Ryan Ellis came to APR Motorsport this year as a rookie driver in the CTSCC of GRAND-AM Road Racing with the hopes of a solid showing his first year out of the VW TDI Cup ladder series. Little did he realize he would take pole and win his first race, but then also win his second race a few weeks after. Co-driver Ian Baas led an incredible charge during his driving stint of the race to move from 6th into 1st and win by 22/1000th’s of a second. Ryan qualified 6th and expertly maintained the health of the GTI through one of the tightest fields in CTSSC ST class history.
Less than 1/10th of a second separated the top 5 qualifiers and the top 15 cars were all within a second of each other. Ryan relayed, “Obviously we knew a repeat win was going to be a tough challenge. Competition adjustments after the win at Daytona had the team scrambling to find competitive speed over the break between races. A few setup changes during practice really helped Ian and I find some of that lost speed. I am so happy with the level of competition in the CTSCC. APR Motorsport keeps giving us an awesome weapon that Ian and I plan to keep firing at the bull’s eye. Go APR!”
Ian Baas has been with APR Motorsport since the team’s inception and has seen many tough races and stiff competition over the years. Ian had to say about this weekend’s race, “Without a doubt one of the most memorable races of my career. APR has worked long and hard with minor setbacks and bad luck keeping us from completing a brilliant season. This year though, we all feel great. This is actually our third win a row if you look at last season’s win in the final round at Miller. The new GTI MK6 is a great improvement over the previous generation we’ve run in the past. I hope we can finally get our season together and this is a great start for a championship run!”
