Second place for Randy Pobst at Belle Isle

Detroit, MI (June 2, 2013) – Last year, Randy left the street course at Belle Isle with a severely damaged Volvo after a bad crash on the standing start. This year is a very different story! Randy and his No. 6 K-PAX Racing Volvo S60 team started the Pirelli World Challenge GT doubleheader weekend with a second qualifying position for Saturday's rolling start race, behind Johnny O'Connell's Cadillac. With a large portion of the race driven under the caution flag, Randy was never able to get by the fast Cadillac and finished in second.

"I worked really hard for that second. We had a problem with the car in practice, but the team got it fixed and we qualified on the outside pole with very little track time. I was really pleased with our qualifying spot because I had a great position for the start. It is really hard to pass on the street courses so starting in the front is key. There was wet weather all around us and I was sure we would get it, but it skipped Detroit. We are great in the rain. O'Connell was too fast for us, but Andy Pilgrim and I had a great battle. I was fast in the faster corners and he was better in braking and slow corners. I managed to stay far enough ahead, with the help of Sofronas who was pressuring Andy. The Volvo was fantastic and we have really improved the brakes."

Sunday morning began well with Randy again getting second place for the standing start, this time behind Sofronas' Audi. Randy was not going to accept second and got a great launch, soaring into the lead at Turn One. He held the position and, after a couple of long caution flags, was able to hold off a charging O'Connell and Sofronas with great restarts. A third yellow flag, for former teammate Andy Pilgrim, caused the race to finish under yellow with Randy in a deserving first place!

"In this morning's qualifying session, I thought I could get the pole but I had to shorten my attempt when I felt the engine lose some power. Once again my K-PAX crew was able to perform a rescue and fix the car and it ran great. Our start went off beautifully but it wasn't long before O'Connell caught me and then Sofronas caught us. I was working really hard holding them off when the yellows started. Crashfest! I was happy to win but not happy that the race ended under yellow. The fans missed out on a tremendous race between the top four, had Andy been able to finish."

"I really have to thank the K-PAX car chiefs Jeff Delio and Machick Kurszewski and engine builder Mark Blaha for their emergency repairs before the races. We are very lucky that these issues surfaced in practice and qualifying and not during the race. Alex wasn't as lucky as us and had a rough weekend. We were also happy to have Volvo CFO Tim Fissinger and his son Michael at the races this weekend with us. I want to thank Volvo for my new black S60 R-design company car. A special thanks also goes to Saferacer for quickly getting Alex and I our new, light-weight, F.A.S.T Alpha Nomex Cool Suit shirts. Those will come in handy this summer! On to Lime Rock."

K-PAX Racing