{"id":1078,"date":"2018-09-09T19:28:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-09T23:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=1078"},"modified":"2023-05-03T15:50:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T19:50:14","slug":"loren-beggs-takes-a-hard-fought-pirelli-trophy-west-usa-victory-at-weathertech-raceway-laguna-seca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/09\/loren-beggs-takes-a-hard-fought-pirelli-trophy-west-usa-victory-at-weathertech-raceway-laguna-seca\/","title":{"rendered":"Loren Beggs Takes a Hard-Fought Pirelli Trophy West USA Victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zuieback (Diamond Masters), McAlister (Platinum), Jaffe (Gold), Bellomo (Silver), and Ely (Bronze) also take victories in the Pirelli Trophy West USA Race 12<\/em>
\nMONTEREY, Calif. (9 September 2018) \u2013 Loren Beggs took his second overall Pirelli Trophy West USA victory of the season in an action-packed Race 12 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s\u00a0event capped off a weekend that saw the series compete as part of the big IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event weekend at the fabled Monterey facility. On a gorgeous Northern California morning, the fans came out in droves to see 35 minutes of hard, clean, Porsche Racing.<\/p>\n

34 cars took the green flag in five classes: three GT3 classes (Diamond\/ Diamond Masters for 2017-18 second-generation Porsche 991 GT3 Cup machines, Platinum Class for 2015-16\u00a0Porsche 991 GT3 Cup cars, and the Gold Class for 2010-2013 997.2 GT3 Cup Cars) and two GT4 classes (Silver Class Porsche Cayman ClubSport GT4 MR and Bronze Class Cayman GT4 Trophy).<\/p>\n

Loren Beggs, driving the No. 08 911 Design Porsche, once again started on the GT3 pole, and immediately had his mirrors filled by\u00a0Saturday\u2019srace winner (and championship leader) Kevin Woods.<\/p>\n

The pair soon distanced themselves from the field, with Woods working as hard as he could to force the veteran Beggs into a mistake. Instead, it was Woods who went off in Turn 5 as he brought out a full course caution following contact with the tire barrier.<\/p>\n

As the field returned to green two laps later, Beggs maintained his advantage over Competition Motorsports\u2019 Sean McAlister all the way to the finish line to claim his second win of the season. It was redemption for Beggs, who spun on the first lap of\u00a0Saturday\u2019s\u00a0race, though he came back through the field to finish second in class.<\/p>\n

In Diamond Masters, Michael Zuieback led Preston Calvert to the green flag, just ahead of Jim Walsh, Doug Baron and Will Tait. Zuieback, driving the No. 2 Discount Tire\/Competition Motorsports Porsche, kept the class train behind him, taking his sixth class win of the season and third overall. Ross Jaffe put his No. 91 TruSpeed Autosport Porsche onto the Gold Class pole and held off\u00a0Saturday\u2019srace winner Ranson Webster for his first series win \u2013 in his first ever Porsche race.<\/p>\n

“After yesterday, this is serious redemption,\u201d said Beggs. \u201cYesterday was not my finest moment, so I am super excited to get this win. I knew we had a good car and if I focused on my race and putting the car where it needed to be, we had him. Everyone at 911 Design worked so hard to refine the setup from yesterday, and it was a perfect car today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a lot of fun,\u201d said Zuieback, leading the Diamond Masters class with six victories. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to race in front of all these fans! It\u2019s a wonderful way to head toward the end of the year. At the start of the season, I didn\u2019t imagine I\u2019d be running for the championship so to have this opportunity, and to be racing this well, is great. I have a great coach in Michael Lewis and a great team in Competition Motorsports, they\u2019ve put me in a great spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We had a good start and I just stuck where I was in the early going,\u201d said McAlister, who has earned 11 of 12 Platinum Class victories this season. \u201cIt was a great race, even with the caution. It\u2019s great to race against guys who know you\u2019re out there and respect each other. It was a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I\u2019d try a bigger, faster race car,\u201d said Jaffe of his move from Lotus Cup to the Porsche series. \u201cThis has been a really fun weekend. The car is great, a very light-feeling race car. And this is a great group of people, I\u2019ve had a wonderful time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black Sheep Racing\u2019s Laura Ely started on the Black Sheep Racing\u2019s Laura Ely started on the GT4 pole, with Chris Bellomo (The Racer\u2019s Group) alongside. Bellomo edged ahead on outside at the green flag but couldn\u2019t hold the position around the outside in Turn 2. The pair once again battled nose-to-tail for the entire race, including a final lap that saw two lead changes and a drag race to the finish. Ely bested Bellomo for the overall and Bronze Class win, with Bellomo taking the Silver Class victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted to qualify well and continue that performance,\u201d said Ely, from Half Moon Bay, Calif. \u201cI got a good gap after the yellow, but he got close toward the end and actually passed me going into Turn 5 on the last lap. But I did an over-under, held my line through Turn 6 and up the hill. Then, there was a spin on the final corner, so we were jockeying for position right to the checkered flag. But the crowd has been amazing. It\u2019s great having fans come by the trailer, asking questions. It\u2019s been great exposure for the series and for Black Sheep Racing. People seem to like our story!\u201d<\/p>\n

“This has been a pretty unique experience,\u201d said Bellomo. \u201cLaura had a good gap on me before the yellow, but I managed that gap a little better when we went back to green. I was right on her bumper til the end, and I actually got ahead in Turn 5. It was pretty tight through the melee in Turn 11, but that was really fun. I\u2019m so lucky to have a great coach (Robert Orcutt), a great team, and a family that\u2019s extremely supportive. This is as competitive as it gets but it\u2019s also really fun. I\u2019m fortunate to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Competent Motorsport’s\u00a0Greg Franz appreciated the support all weekend from IMSA, the racetrack, and the huge numbers of sports car fans who came out to see the racing action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had stand-alone events all season, so to come in and support a high-profile series like IMSA has been great,\u201d said Franz. \u201cAlong with WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, they\u2019ve been great hosts. Our teams and drivers have enjoyed the weekend, the fans have been great, and our guys put on a great show.It\u2019s such a festive feel! And now, we look forward to crowning our champions at the season finale next month at Utah Motorsports Campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also, an honor to be invited to participate in a featured segment on the television show, Mobil 1 on The Grid. Four of our drivers were interviewed sharing their racing background and their experience participating in the Pirelli Trophy West USA series. The production will be aired in October 2018.”
\nThe Pirelli Trophy West USA season finale will take place at Utah Motorsports Campus\u00a0October 19-21. Live timing and scoring for every session can be followed at: \u00a0http:\/\/www.competentmotorsport.com\/index.php\/live-timing\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zuieback (Diamond Masters), McAlister (Platinum), Jaffe (Gold), Bellomo (Silver), and Ely (Bronze) also take victories in the Pirelli Trophy West USA Race 12 MONTEREY, Calif. (9 [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1080,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions\/1080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}