2018 Rose Cup Races to feature Pirelli World Challenge - Speedway Digest

Friends of PIR has announced the dates and initial details for the 58th running of the famed Rose Cup Races. The 2018 event will take place July 13 through July 15 at Portland International Raceway and will host the Pirelli World Challenge, North America’s top GT production-based road racing sports car series.

A sanctioned event of the Portland Rose Festival, the Rose Cup Races is the premier amateur road racing event in the Pacific Northwest, featuring racing competitors from both the Oregon Region Sports Car Club of America and the Cascade Sports Car Club.

Three amateur classes (TBA in early 2018) will race at the event, along with all seven of the Pirelli World Challenge professional racing classes, which will compete in doubleheader races: two 60-minute GT SprintX events, two 50-minute GTS races and two 40-minute Touring Car contests. The popular SprintX two-driver, 60-minute format will be a part of the weekend as well. Over 100 Pirelli World Challenge cars and drivers expected for the event.

“The Pirelli World Challenge is one of North America’s premier racing series and we are very excited to have many of the world’s top sports cars and drivers return to PIR,” said Gary Bockman, president of Friends of PIR. “The variety of Pirelli World Challenge machinery will make for a great addition to our three amateur race groups, forming a very attractive motorsports weekend in the Rose City.”

In 2017, Pirelli World Challenge featured 26 different auto manufacturers with 44 separate models including the prestigious GT and GTS series sports some of the world’s most iconic sports cars including Acura, Audi, Aston Martin, Bentley, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, Nissan, Panoz and Porsche. Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car categories have some spectacular wheel-to-wheel action in the three divisions with makes from Audi, BMW, Honda, Lotus, Mazda, Nissan and Scion.

The Pirelli World Challenge has held events at Portland International Raceway on three occasions with events in 2001, 2004 and 2005. Past Pirelli World Challenge race winners at PIR include Michael Galati (GT) and Neal Sapp (TC) in 2001, Tommy Archer (GT) and Pierre Kleinubing (TC) in 2004 and Dino Crescentini (GT) and Randy Pobst (TC) in 2005.

The Rose Cup Races weekend will feature practice and qualifying on July 13, and racing events on July 14 and July 15. More information about ticket prices, additional events and the specific schedule will be released in early 2018.

The Rose Cup Races was the first major event ever held at PIR in 1961, and has taken place annually ever since. The event is promoted by Friends of PIR. Learn more at RoseCup.com and follow @RoseCupRaces on social media (#RoseCup2018 #RoseCup58 #RoseCupRaces).

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.