

Sofronas’ misfortune elevated Jason Daskalos, who started ninth in then No. 7 Dalsin Developments Dodge Viper, to his fourth-consecutive top-four finish. In the midst of the climb through the field, Daskalos earned the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race when he moved past Andy Pilgrim’s No. 8 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V Coupe on lap 11 for fifth position.

Pilgrim would earn his second-consecutive fifth-place finish when he also moved past Sofronas on the final lap.

Sunday’s race squeezed the leading GT Drivers’ Championship contenders even closer together, with Sofronas now leading by just eight points over Long, 626 – 618. Skeen sits just 10 points behind Sofronas after the weekend sweep, followed by Daskalos (561) and O’Connell (537). Porsche leads Cadillac in the Manufacturers’ Championship, 45-18, with Volvo in third with three points.

Like Skeen, Brown started on pole and never looked back in the No. 50 Lucas Oil/K&N Filters Ford Mustang Boss 302S to take his second GTS win of the season and the second of his career. Brown had opened up more than a seven-second lead over Ben Crosland and lead four Mustangs to the top four positions.

Brown’s previous win at Long Beach came during technical inspection after the on-track winner was disqualified, giving the veteran his first chance to stand on the top step of the podium and celebrate.

“This one is official,” Brown said. “This one is pretty good. We came with strong cars. As always, we came prepared. We definitely had some issues and practice and in yesterday’s race and this just feels good. I can’t thank my crew enough. My crew chief wasn’t able to be here, my engineer wasn’t able to be here because of family things, so we had to patch a couple people together with volunteers. Chris Filias stepped in to fill the duty. He’s only 22-years-old and this is only his sixth race. This whole thing feels pretty awesome.”

Crosland followed up a Saturday win in the No. 25 Interbank FX/RacewithRP.com Ford Mustang FR500S with a runner-up finish during Sunday’s Round Six race. The 18-year-old Crosland has now earned a second-place finish or higher during three of the last four races.

Running third for the entire GTS race was Eric Foss in the No. 73 Traxxas/St. Jude Hospital/SPX Ford Mustang FR500S. Foss earned the third-place finish, his fourth podium of the season, driving one of the original cars that first competed in the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge before joining the GTS class of the Pirelli World Challenge this season.

Chris DeSalvo finished fourth in the No. 37 Rehagen Racing/Hawk/BBS Ford Mustang GT after starting the race on the inside of the GTS class second row. DeSalvo held off six-time World Challenge champion Peter Cunningham, driving the No. 1 Acura/RealTime Racing Acura TSX, for fifth place.

Brown, who had fallen out of the GTS Drivers’ Championship lead after Saturday’s race, moved back to the top of the point standings with the win. Brown now leads Foss by 23 points, 684 to 661, followed by Crosland (598), Cunningham (567) and Adams (449). Ford leads Acura in the Manufacturers’ Championship, 58 to 26.

Aschenbach started second in Touring Car driving the No. 71 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si, falling behind Herbert – who earned the Optima Batteries Best Standing Start Award for his first lap – and polesitter Aaron Povoledo in the No. 88 K-Pax Racing Volvo C30 on the first lap. Povoledo was called to pit lane by race officials to serve a stop-and-go penalty for jumping the start, eliminating him from contention and leaving Aschenbach in second.

The 2006 GT Drivers’ Champion dogged Herbert for several laps, followed closely by teammate Brett Sandberg in the No. 70 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si and the No. 81 Durabond Honda Civic Si of Anthony Rapone. Aschenbach finally moved past the Volkswagen and into the lead on the seventh lap of the Touring Car race, earning the Cadillac CTS-V Move of the Race Award and racing home for his fifth career Pirelli World Challenge win.

“What a fantastic weekend,” Aschenbach said. “Any time you can go two for two it’s just amazing. First and foremost I have to say hats off to Compass360 Racing and Honda Racing. This Honda Civic was just awesome all weekend. We knew we had a shot to win; we just really had to get out in front. We just don’t have the power right now to keep up with some of these guys so it’s really focused on handling and corning and that’s what this Honda Civic does so well.”

Sandberg and Rapone continued to battle Herbert, but were unable to get by before Herbert’s mechanical difficulties on the 19th lap of the Touring Car race. Both Rapone and Sandberg narrowly avoided spinning on the slippery track or making contact with Herbert, but squeezed past and finished second and third, respectively.

Rapone earned his second-consecutive runner-up finish in his debut Pirelli World Challenge weekend after winning the Canadian Touring Car Championship a season ago.

Sandberg matched his best career finish and grabbed his second career podium. Eric Meyer finished fourth in the No. 32 XOWii/Samaritan’s Feet/Delvira Mazda RX-8, his highest finish of the season. Meyer started seventh in the Touring Car class.

Povoledo recovered from the penalty at the start to work back through the field and finish fifth. Herbert was classified twelfth in class at the finish.

Devin Cates, in the No. 23 Renn Gruppe Motorsports/Cates Engineering Volkswagen GTI, earned the Sunoco Hard Charger award for finishing eighth in Touring Car after starting at the end of the field.

With the win, Aschenbach extended his Touring Car Drivers’ Championship lead to a commanding 212 point advantage over Povoledo, 771 to 559. Zitza, who finished 13th on Sunday after getting caught on the slick track, is third with 489 points. Robb Holland (462) and Herbert (453) are also in the top five in the championship. Honda leads Volkswagen 49 to 31 in the Manufacturers’ Championship, followed by Volvo (27).

Both rounds of the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Mosport presented by Optima Batteries will air on Versus on Saturday, June 18 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

The Pirelli World Challenge now enters a “summer break” and returns to action with a doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, August 5-7.

For more information, please visit www.world-challenge.com.

Follow World Challenge on Twitter @WCRacing.

BOWMANVILLE, Canada –  Mike Skeen, of Charlotte, N.C., led start to finish overall on Saturday at Mosport International Raceway to capture the Pirelli World Challenge GT win in the Pirelli Grand Prix of Mosport Victoria Day Speedfest Presented by Optima Batteries. Ben Crosland, from Salt Lake City, Utah, earned his first win in the GTS class, while Lawson Aschenbach extended his Touring Car class win with a victory.

Skeen started on pole in the No. 2 CRP/Cragar Wheels Chevrolet Corvette and raced away from the field for a 2.506-second win, his first of the season and second of his Pirelli World Challenge career. Skeen averaged 86.658 mph in the 30-lap, 73.77-mile race shortened to a time-limited 51:04.586 after being slowed one time for a five-lap full-course caution period.

It was the first race win for Skeen since a debut victory in the Corvette a season ago in August at Mid-Ohio, a streak stretching just 5 races. Skeen led the field away from the standing start and was never seriously challenged through the race.

For a while, it appeared that the race could be a sweep by the CRP Corvettes, with Skeen’s teammate Patrick Lindsey – who started second – running just behind Skeen for most of the race. On lap 20, Lindsey suffered a mechanical failure on the front straight, ending his day 10 laps early.

“This is awesome,” Skeen said. “After having a win in my first race last year at Mid-Ohio, it felt like a long time getting back here, almost a year. We were fast all year, but struggling with the car just a little bit and had some bad luck a lot of times. It feels great to have the Cragar Wheels car back up front. I’m sorry my teammate, Patrick Lindsey, couldn’t be with me. He was right there hounding me the whole time, but we’ll get it fixed, get on to race two and see what happens.

“Obviously, this was an ideal day to start P1, lead the whole way and get the win. We’ll try to do that again tomorrow, but it’s a tough day and it looks like we might have rain. We’ve got to go back through the car, make sure everything is good and we’ll be fighting for it tomorrow.”

Lindsey’s bad luck opened the door for then third-running Johnny O’Connell in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. O’Connell gave chase to Skeen, but had to settle for second place at the finish.

The podium finish was the first of the season in the Pirelli World Challenge return for Cadillac Racing. O’Connell matched his best career World Challenge finish in 10 previous starts, following a second place finish at St. Petersburg in 2006. O’Connell also turned the fastest lap of the race in a time of 1:21.215 (108.999 mph) in his pursuit of Skeen.

“I’m very pleased,” O’Connell said. “We haven’t made a mistake all year, but we’ve been slowly improving, getting the car better and this track has always been good to me. I’ve won here seven times in the ALMS. It’s a track that really, yeah, you have to have horsepower, but handling is more important because you have primarily fourth-, fifth- and sixth-gear corners so there’s no accelerations runs. I think we might have had the best-handling car, but we kept getting murdered a little bit up the straightaways. It’s just great for Cadillac and the CTS, because our team has been the first one here every morning and the last one to leave every morning all year long, so to get a result for them is good. It was a great race. I had a good qualifying this morning, I was confident with my car, had a killer launch at the start and Michael (Skeen) was able to open enough of a gap before (Turn) 5 that I couldn’t get a tow.”

Jason Daskalos started eighth in the No. 7 Dalsin Developments Dodge Viper, improving one position to seventh just before the caution period. Steadily improving his pace, Daskalos moved to sixth on lap 18. Another pass on the same lap that Lindsey retired moved Daskalos into fourth, where he was able to move past James Sofronas on lap 21 and into the podium position. It was the third-consecutive podium finish for Daskalos, with a pair of third-place performances now sandwiching a round four win. Daskalos also earned the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race during his climb to third.

“Sheldon Miller, my crew chief, and Matt, my engineer from Dodge, they’re giving me a great car,” Daskalos said. “It’s so easy to drive. Without them, I wouldn’t be up here, so I want to congratulate them and thank them. I’m enjoying it. This is good.”

GT Championship leader Sofronas finished fourth in the No. 14 GMG Porsche 911 GT3, improving from his sixth starting position. Sofronas earned the Optima Batteries Best Standing Start Award for his performance on the opening lap.

O’Connell’s teammate, Andy Pilgrim, drove his No. 8 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V Coupe past Patrick Long’s No. 45 Privacy Star Porsche 911 GT3 on lap 22 to move into fifth position. Pilgrim closed the gap to Sofronas but didn’t get close enough to attempt a pass, settling for fifth and tying his best finish of the season.

Sofronas extends his GT Drivers’ Championship lead to 55 points over Long, 551-496. Daskalos moves into third with 476 points, followed by Skeen (451) and O’Connell (433). Porsche, with 38 points, leads Cadillac (13) in the Manufacturers’ Championship, followed by Volvo (3).

The 18-year-old Adams earned his first Pirelli World Challenge win in his eighth career start after two previous podium finishes in the No. 25 Interbank FX/RacewithRP.com Ford Mustang FR500S.

Crosland started second in the GTS class and fell to fourth early in the race behind polesitter Paul Brown in the No. 50 Lucas Oil/K&N Filters Ford Mustang Boss 302S, Eric Foss (No. 73 Traxxas/St. Jude Hospital/SPX Ford Mustang FR500S), and Alec Udell in the No. 06 Momentum Autosport Chevrolet Camaro. Udell and Crosland moved past Foss on lap five, which became a battle for the lead on lap six when Brown’s motor let go and forced him out of the lead.

Crosland and the 15-year-old Udell ran nose-to-tail for a handful of laps, with Crosland pressuring the even younger driver. Udell ran off course in turn two on lap nine, damaging the front right corner of his Camaro and handing the lead to Crosland.

One lap later, Udell again found some difficulties in turn two and had an even bigger crash in the fast corner, bringing out the caution flag.

After the caution, Foss chased Crosland for several laps before feeling the tires starting to fade and watching Crosland squeeze out a 0.873-second victory.

“We had a poor start,” Crosland allowed. “We were about fourth at the start and then Paul Brown broke down. Then I was on Udell’s tail for a while and then I pressured him into a mistake and he went off and so I was first for a while on kind of a Sunday drive. Then, Foss came up on me and put a lot of pressure on. It was a great battle towards the end. It was a heck of a race with him, but overall, we kept the tires underneath us and got the win. I’m so happy.”

“It all came together this weekend. We’ve had problems in the past and everything came together with no problems. RP Motorsport put together a great car.”

Foss finished second to the rookie, with two more Mustangs following in a four position sweep. Rookies Chris DeSalvo and Brad Adams each matched their best finishes of the season with their third and fourth-place finishes, respectively. DeSalvo’s podium came in the No. 19 Rehagen Racing/Hawk/BBS Ford Mustang GT, while Adams finished fourth in the No. 75 VooDoo Music/RacewithRP.com Ford Mustang FR500S.

Peter Cunningham, making his series-best 200th career start, finished fifth against the muscle cars in his No. 1 Acura/RealTime Racing Acura TSX. The finish was the 136th career top-five finish for the six-time Drivers’ Champion.

Brown’s eventual 11th place finish allows Foss to take over the GTS Drivers’ Championship lead by 43 points, 560 to 517. Cunnigham sits third with 487 points, followed by Crosland (463) and Adams (386). Ford leads the Manufacturers’ Championship over Acura, 48-24.

Aschenbach earned his 3.614-second victory after some early race drama. Starting second in the No. 71 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si, Aschenbach made a mistake in turn 10 and fell all the way to fifth with polesitter Aaron Povoledo leading in the No. 88 K-Pax Racing Volvo C30.

Aschenbach moved around Tristan Herbert’s No. 33 Brimtek Motorsports Volkswagen GTI on the third lap of the Touring Car race and past teammate Brett Sandberg in the No. 70 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si on lap five. Aschenbach then chased the No. 81 Durabond Honda Civic Si of Anthony Rapone for the next 14 laps.

Finally within striking distance of the lead battle between Rapone and Povoledo on lap 19, Aschenbach moved past Rapone and, on the same lap, slid past Povoledo for the lead on the inside of the track’s final corner.

Aschenbach led the last nine laps of the race to earn his second win of the season and fourth in his Pirelli World Challenge career.

“First and foremost, I have to say hats off to Compass360 and Honda Racing/HPD,” Aschenbach said. “We had an awesome car. We knew we were fast here, we knew this would be a good track for us, but there was a big question about whether we had the power to keep up with the other cars. I fell back initially a little bit. I got a little loose in the final corner, it was totally my fault, and I lost a couple spots, but then fortunately I was able to kind of slowly pick people off. It wasn’t really so much I was passing them, except probably Aaron at the end, but everybody else was making a few mistakes and I was able to capitalize on it. At the end, I put a bit of a low-percentage move on Povoledo and I’ve got to thank him for racing clean.”

Rapone, the 2010 Canadian Touring Car champion from nearby Thornhill, finished second on his home track in his World Challenge debut.

Povoledo finished third for his second-consecutive podium finish in the Touring Car class after a win in Round Four at Miller Motorsports Park.

Gary Kwok, another Canadian Touring Car participant making his first appearance in Pirelli World Challenge, finished fourth in the No. 82 Durabond Honda Civic Si. Kwok also earned the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for improving eight positions overall during the race.

Sandberg held on for a fifth-place finish, his best of the season.

Aschenbach extends his Championship lead with the win to 115 points over Povoledo, 604 to 489. Ron Zitza, who recovered from a qualifying crash to scrape together a seventh place finish, is third with 438 points, followed by Herbert (388) and Robb Holland (387). Honda leads Volkswagen, 40 to 31, in the Touring Car Manufacturers’ Championship, followed by Volvo (31).

Round Six of the Pirelli World Challenge Championships will take place on Sunday at Mosport International Raceway.

Both rounds of the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Mosport presented by Optima Batteries will air on Versus on Saturday, June 18 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

For more information, please visit www.world-challenge.com.

Follow World Challenge on Twitter @WCRacing.