Team Hot Wheels™ and Jack Baldwin Back On Pirelli World Challenge Podium Sunday at Belle Isle in Detroit With Second-Place Finish
Third podium of the year for No. 68 Porsche Cayman S and Hot Wheels®, InvoicePrep, Voodoo Ride and StopTech
DETROIT
(June 3, 2012) –
Jack Baldwin and Team Hot Wheels™ returned to the Pirelli World Challenge
podium Sunday in Detroit where the No. 68 Hot Wheels®/GTSport Racing/Napleton
Porsche Cayman S team saw any shot at victory end with a race-ending yellow
flag and a second-place finish.
After a fourth-place finish in Round 1
of the Detroit doubleheader on Saturday, Baldwin gridded second for Sunday's
finale and stayed in the lead battle throughout the 27-lap race. He was edged
at the standing start by championship rival Peter Cunningham but later retook
second with and award-winning pass in Turn 1 of the tight Belle Isle track.
"I like street racing and Detroit has always been my favorite circuit, they do
a great job here," said Baldwin, who earned the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of
the Race award for the Turn 1 pass. "I got past Peter down into Turn 1 and then
raced with Andy Lee. My hat is off to him, he did a great job, he was
smart and he had a real good car. I really didn't have anything for him. I had
a couple of opportunities, but I couldn't make them materialize."
Lee scored the victory to sweep the Detroit weekend and take the GTS
championship points lead with 832 points, just 10 points ahead of Cunningham.
Baldwin also continues to factor into the championship mix and ranks a close
third with 759 points.
Baldwin's other 2012 podium appearances were a Long Beach victory in April and
second at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last month. He is also riding a five
race streak of top-four finishes and the No. 68 Cayman has finished out of the
top-five just once this season after the year's first seven races.
The Belle Isle Pirelli World Challenge race will air on NBC Sports, July 7 at
5:00 p.m. EDT. Expect Baldwin to tune in to watch his own performance on
one of his favorite tracks.
"I am pretty sure I have run every circuit here in Detroit, a couple downtown
around the Renaissance Center, and then in the first year at Belle Isle in
Trans-Am," Baldwin said. "I drove in the Motor City 100 here for a couple of
years and it was my favorite race. I was driving for the factory Chevy team,
like the factory Cadillac in GT now, and it was great when I saw this race was
coming back on the schedule. I almost won it with Hot Wheels back in the
Trans-Am days so I was really hoping to grab the win today. I drove the
Hot Wheels Camaro back then and drive the Hot Wheels Porsche Cayman now, so 20
years late it is kind of déjà vu all over again!"
The No. 68 Team Hot Wheels/GTSport/Porsche Napleton Racing Cayman S is also
supported by Napleton Porsche Motorsports, BBS, Jamestown Fish Restaurant,
RaceLink, SPEEDCOM Communications, TPC, AIM, RS683 and Schnorr Art.