Demonstrating strong performance gains throughout the weekend with Team Panoz Racing’s Ian James earning a second-place finish in Friday’s PWC GTS/GT4 Round 7 race and leading much of today’s Round 8 race at the Grand Prix of Lime Rock Park, the team leaves Connecticut with an overall successful race weekend result.

Both races saw the No. 50 Panoz Avezzano in the lead. After the green flag dropped signaling Saturday’s standing start, James quickly moved up to P3 in the first laps, then passed the No. 62 McLaren 570S GT4 to take over P2. James then proceeded to chase down the leading No. 3 Flying Lizard Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR and took advantage and secured P1 when the Porsche went off track. He defended P1 for 10 laps until an unfortunate engine failure prematurely ended Team Panoz Racing’s day.

While a disappointing result after Friday’s second-place podium, Team Panoz Racing’s outcome this weekend shows tremendous progress in the short time since the team announced in January 2017 it would compete in the Pirelli World Challenge GTS/GT4 Championship. The team will build upon the positives of this race weekend as it heads to next month’s PWC GTS/GT4 Rounds 9 and 10 at the Grand Prix of Road America.

Next up for Team Panoz Racing is PWC GTS/GT4 Rounds 9 and 10 at the Grand Pris of Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., June 23-25, 2017.

Quoteboard:

Tom Milner

“Overall I think the team and Ian did a great job. We learned a lot at Mosport and we had a terrific result yesterday despite the difficult conditions. Today’s engine failure is a bit disappointing, but overall we’re making good progress and Ian did a great job taking over and defending the lead. But we know there’s still work to do, and we look forward to going to Road America next month. In the end, I think the whole team is happy. The team and Ian did a terrific job both days, but today just wasn’t our day. But we leave with a real positive – a second-place finish Friday and Panoz once again on the podium.”

Ian James

“We had a good run today. The Avezzano’s performance was there, and the team did a great job. I got a good start and was able to make a pass early on and be in position to chase down the leader. We were running well and I really felt we had good pace until the engine failed. The car is still a work in progress, but it’s very good. I’m positive we’re moving in the right direction and we’ll have the Avezzano on the podium again. I’m looking forward to Road America.”

Source. Panoz