BRASELTON, GA (September 29, 2011) – It was a story of redemption for both winning drivers in today’s Round 14 of the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama – Carlos Kauffmann, who moved from Gold Cup to Platinum Cup in 2011, took his long-awaited first victory while Michael Mills, after trying to put together a GT3 program for the entire season, earned his first series win in his first try.

For Kauffmann, it was as much relief as happiness to put his #24 NGT Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the winner’s circle. Since making the move at the start of the season to the more powerful Platinum Cup car, he has only two podium finishes at Road America – so this victory was that much more special, to his family as well as to him.

“My daughter is going to be so happy!” said Kauffmann. “She said to me ‘you got so many first places last year, what happened in this one?’ Finally I got one for her! We were both fast and when I was out in front, I just kept thinking how much I wanted to close out this year with pole positions and wins. It was unbelievable fun today! I was inspired, I wanted it so much.”

Teammate and Platinum Cup champion Henrique Cisneros chased Kauffmann all afternoon, unable to get close. Magnus Racing’s John Potter, competing in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama while also trying to qualify for Petit Le Mans, finished third.

“Carlos was flying,” said Cisneros. “We had such a gap to the cars behind that I kept wondering why Carlos was pushing so hard!”

The Gold Cup title is decided as well, with 15-year-old Madison Snow taking the driver title. So today was about the newcomer Mills, who had hoped to field a full-season entry in the series, only to see the opportunity slip by. Having Effort Motorsports and TaxMasters team together on his #41 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car would make the dream of standing on the series podium a reality - but first, there was the matter of getting around pole sitter Snow (#62 Snow Racing) and keeping the hard charging Eduardo Cisneros (#29 NGT Motorsport) behind him.

“Eduardo got out in front and Madison closed in on him – and I closed in on both of them,” related Mills. “I got by Madison using a Platinum Cup car. I chased down Eduardo and got by him and never saw him again. I just held it out there. But I really want to thank my guys – we’d planned to do a full season but had the rug pulled out from under us and were only able to do this race, because of Effort Racing. We’re really happy to be here!”

Seth Davidow, driving the #77 Topp Racing Porsche, earned the Yokohama Hard Charger award for his move from a 17^th place starting position overall to finish 11^th overall.

The IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama features semi-professional drivers racing head to head in the largest single-make series in North America. Powered by one of the world’s most successful race cars, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, the multi-class structure of the series teaches drivers essential skills for an eventual career in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón.

The series is divided into two classes; the Platinum Cup, featuring the more powerful 2011 and 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, and the Gold Cup, which includes 2005½ - 2009 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. Both classes race on environmentally-focused Yokohama ADVAN ENV-R2 racing tires.

The IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama season will end with Round 15 Friday at 11:30am EDT.For full results, live timing, news and schedule information, visit http://www.imsachallenge.com/. 

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