ORLANDO, Fla.—RSR Motorsports is pleased to welcome young talents Corey Fergus and Kyle Gimple to the team for the 2012 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season. They will co-drive a MINI Cooper S in the Street Tuner class. Gimple, 20, is already a veteran of the series after running in the Grand Sport class last year. Following a solid career in karting, Gimple turned to roadracing and found equal success. In addition to GRAND-AM, Gimple is also a veteran of the Mustang Challenge Series. In 2010, he took one win en route to finishing fifth in the series. The 2012 season will mark Fergus’s series debut, but the 23-year-old will be drawing from his wealth of experience in karting and SCCA. In his inaugural year of roadracing, Fergus took home the SCCA Sports 2000 Regional Series Championship, the Sports 2000 Mid-Ohio Cup Championship, and the SCCA Central Division’s Novice of the Year honors. Fergus had the opportunity to drive the RSR Motorsports MINI during a test at Barber Motorsports Park. “The MINI is definitely different than anything I’ve ever driven!†says Fergus, who carries sponsorship from The Fergus Companies. “It’s the first front wheel drive car I’ve driven. I’m looking forward to driving more of the tracks and getting more seat time. It was a challenge, but I like challenge. It was fun.†Gimple will have his first taste of the MINI during this week’s test at Daytona International Speedway. It will also be the first time that Fergus and Gimple have met each other, though they’ve been in constant contact since they found out they would be co-drivers. “I think it’s going to be a great opportunity,†Gimple says of teaming up with Fergus. “We’re both young and there’s a lot of talent, and with the equipment that RSR supplies I think we have a good chance of earning multiple wins, or even a championship. It’s good to have more young drivers coming into the series.†“We’ve had other young drivers at RSR Motorsports, and we’re always happy to help them in their development,†says team owner Randall Smalley. “We’ve seen other young drivers of ours go on to be front-runners, and we’re looking forward to doing the same for Corey and Kyle. They both already have a lot of accomplishments, and they bring a lot of talent to RSR Motorsports.†“I’m excited to have young drivers that we can help mold into future champions,†says team manager Owen Trinkler. “I’ve been driving for 26 years now, and I take pride in passing on the knowledge that I’ve gained during my racing career. RSR Motorsports builds competitive, experienced drivers, and we look forward to continuing that tradition with Corey and Kyle.†Fergus and Gimple, along with the rest of RSR Motorsports, will get their first taste of racing in 2012 during the GRAND-AM 200 at Daytona on January 27. Keep up with these young guns at RSR Motorsport / RSR Racing. RSR Motorsports is sponsored by Cruise America, Thor Motor Coach, US LED, MINI USA, Pilot/Flying J Travel Centers, Performance Friction Rotors, OS Giken Racing Clutches and Limited Slip Differentials, Midway Ford Truck Sales, Mini North Scottsdale, Performance Speed Tech, and Carbotech Pads.
Very cool, should be interesting to see how the young guys adapt to the MINIs. I'm a little annoyed to see neither the Conti nor Rolex series schedule includes VIR in 2012. The Conti sched had 11 races last year, this year only 10...maybe they'll add VIR back in? They did add Indy though (July 27-29), that should be interesting. I'm sure they'll use the road course configuration built originally for F1 but I wonder whether they'll go clockwise like F1 did or counterclockwise like MotoGP . Also wondering whether they'll use the full oval turn 1 that caused so many problems for F1 or the little infield addition put in to replace that corner for MotoGp around the time F1 backed out. I think I need to post the 2012 schedule and ask Randy a few questions.
I am really sorry to see Lime Rock on the schedule instead of VIR. VIR is a much better fan track and it gets TV coverage.