Alex Job Racing set for 6 hours at Laguna Seca

Alex Job Racing Ready for ALMS Six-Hour at Laguna

Shane Lewis Joins AJR

TAVARES, FL, (Sept. 13, 2011) - Alex Job Racing's (AJR) Bill Sweedler and Brian Wong are ready for the ModSpace American Le Mans Monterey Presented by Tequila Patrón to be run at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Sept.16-17. Sweedler and Wong are joined by sports car ace Shane Lewis.

Coming off of a solid second-place finish in GTC at the Baltimore Grand Prix, the AJR crew is looking for one place better at this weekend's ALMS six-hour race. Brian Wong, Newport Beach, California, rejoins the team with regular Bill Sweedler, Westport, Connecticut. The 2.2-mile, 11-turn circuit known for its famous Corkscrew Turn is a daunting track to run a six-hour race.

Our strategy for six hours is similar to a long-distance race - stay clean and consistent.

Bill Sweedler

Lewis, Jupiter, Florida, joins the team to help over the six-hour run fresh off of a win at the six-hours of Nurburgring.

"It is an honor to drive for AJR," Lewis said. "Alex and his team have such a huge history of success. My job this weekend is to add another trophy to his already impressive collection. This will be my first race in the ALMS this year. It is great to be back after finishing second in the Championship in GTC in 2010. While I haven't been in a Porsche since the Daytona 24 Hours, it won't take but a few laps to get the rust off. I drove a Porsche GT in the 2011 Daytona 24 Hours with Greg Fordhal (AJR Engineer) engineering the car and Bill Sweedler as my teammate. I qualified the car fifth in front of all the Factory Porsche drivers and ran in the top three for my first stint in the car.

I absolutely love Laguna Seca! My first professional victory was there in the IMSA Super Car Championship years ago. Since then I have two major wins, three poles and still hold a track record there. Six- hours is a long race at Laguna. You have to be fast out of the box and have a good car set-up for sure. But, as a driver, you not only need to be quick, you have to be very smart. The track will change dramatically over the race, and you need every tool you have as a driver to adapt quickly."

Sweedler has warmed-up to the undulating road course located in the hills of Monterey.

"After racing at Laguna for the past five consecutive years it has become one of my favorite facilities on the circuit," Sweedler said. "The surrounding area, the fans, and the track itself are always amazing. My favorite section of Laguna has to be the entire backside of the track starting with Turn Six, the high speed uphill left hander which leads into the blind roller-coaster downhill known as the Corkscrew and continues downhill into the high speed rainy curve. Our strategy for six hours is similar to a long-distance race - stay clean and consistent. The AJR team consistently provides the best handling cars in the paddock. I'm looking forward to running with Shane and Brian at this event."

#023 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: Bill Sweedler, Leh Keen, Brian Wong

Photo by: Darren Pierson

Wong counts Laguna Seca as his favorite circuit.

"Laguna Seca has always been one of my favorite tracks to run," Wong said. "I have managed to pull off a couple of IMSA GT3 wins, as well as a handful of club race victories. I ran one of my first ever sports car races at Laguna. It is always been one of the races I circle on the calendar every year! Laguna seems to be a place where trouble finds you. There are not a lot of places to pass, and the track is very tight. With that said, six-hours at Laguna will be a lot of fun, but at the same time will be a great challenge to keep your nose clean and away from trouble. The track layout at Laguna is like nowhere else in the world. It has a bit of everything. There is no doubt that the best part of the track is the world-famous Corkscrew! The Corkscrew is very challenging, but if done right, it feels like you are on a roller-coaster ride! Since Road America, I had a pair of races at the Sepang F1 circuit in Kyalamy, Malaysia. It was rounds seven and eight of the Porsche Carrera Cup Championship. I was able to come away from both races with a pair of five finishes, which keeps us in the title hunt with only four events remaining in the season."

Team owner, Alex Job, has three wins at Laguna Seca in 2002, 2003, and 2004 and will be looking for another one on Saturday.

"We added Shane to our line-up to bring a little more endurance experience to the team," Job said. "Bill and Brian like the track, so we are going into the weekend with a very strong line-up. We have some momentum coming off or our second place at Baltimore, and we hope to improve our finish by one step on Saturday."