Alec Udell Combines with Another Utah Winner for PWC SprintX Rounds
August 8, 2017 | Tooele, Utah | Alec Udell knows how to wheel a Porsche around the 14-turn, 3.048-mile Utah Motorsports Campus (UMC). The resident of The Woodlands, Texas set the GT Cup qualifying record here last year and stood on the top-step of the podium in his last appearance at the track near Salt Lake City. For Rounds 7 and 8 of the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) SprintX Championship here this weekend, Udell will combine with another UMC winner, Preston Calvert (Potomac, Maryland), in the No. 77 Calvert Dynamics Porsche 911 GT3 R. The two are looking for their first series’ victory together in the black and yellow Porsche. They have raced the entire SprintX season in the GMG-prepared GT car with a best finish to-date of fourth-place.
The SprintX Championship is a ten-race season spread across five race weekends. The 60-minute races mandate a driver change and have produced some of the most exciting GT racing in North America. The competition is so intense that Udell – who is coming off his first-ever professional podium finish with a third-place in the PWC Sprint Series, Race Two at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 30 – and Calvert will go head-to-head with factory drivers from Porsche, McLaren and General Motors. Calvert won both SprintX races at Utah in 2016.
After 13 races in the combined PWC GT Driver Championship, the Clemson University rising senior is currently ranked in tenth-place. The champion will be crowned following the series’ final Sprint round at Sonoma Raceway, September 15 – 17. The final two rounds of the SprintX Championship will come on September 1 – 3 at Udell’s home track, the Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas. Points for both, as well as this weekend, are counted toward the overall championship of 20 races.
Udell currently has two PWC GT Amateur (GTA) class wins to his credit for 2017. Those victories came in Rounds 1 and 2 at St. Petersburg, Florida. Following the performances, PWC officials moved him to the all-professional GT category for the 50-minute races. Once fighting with the drivers that make their living driving racecars, Udell – who is a mechanical engineering major at Clemson – proved his worth immediately. It only took him four races to return to the podium, finishing in third-place at Mid-Ohio driving the No. 17 Euroworld Motorsports prepared by GMG Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The races can be watched live at www.world-challenge.com and on tape delayed broadcast on the CBS Sports Network, Sunday August 20 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET).
Alec Udell |
about Utah| “"For UMC, Preston and I get to jump back into the SprintX format together. We've both come a long way this season, especially since last sharing the car at Lime Rock. I think we are well prepared and have a shot to run in the top-three this weekend in Pro-Am category. I'm looking forward to getting to Utah and racing the Calvert Dynamics-GMG Porsche with Preston.”
about Alec Udell |
Alec Udell is a junior studying engineering at Clemson University. The 21 year-old from The Woodlands, Texas began his racing career in karting at age five. He went on to win the Rotax National Points Championship in 2008 and represented his country as part of Team USA in Egypt in the World Championships in 2009. By 2011, he made history by becoming, at the time, the Pirelli World Challenge’s youngest ever competitor at age 15. He has 15 career Pirelli World Challenge GT Cup class wins entering the season and is the 2016 PWC GT Cup Champion.
about Euroworld Motorsports |
2017 is the third season Udell partners with Euroworld Motorsports (http://www.euroworldmotorsports.com). Euroworld is the country’s only certified automotive carbon fiber repair facility. Based in Houston, they are one of Texas’s leading European auto repair and performance facility.
More information on the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge can be found at http://www.world-challenge.com .
08082017