Denver, N.C. (28 March 2014) – After two big performances to open the 2014 IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, Action Express Racing has established itself as a title contender in the new TUDOR Championship. The North Carolina-based team not only leads the 2014 overall championship with 67 points, but also sits atop the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) standings.
Action Express leads the No. 10 Corvette DP entry by nine points in the TUDOR Championship. The No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, and Sebastien Bourdais combined to score victory in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona and followed up that effort with a third place result in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
The North American Endurance Cup is a championship within the TUDOR Championship which incorporates the four longest races on the 2014 schedule: the Rolex 24 At Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, 6 Hours of the Glen, and the 10-hour Petit Le Mans event. The team finished second in last year’s inaugural NAEC and is ambitious to go one better this year.
The NAEC utilizes a unique scoring system which awards points to cars based on track position at certain stages of each of the four races. This creates an added twist to the strategy for the team, which has to not only consider the best strategy to win the race, but also the best way to maximize each scoring possibility during the race. With the first two rounds completed, Action Express holds the lead with a one-point advantage over Chip Ganassi Racing.
It will be important for the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette to be running in strong position at both the half-way point and the finish of the Sahlen’s 6 Hours as well as at the 4-hour & 8-hour marks and finish of the Petit Le Mans to maintain its championship lead. Action Express Racing has traditionally run strong at the Glen and targets a third consecutive victory in the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen after having won the historic event in both 2012 and 2013.
“Our goal is always to be running up front,” said Team Manager Gary Nelson. “Our team has delivered two very good results in the first two races which have put us in the position to lead both of these championships. We know that this is a very competitive series and we’ll continue to do what we always do, focus on the next race ahead. The plan is to keep our heads down and continue to work hard.”
Action Express Racing has completed the most laps of any TUDOR Championship team, and is one of only two teams to have finished every race lap so far this season. The No. 5 and No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvettes were two of only three cars to finish on the lead lap in the season-opening Rolex 24 and went on to also have both cars finish on the lead lap in Sebring for a total of 7,125.08 miles of racing.
Further underscoring the hard work and preparation of the team, Action Express has also led more laps than any other team so far this year.
The Action Express Racing squad will be back in action in two weeks as the TUDOR Championship takes to the streets of Long Beach, California for the Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase At Long Beach.