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Ponte Vedra Beach, FLORIDA - September 21, 2020 - The 2020 Trans Am presented by Pirelli Championship season resumes this weekend, September 24 to 27, at Virginia International Raceway when two competitive points scoring races will be held on consecutive days. The second of those races will see all the various classes of Trans Am cars on the track at the same time, making for a unique and highly competitive event that will present a tremendous spectacle as well as demanding very high levels of concentration from the drivers. There will be 51 cars on the circuit at the same time for Sunday’s race!
Putting all his tremendous experience to good use will be the 2012 Trans Am TA Class Champion Simon Gregg. The man behind the wheel of the No. 59 Derhaag Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro is also the busiest driver on the Trans Am circuit, competing in both the National and West Coast Championships this year. Driving an AMG Mercedes GT3, Simon has swept the podiums in the Xtreme GT Class in the West Coast Championship while the National Championships have seen him swap his trusty Chevrolet Corvette for an all new 850BHP Camaro and currently sits third in the driver’s Championship.
Switching cars invariably presents all sorts of challenges in Trans Am as with all classes of motorsports, so to maintain a top three challenge in the prestigious TA Class is a particularly impressive achievement by Simon. So far this season he has notched finishes of P5, P6, P3 and P4 for 90 points and third overall from 19 starters. At VIR Simon will be aiming for a repeat of the 2013 race when he won from the pole in the Corvette for an exciting victory.
VIR is a hugely popular track and originally opened in 1957 as one of the country’s first permanent road racing circuits. The 3.27-mile competition course has unusually remained exactly the same ever since. This week the track will once again make Trans Am history, just as it has done for decades, with the typical 100-mile two-race Saturday schedule followed by the combined race on Sunday for another 100-miles.
While the track is unchanged, the grounds at VIR have gone through quite a transformation since their humble beginnings. The VIR we know today began to take shape when new owners had a vision of something altogether more grand. After a number of fallow years, they reopened VIRginia International Raceway in 2000 with world-class facilities and resort amenities. Since then, VIR has received international acclaim and tremendous reviews as one of the most exciting road courses in all of North America and is usually a very popular resort. Unfortunately there will be no spectators at Virginia International Raceway this weekend, but we can confirm that the excellent new streaming service will be available via the App and on YouTube.
The action gets underway on Thursday September 24 with two testing sessions before practice and qualifying on Friday. The first race is on Saturday at 11:20 a.m. when the TA Class cars share the track with the Xtreme GT Class, SGT and GT Classes. Don’t forget to catch Sunday’s 51 car feature at 11:05 a.m. on Sunday. Both races can be watched live - download the new Trans Am Racing App and watch the race events live from the Google PlayStore or Apple from your smartphone or mobile device.
Trans Am Series and team news about Simon Gregg can be found at gotransam.com. Keep up with Simon personally on the Simon Gregg Facebook page.
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