Lotus Cup USA Begins a New Era of Lotus Racing at Willow Springs

Rosamond, CA, March 9th, 2011 – The much-anticipated start of the 2011 Lotus Cup USA championship began this past weekend at Willow Springs Raceway. The start of the season meant a new look at grassroots Lotus racing and the direction the series is heading. With beautiful California weather, the Lotus Cup USA enjoyed exciting racing action that came down to the last lap of the feature race.

Jack Fried in his Lotus 2-Eleven took the overall win and 1st in the 2-Eleven class after inheriting the lead from Andy Kern who had mechanical issues and retired early. After, Fried never looked back and held his position for the remainder of the race. Although during the last two laps he was under pressure from Eddie Park and Glen Irani. Park started 4th overall and went on to make a daring pass on Irani mid-race to take over 2nd place and finish 2nd overall and 1st in the Cup Class. Closely behind was Irani, who we expect to see battling Park for class victories throughout the season, coming in 3rd. In the Production class, Robb Bonnano led flag to flag and finished 4th overall. Victor Brandt and Greg Linderer rounded out the top 3.

Each race weekend not only features a race, but also a Time Attack to compete for the fastest lap. In the Time Attack class Andy Kern took top honors overall and in the 2-Eleven class with a time of 1:29.473 followed by Jack Fried. The Cup class also saw a different winner with Glen Irani taking 1st followed by Eddie Park and Roy Sakioka. In Production class, Robb Bonnano once again took the victory with Mike Bryant and Victor Brandt rounding out the podium.

“I’m extremely pleased with the weekend results,” said Series President Jim Navarro. “Great weather coupled with a rainbow of Lotus cars made for a great start to the season."

“We couldn’t be happier with the first event,” said Series Director Robbie Montinola. “Our drivers put on a great show, drove extremely well, and our program overall ran very smoothly. Thank you to our sponsors, drivers, friends and family. We look forward to Round 2 at Firebird.”

In addition to the Lotus Cup USA championship, the Lotus Evora Experience kicked off at Willow Springs where a dozen VIP guests got to experience the all-new Evora in a variety of ways including track driving. The weekend also featured the Redline Pro Time Attack, Circuit Battles TV show, and MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Challenge. Giving racing fans a wide variety of motorsports action throughout the weekend.

The series shifts to Arizona for Round 2 at Firebird International Raceway on April 9th and 10th. Registration is now open. For more information about the Lotus Cup USA championship, please visit Lotus Cup USA :: The Official Racing Series for Lotus Enthusiasts.

Lotus Cup USA Sponsors: Lotus Cars (Title Sponsor), Hankook Tires USA (Official Tire), Dietsch Werks, Dynamic Racing Solutions, and Mulholland Motorsports.

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About Lotus Cup USA
Lotus Cup USA features an exciting mix of time attack and wheel-to-wheel racing for Lotus enthusiasts throughout North America. Officially factoy backed by Lotus Cars, Lotus Cup USA participants will enjoy competing on the best racetracks in the country through professionally run motorsports events for awards, prizes, and, of course, bragging rights. The highly competitive series features multiple classes racing together for action everywhere on the racetrack, as well as a VIP Client Experience and Driving Academy for the new track enthusiast. Lotus Cup USA is licensed to 777 Racing, Inc, a Nevada Corporation, by Lotus Group UK.

ROUND 1 RACE RESULTS

POS SP PIC CAR # DRIVER CLASS DIFF BEST TIME
1 2 1 211 Jack Fried 2-Eleven 1:31.140
2 4 1 411 Ed Park Cup 0.461 1:31.102
3 3 2 010 Glen Irani Cup 0.634 1:31.111
4 5 1 608 Robb Bonnano Production 22.963 1:33.612
5 6 3 123 Roy Sakioka Cup 49.137 1:34.983
6 7 4 171 Mike Bryant Cup 50.798 1:35.727
7 8 2 14 Victor Brandt Production 59.4 1:36.038
8 9 3 012 Greg Lindhurt Production 1 Lap 1:42.846
9 10 4 1 Jim Navarro Production 7 Laps 1:47.630
10 1 2 919 Andy Kern 2-Eleven 8 Laps 1:33.276
11 - 5 913 Peter Mokran Production - -

ROUND 1 TIME ATTACK RESULTS

POS PIC CAR # DRIVER CLASS BEST TIME
1 1 919 Andy Kern 2-Eleven 1:29.473
2 2 211 Jack Fried 2-Eleven 1:30.466
3 1 010 Glen Irani Cup 1:30.806
4 2 608 Ed Park Cup 1:31.190
5 1 373 Robb Bonnano Production 1:34.087
6 3 123 Roy Sakioka Cup 1:34.169
7 2 171 Mike Bryant Production 1:36.577
8 3 014 Victor Brandt Production 1:37.364
9 4 012 Greg Lindhurt Production 1:39.240
10 5 777 Sandy Sanford Production 1:49.949
11 6 747 Carole Ferraud Production 1:50.338
12 7 805 April Craven Production 1:50.872
13 8 001 Jim Navarro Production DNS
14 9 097 Ramon Nibela Production DNS
15 10 913 Peter Mokran Production DNS
16 11 075 Julio Ramos Production DNS