BRASELTON, GA (September 30, 2011) –  When the dust cleared – literally – after 25 laps of hard racing, Carlos Kauffmann had completed the weekend victory double while Madison Snow put the exclamation point on an amazing championship season in Round 15 of the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama, part of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Kauffmann, driving the #24 NGT Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, started from the pole position and kept teammate and Platinum Cup champion Henrique Cisneros behind him to take his second win of the weekend. Cisneros tried to get close to Kauffmann, only to spin in turn 10 late in the race. Cisneros managed to collect himself quickly enough to stay ahead of Kelly Moss Motorsports’ Rob Walton, who finished behind Cisneros for his first podium of the year.

Most of the action happened behind the top three, with several drivers spinning as the track got increasingly slicker. Muscle Milk’s Mark Bullitt was running in fourth when he spun and finished 10th, good enough to earn him third place in the year-end driver’s championship. Fernando Peña survived his own on- track incident to finish 14th in the race and second in the championship.

But the day belonged to Kauffmann, who enjoyed ending the season-long victory drought – and enjoyed duking it out with his teammate.

“Finally, again!” said Kauffmann. “The race was actually pretty quiet for me. Being alone in front is not really what I enjoy about racing, but winning makes it so gratifying! I had no expectations for these races and tried to accomplish what I didn’t do all year long. I got my speed again and my confidence, so I have decided to come back and do GT3 again next year!”

“Carlos and I were having a lot of fun out there,” said Cisneros. “Whenever he was faster than me, he would slow a little bit so I would catch up – he was messing with me the whole time. At one point, he let off too much and I went in for a pass, hit the kitty litter and spun. As I was facing the wrong way on the track, I saw Rob Walton coming, so I gunned it out of there to keep second.”

15-year-old Madison Snow capped off his first year in the series by taking his sixth victory in spectacular fashion. Starting fifth in the Gold Cup class and 18^th overall, Snow took advantage of an incident at the green flag that collected four cars (including Eduardo Cisneros and Mitch Landry, second and third in the Gold Cup championship) to take the Gold Cup lead – in eighth place overall. Snow, driving the #62 Snow Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, lost the lead briefly to  yesterday’s race winner Michael Mills (#41 Effort Motorsports/TaxMasters) but finished the race on top.

“I had a really good start,” understated Snow. “I was going through everybody, trying to get as many positions as I could. I worked my way up, just trying to stay in the lead so I didn’t have to battle anybody. Mike got by me, then I got back by when we ran into lapped traffic. I was driving really hard the whole time – with the championship done, I came here to have fun, and I won!”

“That was a pretty crazy race,” said Mills. “There was a lot of confusion out there. I think if I’d had one more lap, I could have gotten him, but it just didn’t go my way today – and once you win them, you want them all the time! But we got a first and a second, so I can’t complain. We’re just happy to be here!”

Snow earned the Yokohama Hard Charger award for his move from fifth to first in Gold Cup class.

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.

For news, updates and schedule information throughout the winter, visit http://www.imsachallenge.com/. 

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