It’s absolutely true that there is no cure for motorsports. Many have tried to get off our merry-go-round of racing; few have succeeded. The latest driver to succumb to the lures of racing – especially at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – is Jeff Gordon, the NASCAR star who is now working with team owner Rick Hendrick and intending to become his successor at Hendrick Motorsports.
Gordon, 51, who has won the Daytona 500 three times, is a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and was the initial victor of NASCAR’s Brickyard 400, is returning to Indy with IMSA’s Porsche Carrera Cup and is reuniting with crew chief Ray Evernham to present a formidable entry in IMSA-sanctioned Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands race next weekend on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indy road course.
More than 30 Porsche specialists are entered in the race that features Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars. “I’m looking forward to getting back in a race car and competing against a talented field of teams and drivers,” Gordon said. “It’s always special when I get a chance to compete and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ray and I have always talked about running another race together, and we felt like Indy was the perfect place. It’ll be a fun way to spend the [Labor Day] holiday weekend and make some new memories,” Gordon said of the September 2-4 race meeting.
Obviously assigned the No. 24 entry in the invitational class of the Porsche one-make series, Gordon will take part in the second annual Porsche Sports Car Together Fest. Familiar with road courses and, obviously the oval at IMS where he’s recorded five of his 93 Cup Series wins, the hometown hero of nearby Pittsboro, Indiana will be looking to add to his nine road-course victories achieved in NASCAR’s premier Cup Series. Gordon had his first taste of Indy’s road course in a famous “Trading Paint” with then-Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who later became a competitor in NASCAR’s Cup Series.
In 2017, Gordon was part of the Wayne Taylor Racing squad that won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in a Cadillac DPi-V.R., marking the first 24-hour victory for Cadillac. This occurred ten years after Gordon’s first race at Daytona with Wayne Taylor Racing; the team finished third in the 2007 24-hour race.
Opening practice for the two 40-minute Carrera Cup races takes place on Friday, September 2nd, followed by qualifying and Race No. 1 on Saturday, Sept. 3rd. Race No. 2 is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 4th. Live timing and scoring for each session can be found at www.PorscheCarreraCup.us – and on IMSA.TV. ipsa Radio will provide play-by-play commentary.
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