After three rounds in the 2010 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, Kevin Stadtlander, driver of the APR Motorsport VW DriverGear #181 GTI, is 2nd in the rookie points standings. The next stop on the schedule is this coming weekend (April 22-24th) at beautiful Virginia International Raceway, where Kevin hopes to improve his overall ST class driver standing (currently 5th), as well as climb the step toward the top rookie position.
Kevin has qualified the #181 GTI at each of the season’s three rounds with continued improvement and has been the starting driver at each of these races. The Continental season opened with two rounds in sunny Florida, at Daytona International Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. At Round 1 in Daytona, the #181 GTI started 23rd with Kevin advancing to 9th position prior to handing off to co-driver Josh Hurley after stellar APR Motorsport pit work. Josh re-entered in 8th, had the car up to 5th with a few laps to go, and was hit by another competitor and turned around at the “bus-stop” chicane. Thus, the #181 GTI ended up with a 15th place finish to start the season.
In Round 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, home track to both Kevin and Josh, Kevin was relegated to a 32nd position pit-lane start due to a minor technical infraction. By lap 35, Kevin was up to 8th position, and after another superb APR Motorsport stop and driver change, Josh re-entered in 14th and was able to race forward to a season high 5th place finish. After the race, Kevin stated that “a key to the team’s success was APR Motorsport’s prep of a race car that was well suited for race-day track conditions and pace, rather than an outright quick lap.” “But,” he added, “with more seat time, that should come as well.”
Round 3 was held at awesome Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, where Kevin continued to improve in qualifying, posting a 14th in the Friday morning 15 minute session. Saturday’s Round 3 race saw more of the same forward progress. At the slick and narrow track, which made for difficult passing for everyone, Kevin crossed the line in 9th just prior to pitting and Josh re-entered in 11th after a small problem with the seat belts. Unfortunately, four of the race’s seven full-course caution periods would come during Josh’s stint resulting in a finishing position of 10th.
Asked about his decision to begin his professional race career with APR Motorsport in Grand-Am racing in 2010, Kevin stated, “I could not be happier. The extremely high standards in car preparation and race day execution are exactly what I was looking for. Hopefully, our first podium will come very soon.” As an Interventional Radiologist in his “other” career, Kevin went on to say, “I deal with similar attention to detail, high standards and the pursuit of perfection in my everyday job. To come to the track on the weekends and race for APR, I feel right at home!” Jeff Mishtawy, Director of Motorsport for APR, agreed with those thoughts saying, “Kevin has done a superb job in race conditions. We were able to bring home the ‘Mesco Building for the Future Rookie of the Year’ title for APR Motorsport driver Josh Hurley in 2009, and the 2010 pairing of Kevin and Josh looks to be paying dividends.”
About APR: APR LLC is an automotive engineering firm operating a 36,000 sq. ft. performance campus in Opelika, AL. APR was founded in 1997 with a corporate philosophy of Integrity, Excellence and Innovation. APR’s Sole Mission is to provide the highest quality and most highly engineered aftermarket performance products available for Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen vehicles. Learn more at www.goapr.com