Ian James and the No. 50 Panoz Avezzano GTS leave the Grand Prix of Road America with a two-race streak and a weekend sweep, building on its second-place finish at Lime Rock Park.
Team Panoz Racing’s Ian James followed up yesterday’s first-place finish in PWC GTS/GT4 Championship Round 9 race with a victory in Round 10 today at the Grand Prix of Road America. The weekend sweep showcases the team’s hard work since the Avezzano GTS first raced at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March 2017.
In today’s 50-minute race on the fast 14-turn 4.048-mile Road America circuit, James started P5 based on his quickest lap time of 2:19.895 in yesterday’s Round 9 victory. At the start James immediately moved to P2 in turn one, holding position until an incident on pit row forced a caution. James took over the lead on the lap three restart, the position he would hold throughout the race. While shortened due to incidents, James and the Panoz Avezzano achieved a quick pace and showed strong performance under green. James’ quickest lap today was 2:19.022.
From Team Manager Tom Milner’s point of view, the outstanding performance and results this weekend are a continuation of the improvements and gains from lessons learned at previous races in Virginia, Canada, and Connecticut. The hard work netted a second-place podium at the Grand Prix of Lime Rock Park, the start of Team Panoz Racing’s success streak. The Avezzano’s outstanding pace leading the field in the Round 8 race at Lime Rock before engine failure ended the day also provided a positive glimpse of great things to come heading into the Wisconsin race weekend.
The Avezzano GTS race car is based on the new Panoz Avezzano sports car, the latest street-legal Panoz creation featuring a new fastback configuration, a new-generation aluminum chassis, and an all-new high-performance V8 and manual gearbox. Visit www.panoz.com for more information.
Next up for Team Panoz Racing is PWC GTS/GT4 Rounds 11 and 12 at the Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, Lexington, Ohio, July 28-30 2017. Please visit www.world-challenge.com for the most up to date Pirelli World Challenge information and Motor Trend OnDemand streaming and CBS Sports Network broadcast information. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat for as-it-happens updates.
Honoring Those Who Serve
Team Panoz Racing in a partnership with Hometown Heroes Racing proudly displays the badges of the U.S. Fire, Police and EMS services on the No. 50 Avezzano GTS to honor those who dedicate their lives to serve our nation and protect, defend and save the lives of complete strangers every day. Michael E. Murphy, RN, EMT-P, founded Hometown Heroes Racing in 2014 with the sole focus of building honor and camaraderie amongst first responders and the military.
Quoteboard:
Tom Milner
“We couldn’t have had a better weekend even if we had written the script ourselves. Ian and the team were outstanding all weekend. They perfectly prepared the Avezzano and I could not be more happy and proud of everybody’s effort and hard work. I’m really happy to get the wins and success for the Panoz brand and for Don Panoz, someone who everyone owes thanks for saving sports car racing in North America. We’ll enjoy this weekend, and look forward to working hard and continuing our streak at Mid-Ohio.”
Ian James
“I can’t say enough about the car and the team, and I love racing at this this track. It’s a favorite. Hats off the whole Panoz organization. It’s an absolute pleasure to work with this team. I’m so happy to get the wins for Dr. Panoz. The car just keeps getting better and better, and it was really good today. We ran well until the yellow. It got close on the restart and it’s always fun to race with [Auschenbach], but happy we got the win. I’m looking forward to Mid-Ohio.”
