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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GREAT LONG BEACH EVENT DESPITE DNF FOR JCR MOTORSPORTS.
Teams and Sponsors Enjoyed Large Turnout of Fans at LB Grand Prix.
#99 Kenda Tires/RecStuff.com PorscheGT3
Photo by Mark Weber
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LONG BEACH, CA (April 15, 2012) — After limited practice time due to rain, Jeff Courtney and team started the 38th Annual Toyota Grand Prix in 13th position. “I think the lack of preseason testing has us a bit behind as far getting the car and driver where we need to be, but we are gaining ground on it! I was not thrilled with qualifying in 13th but still felt good about the race. The crew did a great job staying on top of everything this weekend,” said Courtney.
Driving the #99 JCR Motorsports/TruSpeed Joint Porsche, Courtney quickly rose to 9th early in the race, when on the back stretch, a yellow flag was thrown as Courtney was passing another car. Race rules state that passing under a yellow flag requires immediately giving the position back or a stop and go penalty will be applied. “Knowing it was questionable whether or not I completed the pass when the flag was thrown, I made the decision to give the position back. Unfortunately, the driver of the Mustang would not take the spot back! I am not sure if he thought it was a double yellow flag or what, but I slowed to almost a full stop frantically waving at him to take the position back. By the time he took the position back, I had lost half a lap to the field.”
Courtney recovered nicely, staying in 9th place and moving to 8th with 4 laps to go. As Courtney was setting up to pass for the position another lapped car pushed wide exiting the hairpin and clipped his right front, breaking the right front wheel and ending the race for Courtney with a DNF and 24th place.
During the post race interview, Courtney shared his thoughts on the day. “Being more of a traditional road course fan, I must admit that Long Beach is my favorite street race! It is a fun track to drive and the event itself was very cool! I had a lot of family and friends at this event so aside from the DNF it was a great weekend!”
TV Broadcast Info: NBC Sports, Sunday, April 29th at 3-4:30PM eastern. Note, time and date subject to change. View live streaming on www.world-challengeTV.com day of race and continuously on demand after races.
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COURTNEY KICKS OFF 2012 SEASON WITH A PAIR OF TOP 10 FINISHES AT ST. PETERSBURG – Great Finishes in the #99 Kenda Tires, RecStuff.com Porsche
 Jeff Courtney. Photo by Richard Prince
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St. Petersburg, FL (March 23, 2012) —Driving the #99 JCR Motorsports/TruSpeed Joint Porsche GT3, Jeff Courtney was back in action at the Opening Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2012 World Challenge Season at St. Petersburg. Courtney scored a 6th place finish Saturday and a 7th place finish on Sunday! “All things considered, I’m pretty happy with those results. Keep in mind that three weeks ago we didn’t even have a car or a team agreement!” said Courtney. Courtney’s JCR Motorsports has teamed with TruSpeed Motorsports to campaign the #99 Kenda Tires/RecStuff.com Porsche.
In an interview, Courtney shared the following relating to the preparation for the race. “The team did a great job preparing the car in such a short timeframe, it really was a great effort by everyone! I was not sure what our expectations should have been coming into this first event – new car, new crew, new crew chief, etc – so it was extremely helpful to be able to pull and compare data with the other TruSpeed drivers, especially since we had zero testing before coming to St. Pete. I am really looking forward to Long Beach and the rest of the 2012 season. Although we only have one event in the books, I feel like my new crew chief, Chris Welch, and I are similar in how we approach things. He seems to be low key but very competitive!”
As expected at St. Petersburg, the opening event was packed with excitement as more than 50 cars hit the street course. As the first event of the season, the 2012 World Challenge Season lived up to expectations. As Courtney reflected on the race, he stated, “We didn't hit the set-up at 100% as we were fighting some frontend push throughout the weekend, but we were competitive and stayed out of trouble and we had a great battle with Tony Gaples in the second half of Sunday’s race. It was great to get back to racing after a long off season.”
Congratulations to TruSpeed teammate Lawson Aschenbach for his victory on Sunday! Lawson had a great weekend and should have been two for two! Other teammates, Justin Marks and Tomy Drissi also had great weekends. Marks was competitive all weekend but unfortunately fell short, due to some bad luck. Drissi had a great 5th place finish on Saturday but suffered a DNF on Sunday.
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KENDA TIRES AND COURTNEY ARE BACK FOR 2012–The streets of St. Petersburg will be the first test for Jeff Courtney's new World Challenge Team
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (March 21, 2012) — Jeff Courtney is back behind the wheel to compete in the 2012 World-Challenge GT Series. While Courtney may be a familiar name to the field, he is in the drivers seat of his own, newly-formed, JCR Motorsports World Challenge GT team. Courtney will be campaigning in the #99 Kenda Tires/RecStuff.com Porsche GT3 Cup car in 2012. Kenda Tires has also agreed to a long-term title sponsorship deal through 2014. “I can’t stress enough how great the realationship has been with Kenda all these years,” said Courtney. "James and Eric Yang along with the whole Kenda family have been great sponsors, colleages and friends for years. We really appreciate their support."
“Its been amazing to see things come together for this new venture in just the last couple of weeks,’ said Courtney”.With only weeks remaining to the first standing start of the season, Courtney found himself without a vehicle to compete, as a pending Viper deal had fallen through. "I really have to thank Rob Morgan at TruSpeed. With only two and half weeks left before the season, Rob was able to help me secure a Championship winning Porsche GT3 Cup car." said Courtney.
"The guys at TruSpeed not only helped secure the car but they helped us during the two week scramble to get the car ready for the race in St. Pete," said Courtney "I have to thank Tyler, Chris and Alex, they came through big-time."
The JCR #99 Kenda Tires/RecStuff.com Porsche will be sharing paddock space, engineering and data with the TruSpeed Motorsports Team and their impressive lineup of drivers: Lawson Aschenbach, Justin Marks and Tomy Drissi.
The opening weekend Pirelli World Challenge races in St. Petersburg will air on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) on April 8th from 4:30–6pm Eastern and will be streamed live online at www.world-challenge.com.
For more information about JCR Motorsports, visit www.jeffcourtneyracing.com or keep up to date through Facebook (Jeff Courtney Racing).
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#99 Kenda/RecStuff.com GMG Porsche
#99 KENDA Tires/JCR Motorsports Dodge Viper ACR-X
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtney and Team Kenda shift gears from Atlanta to Daytona to fight for the Viper Cup Championship
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (October 19, 2011) —
Jeff Courtney, driver of the #99 Kenda Tires/ RecStuff Porsche, wrapped up the 2011 World Challenge season on October 1st at Road Atlanta with a satisfying 8th place finish for the GMG team. “Normally you would never hear me say 8th place is satisfying but considering the dominance of the Cadillac’s and the Corvettes at Road Atlanta, it was really all we had,” said Courtney.
“GMG Motorsports provided me with a great car; I feel I put in a great drive. My race laps were 5/10th of a second off the 2011 World Challenge Champion Patrick Long and 3/10th of a second off GMG team member James Sofronas. If you drive a Porsche, factory driver Patrick Long would be your measuring stick,” said Courtney.
Courtney and the JCR Motorsports Team head to one of the most prestigious race tracks in the U.S., the Daytona International Speedway this weekend; for the final two races of the 2011 Viper Cup season. This is the first time the Dodge Viper Cup will be held at the Florida superspeedway, which features a 3.56 mile sports car course. The chase for the championship is on for the viper racers; Courtney is currently 32 points behind Viper Cup point’s leader Ben Keating and 8 points ahead of AJ Morgan. “It will be very tough to make up 32 points on Ben, but my team and I are heading to Daytona with an all or nothing attitude,” said Courtney.
Catch all of the action of the Daytona race at www.viperheadquarters.com, and set your DVR’s for the VERSUS Daytona Viper Cup broadcast on November 23 & November 24 at 4:30pm EDT.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DODGE Viper Cup Championship to Heat up in Texas Temperatures Expected to Top 100
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (September 1, 2011) — Jeff Courtney, driver of the #99 KENDA Tires/JCR Motorsports Dodge Viper ACR-X is ready to get back behind the wheel of his Viper and is hoping to make a challenge for the championship in the 2011 Dodge Viper Cup series. Courtney heads with his team for the first time to Texas World Speedway.
“I’m looking forward to heading down to Texas,” said Courtney. “I’ve never been there before, so I will need to learn the track quickly to be competitive this weekend.”
It has been about a month that Courtney and the JCR team have been away from Viper racing, and everyone is ready to get back at it, especially with the points race being this close. Courtney is just 22 points behind leader Ben Keating, and at this point it is truly anyone’s race. “It will be tough to challenge Ben at one of his home tracks, but we look forward to the challenge. Every point is crucial if we intend on making a run at this championship.”
Drivers are past the half-way point in the Viper Cup season; this weekend will be Rounds 7 and 8 of the 10-race series. “This is what racing is all about,” said Courtney. “I’m confident in my team and our car, I’m hoping for a great weekend in Texas.”
As the temperatures continue to hover around 100° in Texas, it is looking to be a hot one both on and off the track. Stay tuned to www.jeffcourtneyracing.com for all the latest racing action.
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 #99 KENDA Tires/JCR Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup Car
#99 KENDA Tires/JCR Motorsports
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COURTNEY WALKS AWAY FROM HARD CRASH AT MID-OHIO
Lexington, Ohio (August 6, 2011) — Jeff Courtney had a wild weekend the Pirelli World Challenge Mid-Ohio Grand Prix as driver of the #99 KENDA Tires/RecStuff.com/GMG Porsche GT3 Cup Car. After what looked to be a great start to the weekend, things suddenly changed with a rare mechanical failure with the left front brake line on Saturday’s first half of the weekend double-header. Courtney took a hard crash going into the keyhole turn, eliminating him from both Saturday’s and Sunday’s races.
Things started off well for Courtney and the GMG Racing Team when they got to the track late in the week. “The KENDA/GMG Porsche was pretty competitive right out of the truck,” said Courtney. “The GMG team brought me up to speed pretty quickly and things were progressing well. We were turning very competitive practice times. I was a little disappointed in my qualifying lap, as I lost a half second to my practice times; but I was eager to prove the car in the race.” Courtney qualified for a 10th place start for Saturday’s race.
“I had a good standing start,” said Courtney. “I was starting to feel comfortable and confidant in the car that we were going to pick up more positions and continue to move forward. We had moved up in position and we were running in 8th in lap 20 while heading into the braking zone of the Keyhole turn. As I went to brake, I got that eerie feeling a driver never wants to feel when the pedal pushes all the way to the floor and you realize you have no brakes.” An extremely rare mechanical failure with the left front brake crippled the Porsche GT3.
Courtney tried to spin the car, hoping to scrub some speed off before impact. “I’m not sure I scrubbed any speed as the car was in the air most of the time,” said Courtney. After heavy impact with the wall, and the car twisting in the air, the car came to rest against the outside wall, marking the end of the weekend for Courtney and the #99.
“That was a very hard hit, and I expect to be sore for a while,” said Courtney. “I’m just thankful that I didn’t collect or hurt another competitor. I felt bad for all the KENDA guests there, and all of our supporters, I had wanted to put on a great two days of racing for them. The GMG Team did a great job setting up the car and we were set to be competitive all weekend. The crash was really unfortunate all around.”
Although the crash pulled Courtney out of competition in Mid-Ohio, he fully expects to be back and ready to race at the Infineon Grand Prix, August 26-28. “I will be working on getting my body back ready to race and hopefully James [Sofronas] is working on a new ride for me,” joked Courtney.
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