Whelen Engineering Racing Looks To Continue Winning Ways At Road America
Story By: MATT CLEARY / WHELEN ENGINEERING RACING – ELKHART LAKE, WI – After taking their first win of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the most recent round with a victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, 2016 IMSA Champions Eric Curran and Dane Cameron will be looking to complete the Road America hat trick in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R this Sunday (LIVE, FS1 2:30 PM ET).
The duo took victories in the 2015 and 2016 IMSA visits to the fabled 4-mile natural terrain road course, with the 2016 victory helping the duo surge to the IMSA championship last year.
With a strong record of success at the track, the momentum of a breakthrough victory with the all-new Cadillac, and a lot of racing yet to go in the 2017 season, Whelen Engineering Racing is eager to get to Wisconsin this weekend.
Curran is a three-time winner at Road America, joining John Heinricy in taking Rolex Series GT honors in 2011 in the Marsh Racing/Whelen Engineering Corvette.
“Road America is a lot of fun, because it’s an old-school racetrack that’s been around a long time,” Curran said. “It’s a special place. I’ve been racing there a long time and I used to do a lot of testing there for RealTime Racing. Action Express has done very well there. Dane (Cameron) and I won the last two years in the red and white Whelen Corvette DP, and we’re excited to return with our new Whelen Cadillac on that fast, flowing track. Road America is among my top three or four tracks, and I think it will really suit our Cadillac.”
Cameron has his own impressive record at the track, which features some very long straightaways, as well as corners that have names like the Kink, Carousel, and Canada Corner. Cameron has been a factor at the track in a range of machinery for the last five years, scoring his first Prototype pole there and entering the weekend on a tear of big results at the big track.
“Road America really suits the way we like to run our cars and the Action Express team philosophy,” Cameron said. “For me, it’s always been a good place. I’ve won there the last three years (winning in GTD in 2014 with Turner Motorsport), and I was leading there the year before that in a [Team Sahlen] Prototype before it broke with only a few minutes to go. It’s a great track, and it’s always suited me with its long straights and hard braking zones. It’s a ton of fun, and I can’t wait to get back there. Also, my wife’s family is from the Chicago area, so we will have a bunch of people watching us this weekend.”