Petaluma, CA (May 15)
The Racers Group heads to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend for the next rounds of fierce competition in the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX and GTS championship. The team will be looking to capitalize on their strong outing two weeks ago at VIRginia International Raceway, where drivers Drew Regitz and Kris Wilson drove to a win and a second-place finish, and are currently on top of the SprintX Am/Am standings. At a track known for speed and its incident-filled races, Mosport will truly test the team, drivers and the powerful, elegant Aston Martin Vantage and Porsche Cayman race cars to the max for the duration of all three events over the high-speed 10-turn, 2.458 mile course.
TRG’s reputation for success at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park hit a high point again last year as the team’s four drivers, including Kris Wilson, took home several champagne-soaked trophies, including a win, two 1-2 finishes and a 3rd place podium during the Pirelli World Challenge race weekend. This continued an historic string of success for TRG at this track, including a GTC podium in 2013, a win in 2012, a 1-2 finish in 2011. The team has an incredible history here and team owner, Kevin Buckler himself won in IMSA GT in 2002 beating the factory Porsche team in an amazing upset victory and what was the beginning of a fantastic multi-year run for Buckler as a driver and team owner.
Kevin Buckler’s team brings an outstanding and experienced line-up of five drivers competing in GTS and SprintX this weekend:
DRIVERS
GTS Class, 03 Porsche Cayman GTS
Craig Lyons started racing out of a love of cars and vintage machines. He first found success racing his 1968 Porsche 911S in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA). Lyons recently completed a full season with this Northern Californian race team in a Cayman GT4 Clubsport, which he raced in the Porsche Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy Series. Most recently, Lyons stepped to the top of the podium in a double-header weekend at Circuit of the Americas late last year in GT4 Clubsport.
SprintX – GTA Class, 007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
Drew Regitz and Kris Wilson came away from the first SprintX rounds of the year with a win and a second-place finish at VIR and head into competition at Mosport in the SprintX GT Am/Am lead.
Regitz hadn’t even sat in a race car until 2012, but he’s made up for lost time. Starting in 2013, Drew raced a seven-race schedule in PWC for TRG and he hasn’t looked back, competing in a total of 18 events to date where he’s had numerous podium finishes, including a first place finish in SprintX along with second and third place finishes in Sprint GTA.
Kris Wilson, Regitz’s current driving coach, has seen and done nearly everything in the realm of sports car racing, from driving and coaching to wrenching on cars. He’s always a threat to make it to the top of the podium each weekend. Wilson is a PWC paddock stalwart and a go-to driver for TRG. Kris took rookie of the year titles in Formula Mazda, US F2000 and Firestone Firehawk. He’s also competed in the Rolex Series, World Challenge, World Sports Car and the American Le Mans Series. Kris raced the entire 2014 Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge with Max Riddle, and the two were integral to TRG’s SprintX team title in 2016.
SprintX – GTS Class, 09 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Jerry Kaufman grew up with a need for speed and a passion for motorsports. 2013 was Jerry’s first year of club racing and he was rookie of the year and garnered a national championship with BMW CCA. Fast-forward to 2016 and Kaufman had jumped to the pro level, competing in the IMSA Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge.
Kyle Tilley is a second-generation racer with a strong history of competition racing under his belt. He spent his early years in the British Formula Ford series, where he won 11 of the series’ 12 races, nine pole positions, and 12 fastest laps. A veteran of over 70 races, Kyle has piloted a variety of cars with class wins and always aims to win.
Both Kaufman and Tilley are expecting solid results in their second SprintX outing together at Mosport.
“I’m really looking forward to watching our Astons and the Cayman take on the challenges and high speed cornering of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park,” TRG CEO Kevin Buckler says. “We have a terrific record here. After the tough battles and a win at VIR a couple of weeks ago, we’re ready to get back into SprintX and GTS and take it to the front in all three races. We have a fantastic driver lineup for Mosport — a real triple threat — and our team is ready, as always.”