Road
Atlanta PCA Club Race 2004
The Road Atlanta PCA Club Race is one of
the largest races in the southeast, and the competition is always
excellent. Twenty-two GT3 Cup cars qualified in the GTC3 class. Leh
Keen, who finished 2nd at Atlanta last year, led GTC3 and
Group 2 the entire weekend. Group 2 qualifiers had about 3 clean laps
before the track was oiled down by a 993 Supercup. After a lengthy black
flag to clean up the oil, track conditions were better and qualifying
resumed. Rick Longano was shaking down a 2000 Cup car he just bought,
and qualified 8th in GTC3. Just ahead of him was Gary
Pennington, and Steve Johnson sat 5th in class. Leh started
from the pole and led the Group from flag to flag with a convincing win.
Brent Martini, last year’s Grand-Am GT champion, finished 2nd.
However, the tightest race was the one for third in GTC3. At the
beginning of the race, Steve Johnson sat third with Gary right on his
bumper and followed closely by Paul Orwicz, who qualified 2nd.
Fighting through traffic, Pennington was able to slip past Johnson and
take 3rd in GTC3. Steve went on to finish a strong 5th.
Due to the Grand-Am modifications on the
Autometrics Motorsports Cup car, Cory Friedman was forced to run in GTA,
a separate group than the rest of the Supercups. Cory started sixth in
class behind World Challenge Cup cars and GT3 R/RS’s and an RSR
campaigned in the ALMS by J3. Cory’s qualifying time was the fastest
of all the stock-engine Cup cars. After struggling to stay ahead of the
Racer’s Group GT3RS’s in the first few laps, Cory went on to a
comfortable 6th overall and 5th in class.
Our drivers had some exciting races and
excellent results. Three of the top five cars in GTC3 is certainly
admirable and well-deserved. We’d like to congratulate all who
participated and thank them for their continued support.
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