The Quicksilver IMSA GT of Brian Wong had a successful long week at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. 

The paddock was crowded with the Indy and American Le Mans cars taking top billing amongst the weekend racing action.  The IMSA GT series was relegated to racing both of its weekend races on Friday in order to accommodate practice and qualifying track times for the world famous Indy and ALMS races.

Race #1 reflected Brian starting 2nd in his class of the two class field. His qualifying time was 2nd best the day before, allowing his best starting position yet in his short season.  At the start of the race, he was held up by a car in front that bottled up turn 1 and Brian immediately slipped back.  The 30 minute race found him catching up and finishing in 3rd place.  While disappointed, a podium is not a bad finish.

The weather was hot and humid, a typical Mid West summer day.  So racing twice in one day was a bit of a chore for some of the drivers, but not Brian.  The starting grid for race #2 that day was based on your lap time in race #1. Again, the same circumstances found Brian starting 2nd and immediately falling behind due to overzealous starts by competitors.  In a better race, he methodically recovered again and brought his Quicksilver GT3 Cup car to a 2nd place finish.

Brian also was awarded the BBS Award for Race #1 as the driver who had the fastest lap in the race.  Recognition that he is fast and that his team with Aasco know how to engineer their cars.

The IMSA press release followed race winner, Tony Rivera with its view of Brian’s  battle for 2nd place.

Behind Rivera in the Gold Cup class Brian Wong, Newport Beach, Calif., and Melanie Snow, Pleasant Grove, Utah, had a great battle early on before Wong stretched his lead half way through the 30-minute race.

“He had a great run,” Snow said. “I left him room and he just went by.”

Comments by observers, at the end of the race:

“you need to build a room addition for all the trophy’s he’s winning”
“for a kid in a series of mature, veteran drivers, he’s done amazingly well”
“can he race an entire season and not have to go to school?”
“is he really only 19?”
“what’s next for Brian?”

Please note that none of the above quotes came from his parents or friends!

Brian was quoted on the victory stand, thanking Dennis Aase and his crew with Aasco Motorsports and his sponsor, Quicksilver.  Off camera, he thanks his good friends, Evan Miller and Harry Tully for being with him in fun filled Columbus, Ohio.  Both Evan and Harry are photography fans and loved taking the action photos at Brian’s races.  Next goal is to get Evan his press credentials so he can wear the fluorescent photography vest!

Being in Ohio for 11 days was very good to Brian Wong.  He claimed a win in the USA Driver’s Cup and a 2nd and 3rd in the IMSA Challenge by Michelin. 

For official information, please see (http://www.imsaracing.net/newgt3.cfm)

Photos of the Utah race are now posted. See Brian’s appearance on the podium. He’s not old enough to consume alcohol, so he’s spraying it on his competitors!
Look for future photos for the Mid-Ohio race.

Brian Wong’s race schedule this year has been full with both NASCAR and Porsche racing, almost every weekend during race season.  With 4 races on consecutive weekends at the well known Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (www.midohio.com), Brian found himself living in Columbus, Ohio for almost two weeks.

The weekend of July 12th, 13th was the first race for Brian in the 2008 Yokohama Driver’s Cup USA series.  Saturday’s race was delayed all day due to summer thunder storms, which eliminated qualifying.  Being the first race this season after missing 6 prior races, Brian did not have any series points, thus relegating him to start last.  In 30 minutes, Brian passed all but 2 cards and finished 1st in his class and 3rd overall.  A top three in both classes.

Brian’s Porsche GT3 Cup car unveiled a new sponsor for this race and the balance of the season.  Quicksilver, the sportswear giant, has sponsored Brain’s car and brought good luck.  Brian and Speed Wong Racing, LLC thank Harry Tully of Quicksilver for its sponsorship and supporting Brian.

The second race of the weekend found Brian finishing a very disappointing 6th position.  Rain throughout the day caused all cars to be on rain tires.  However the rain stopped right before the race, necessitating changing tires from rain to dry, but not having time to make the suspension set up.  With a wet track and slow set up, Brian eased the Quicksilver GT3 Cup car to a slow finish.  The hope for Brian was not to damage the car, saving it for the upcoming IMSA Challenge by Michelin race the very next few days. 

The next weekend of July 18-21, again at Mid-Ohio Sports Car course, will showcase three different series.

The largest event on the Mid-Ohio schedule is set for July 18-20 and will highlight the GT Series, the American Le Mans and IndyCar Series.  Open-wheel racing made an historic return in 2007 and the stars and cars of the IndyCar Series will be back to take on one of the only permanent road courses on their schedule be back to take on  one of the only permanent road courses on their schedule during the Honda Indy 200 at Mi-Ohio presented buy Westfield Insurance.

American LeMans series features our friend, Patrick Long who races for the Penske Racing Team.  Patrick is the only American born factory Porsche driver.  Patrick drives the #6 DHL Penske Racing Porsche RS Synder.

IndyCar Series features our long time friend, winner of the July 6th race at Watkins Glen, Ryan Hunter-Reay.  Ryan races for Rahal Letterman in the #17 Team Ethanol car.

After Brian’s GT races on Friday, he’ll spend the rest of the weekend with Evan Miller and Harry Tully, rooting both Patrick and Ryan on in their respective races.

Special thanks to Quicksilver for its support, to Harry Tully who flew out to finally see his friend, Brian, race, and to take in the American LeMan’s and IndyCar series races.  The most appreciated team member is Evan Miller.  Evan is Brian’s friend and has had to endure living with Brian, in the Holiday Inn in Columbus, Ohio, for the entire 11 days they were at Mid Ohio.  Evan is a great help, rarely speaks, eats very little, drinks a bit too much, but has many roles; official photographer, vinyl installer, mechanic’s assistant, and licensed golf car chauffer.  The entire Wong family thanks and appreciates Evan Miller.

The weekend of June 7th and 8th saw Brian Wong race in the Grand Prix of Canada, in the 5th and 6th races of the IMSA Challenge by Michelin.

The entire city of Montreal was in a frenzy over the immensely popular Formula One race held at the 2.709 mile Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Everywhere you went, from the airport to the shopping and restaurant districts in the city, there were hundreds of thousands of fans, advertisements, parties, streets block off and events and huge celebrations. Formula One is a world renowned series, Montreal is a very European city, so having a race there brought out race fans from all over the world.

The track is actually constructed on a manmade island in Montreal. Accessible by car or underground metro, it was estimated that over 300,000 fans attended the 3 day event. Practices and qualifying on Friday and Saturday brought increasing numbers of people, with Sunday being a complete zoo of people. Lots of party areas, with sponsors of alcohol everywhere, fans primarily young in age, made for a very festive time.

Formula One racing is highly technical, highly sophisticated, very very fast and super expensive. These cars are a work of technological art. To see them up close and to be a part of the race is to appreciate these race cars.

The IMSA Challenge races were one of the support races, supplemented by the Ferrari Challenge and the Formula BMW America series.

For Brian’s 3rd and 4th races of his inaugural Porsche GT3 Cup experiences, he is doing a great job. Brian races under the AASCO Performance team banner this season, with Dennis Aase being the highly esteemed team owner. Dennis has been invaluable to Brian in coaching him, prepping and tuning the 2006 Porsche GT3 Cup car and introducing him to the real players in sports car and open wheel racing.

Following up on his impressive first races in Salt Lake City, Brian flew into Montreal a few days early to practice on a track he’s never been on before. Unfortunately, through a bit of rain, some track conditions and the lack of practice time because of the 4 different series racing, Brian had only one session to practice on before having to qualify for the first race on Saturday.

Qualifying 23rd out of 30 cars for IMSA Challenge by Michelin race #5, Brian rapidly learned the track and finished a very impressive 10th place. Most importantly his fastest lap time during that race determined where he was to start on Sunday’s race.

Sunday found Brian starting the 8th spot of the 30 cars. A great reflection on his driving skills, and ability to learn the track so quickly. Most of the other drivers have been racing for years and have been to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve before. Brian raced to 3rd place until the final next to last lap, and spun himself out, trying to catch 2nd place. A hugely disappointment for Brian, but a really fun race to watch. The races were televised and the cameras followed the #89 car for a lot of the race.

For those of you who haven’t seen the new car design, Eric Uriarte of G1 Design created one of the most popular designs on the circuit.

The race was special, being with the Formula One series, being in front of hundreds of thousands of race fans, being a part of the entire city’s energy, was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Unfortunately Brian’s disappointment in losing the race by himself didn’t overcome all of the fun and festivities of his inaugural Grand Prix of Canada.

That’s racing.

Brian immediately flew the next day to San Francisco and tested for the first time in the Speed Wong Racing NASCAR West series #89 Chevrolet at Infineon Raceway. Look for Brian’s first race on June 21st at Infineon on NASCAR Cup weekend there. Another large crowd in attendance as Speed Wong Racing fields the #17 with Jason Patison and the #89 with Brian Wong, as the Cup teams watch and participate.

The next IMSA Challenge race is at Mid-Ohio in July. The Porsche races under the AASCO Performance team first in the Yokohama Challenge series, and the following week, with the IMSA Challenge series. Two weeks in Lexington, Ohio- fun!

Brian thanks Dennis Aase, his crew with AASCO- from Jeff who drives the transporter, to Austin and Sean, young guys who work hard and have fun with Brian, to the brains of Brad and Harry, who do the engineering. A special thanks to Evan Miller, who has accompanied Brian to Salt Lake City and Montreal, as our team photographer. Equally special regrets to Harry Tully who loves F1 racing but missed the opportunity to go with his friends Brian and Evan, with full access driver and crew passes to see the race where fans just can’t go. Sorry, Harry, next time!

Thank you checking this website and for following Brian’s career.

The IMSA Challenge by Michelin is entering its fourth season of competition. Sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association and in conjunction with Porsche Motorsport North America, the series gives top semi-professional drivers from North America the opportunity to compete with such prestigious organizations as the American Le Mans Series in the world's most successful GT3 car – the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racer. In 2008, IMSA Challenge competitors will race in two classes, Platinum and Gold. The Platinum class is for 2008 model cars and the Gold class is for 2006-2007 models. The Platinum class cars are faster by nature of being a newer model. The 3rd and 4th races for the International Motorsports Association Challenge by Michelin was held at Miller Motorsports Park just outside of Salt Lake City. The first two races were on March 15th at the prestigious and historical track in Sebring, Florida. This past May 17th and 18th, were the first races that Brian Wong entered in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge in his career. This series is a large step up from the Yokohama and Porsche Owner Club races that Brian has had limited experience in.

The results for the 2006 Speed Wong Racing #89 Porsche GT3 Cup car were very encouraging for Brian’s first ever weekend of racing. The #89 car practiced well, placing in the top 15 of the 35 car field, prior to qualifying for the Saturday race. At qualifying, the transmission broke and rendered the car stalled before entering the track. Disastrous for a rookie’s first race. Dennis Aase’s crew, including Bryce Coleman whom we borrowed from the Speed Wong Racing NASCAR team, got the transmission back from the Porsche technician in time to install it for the actual race.

Starting in 35 position in a 30 minute timed race, the #89 car angrily raced past 20 cars to 15th position. Brian candidly admitted to over driving the car and spun himself out with 2 laps remaining on the 3 mile course. He finished in 20th position in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge’s 3rd race of the season. The good news was that Brian’s fastest lap qualified him for starting 11th in Sunday’s race.

Sunday’s race started ahead of the main attraction, the AmericanLe Man’s Series race that followed the IMSA Challenge. Brian started 11th, raced hard to an overall 6th place finish that included both Platinum and Gold cars. His Gold car placed him on the podium for a 3rd place finish in his class! A disappointment for Brian, wanting to do better, but a very well respected podium for his first weekend ever racing in the IMSA series.

The competition in this series is very stout. There is a lot of experience accompanying a lot of money funding the GT3 Cup cars. This series is composed of semi professional drivers and is a final step before competing on a strictly professional basis.

There are always a lot of people that make a fun weekend successful. The most important people that Brian would like to thank are Dennis Aase’s team, AASCO Performance, for tuning the #89 car to perform, for coaching a rookie in his first race and for allowing him to be a part of their team. Dennis’ team includes Jeff and Dave, Raji, Harry, Sean, Brad, Bryce and Julian. All are just great guys and the reason why Brian had a great car.

Because of Dennis, Brian had the best driver coach available in Patrick Long. Patrick was overly generous with his time, traveling to Utah a week ahead of this race, to practice and coach Brian. Patrick also helped Brian on the race weekend, even though he had his hands full with competing in the American Le Man’s Series piloting the Penske factory Porsche RS Spyder. Patrick finished his race in 2nd place. Patrick is the only American born driver for the Porsche factory team. The ALMS series is the epitome of European racing, factory teams competing with the world’s best drivers. Brian’s performance is directly linked to Dennis and Patrick’s help.

Colorful sidelights included some of the team attending the Laker’s playoff win against the Jazz on Friday night before the race. Brian’s family supporting his first race on Saturday . Brother Kevin, sister Jennifer flying in from Boston and Washington, DC. The Speed Wong Racing weekend included flying after Saturday’s race to Des Moines, Iowa for the team’s NASCAR West race. Results were 16th overall and 5th in class for Jason Patison’s #17 car. Brian’s family missed his podium finish and champagne spray, but Brian received lots of text messages from friends who witnessed the win on Speed TV.

Stay tuned, the next IMSA Challenge by Michelin race is in Montreal, Canada!

IMSA Challenge presented by Michelin