8/13/2016
Derek DeBoer
Victory in Utah!
TRG-AMR Extends SprintX GTS Championship Lead in Utah
Petaluma, CA (August 16, 2016): The Utah Motorsport Campus has once again proven itself to be a TRG favorite, this time with the Pirelli World Challenge series. The team’s four Aston Martin V8 Vantage drivers saw tremendous success in the SprintX GTS races, with a 1-2 finish on Sunday, a 1st and 3rd place finish on Saturday, and a few hundred more points earned to lead the team championship standings.
The No. 07 car, raced by Max Riddle and Kris Wilson, was extremely active with four races over this sportscar weekend in the hot desert plains. Riddle competed in two GTS rounds and two SprintX races, the new competition format with a driver change midway through the race. This fledgling concept has been extremely successful for both the No. 07 drivers, and for Jason Alexandridis and Derek DeBoer in the No. 09. This weekend, all of them experienced the thrill of victory with TRG at Utah.
Alexandridis/DeBoer, in the BRM Chronographes/Rebounderz Rohnert Park/Racing for Cancer/Pirata Della Strada/Simon Ward Aston Martin V8 Vantage, took 1st in Saturday’s race. Before the driver change window was open, Alexandridis was hot on Riddle’s tail through the front straight, giving Aston Martin fans a thrilling drag-race style competition between these two fierce drivers. A last-minute wheel repair in the pits for the No. 07 car allowed the Alexandridis/DeBoer pair to make up for lost ground for a 1st place win in the SprintX GTS race, while Riddle/Wilson landed in 3rd.
On Sunday’s SprintX race, all four drivers once again lined up in the scorching Utah heat to dominate the GTS class in their V8 Vantages. This time, DeBoer and Wilson took the first stints. The TRG crew shook the gremlins out of Wilson’s car the night before, meaning the No. 07 and No. 09 cars were equally prepared for battle. DeBoer claimed the upper hand in the opening laps of the race, making a couple of confident maneuvers to take an early lead in the class. Wilson maintained a quick pace in the No. 07, which allowed Riddle to take the leading position from Alexandridis after the driver change. DeBoer won Move of the Race, and TRG-AMR earned a fantastic 1-2 finish that afternoon, once again taking over the SprintX GTS podium.
Riddle also competed in two additional GTS races in Utah over the weekend. Though lingering car damage forced him to retire in Saturday’s race, he made up for the lost ground on Sunday in typical Max Riddle fashion. After starting from P12, near the back of the grid, he navigated through the field of cars – on a restart, threading the needle with what seemed like less than an inch to spare on both sides – and finished in P5. His skilled moves were recognized by the series officials, who awarded him with the Hard Charger award for that race.
“Overall, this weekend ended up being really good,” said Max Riddle, post-race. “In SprintX we got a 3rd place and a win! Yesterday we didn’t have the best luck in GTS, but today we had a really good race, I went from 12th to 5th and got the Hard Charger award. I couldn’t be happier with all of the guys at TRG-Aston Martin Racing, the car and crew is awesome. It’s like a big family, and I have the best time here so I’m really happy. We are doing SprintX again – I think we’re going to try and win the championship!”
Alexandridis was excited about his success, but admits it wasn’t an easy ride. “My co-driver put the car in 1st place and brought us into the pits about six seconds ahead of Max and Kris,” he said. “We nailed our driver change. I was ready to go and all of a sudden I got called to move up a pit stall because the crew saw I had a flat tire. It must have taken about 30 seconds to change. It was so hot out there that the car was overheating and went into limp mode and I couldn’t take it to the rev limited. I ended up having to basically short shift every corner which backed me up to 2nd.”
“We managed a lot of adversity,” added DeBoer. “We went a little better than what we had planned – we knew we had an amazing car – the Aston Martin is always amazing and TRG always puts together an amazing car. But, the SIN R1 and Ginettas had been fast all weekend so I was very happy to get it up into first place and get away from them, bring it in with a little bit of a gap for Jason, but the tire thing got us. It put us one step behind, but Jason drove a really great stint. All in all, a 1-2 for the weekend is great.
“I’d like to add that (No. 09 car chief) John Graham is awesome – if it wasn’t for him and Adam noticing the flat, we probably wouldn’t have had the chance to win,” said DeBoer. “Thanks to everybody and all of my partners – BRM Chronographes, Racing for Cancer, Pirata Della Strada, Simon Ward, and of course, a big thumbs up to Mason Gordon!”
“What a great weekend for the TRG boys!” said Kevin Buckler, CEO. “Max and Kris are always so solid, and Max just had a stellar weekend, even with some adversity. We were all so proud of him as he drove like a total pro. Jason and Derek are doing exactly what we expected and coming on strong and challenging for victory towards the end of the season. They were coming in fresh this year. They had never seen many of these tracks, but as soon as they are at a familiar circuit – watch out. Both of them drove A+ this weekend, managed the heat and came home with some great hardware. My hat’s off to all of the team and crew as well as it was a scorcher and everybody did a great job in their respective departments, and with the guests and family members who attended. I am very proud of our team and look forward to our big event at Sonoma.”
TRG-AMR is preparing for their biggest Pirelli World Challenge race of the year at their home track of Sonoma Raceway, September 16-18.
Watch the replay of TRG-AMR’s races on the CBS Sports Network:
GTS: August 21st at 4:00PM ET
SprintX: August 25th at 9:00PM ET
Article Credit: Danielle Crespo
Submitted By: Derek DeBoer
