Sloan Urry’s drive leads to tightest battle of the weekend at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway

Scores five victories in 2016 and secures second in the Porsche GT Cup Championship

Salt Lake City, UT  (October 12, 2016) – Sloan Urry wrapped the 2016 Porsche GT Cup Championship with a phenomenal drive, narrowly missing the victory by just six-tenths of a second over Corey Fergus. It was a nose-to-tail battle as Urry challenged the Rookie every race lap. The race featured three caution periods for on-track incidents, a total of 10 laps. The final caution came in the closing laps, presenting a green-white-checker challenge at the end. Laguna Seca is a technical circuit featuring steep elevation changes and 11 tight turns which make it known as one of the most difficult courses for passing. Urry stayed tight on the tail of Fergus’s #00 Porsche 911 and masterfully set-up the pass each lap as they exited turn 11 onto the front straight, but Fergus’s powerful new Porsche engine was strong, and he was able to pull just enough gap onto the straight to prevent the overtake.

“I had a great battle with Corey every green lap and I am really happy for him getting his first win.” Urry continued, “It was close, I probably played it a little safe, but we brought the car home in good condition and we’ve locked up our championship position. It was a good race, and it’s always nice to bring home a podium for our team and partners.”

Urry’s consistency all season secured second in the GT Cup Championship last month at the penultimate round at Sonoma Raceway, but Sunday’s performance earned him an additional 98 points, bringing his season total to 1937, just 34 points behind the title winner Alec Udell, and 334 points ahead of third place finisher Corey Fergus. “Alec and Corey pushed me hard all season and we had a lot of great battles, every race was at qualifying pace” said Urry. He tallied five victories and seven pole positions and finished on the podium in 18 of 19 events in 2016.

“It was a good year. I think we have a lot to be proud of. The TruSpeed guys worked hard and always gave me a reliable car. I think I improved in traffic management and took care of the equipment and combined, that led to wins and podiums at every race but one. Ultimately, we didn’t win the Championship and I am disappointed in that, but I am thankful to my team, TruSpeed Autosport, Porsche, and my incredible partners SecurityNational Mortgage and AVASIS. I had the opportunity to meet and race in front of nearly 1000 guests from SecurityNational and AVASIS this year, and that was a real honor.”

Urry was awarded the trophy for his championship finish at the season ending banquet on Sunday.

The final round of the Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTA and GT Cup racing begins broadcasting on CBS Sports Network on Sunday October 16th, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. Check your local listings for channel information and encore presentations. Also, relive the entire PWC competition year by viewing archives at MotorTrendOnDemand.com. For more information, full season results and continued updates, visit www.sloanurryracing.com.

Hundreds of SecurityNational Mortgage guests were on their feet in elation as Sloan Urry made the winning pass just in front of their suite on the front straightway Saturday on a sunny afternoon just outside of his home town in Utah.

Urry took the green flag from the third starting position Saturday afternoon and had an awesome start, quickly passing the race leader Alec Udell.  Despite two yellow-flag caution periods caused by messy accidents in the first 10 minutes of the race, Sloan gapped Udell and it looked like the win was inevitable.  Eventually, Udell managed to return the pass on Urry for the lead.  Determined and driven by his jubilant fans, Urry masterfully hunted down Udell lap after lap, and quickly tightened the gap.  With just ten minutes to go, Urry passed the bright blue Porsche of Udell, executing the game-plan perfectly, and scored his fifth victory of the season, and the first at his home track at the professional level in front of his ecstatic fans and supporters.

Urry started from the first row in today’s race two.  Utah rookie McKay Snow started third and got a jump on the field and quickly took the lead from the green flag, Sloan was third. However, the 4+ mile track now known as the Utah Motorsport Campus is famous for rapid tire wear, and fortunately Sloan is known for his ability to manage his Pirelli’s.  He settled into third position and managed his tire wear while Udell chased McKay.  Eventually McKay’s pace slowed and both Udell and Urry passed him for first and second.  Now the hunt was on and Urry had the pace and the tires to reel in Udell.  Once again Sloan’s supporters could be heard above the sounds of the supercars as he chased Udell down the front straight.  Each lap was faster than the last and most laps were faster than the leader, until his car hiccupped in the final set of turns before the front straight with just seven laps to go.  His day came to an end prematurely due to a fuel pump failure.  The car coasted to the gravel trap at the start of the front straight.  Frustrated by the failure but satisfied with his performance, Urry walked alongside the track and down the front straight back to his pit to the roaring cheer of his local supporters who celebrated him from the suite over the TruSpeed pit.

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Sloan on Race One: “My smile says it all.  It’s been a while since I’ve been this happy! To win at home and to win after such an intense battle is just incredibly rewarding.  I had a good start and took the lead but Alec put a lot of pressure on me.  He was on my tail for a while.  Once he got me, there was absolutely no way I was going to let that stick.  I’ve got to thank the TruSpeed Autosport team.  They’ve kept digging and digging this year and they gave me a great car.  There was a huge contingency of my sponsors SecurityNational Mortgage and AVASIS along with friends and family hanging out of the suite on the front straight…that helped power me to the win for sure and I can’t thank them enough for the continued support they give me.”

Sloan on Race Two: “Race two here at Utah Motorsports Campus unfortunately did not go as well as race one.  Unfortunately, I fell back to third at the start of the race but moved up to second and was all over Alec (Udell) for quite a while…preparing for the pass.  Unfortunately, with 10 minutes or so to go we had a fuel pump failure and I had to pull the car off.  It was our first mechanical of the year, and it came at probably the worst time for us, but that’s the way it goes sometimes in racing.  We had fantastic race yesterday and another great battle with Alec today, so I am really pleased about that.  I’ve got to give a huge shout out to SecurityNational Mortgage and AVASIS.  The amount of support here has been amazing the whole weekend.  You can’t walk through the paddock without noticing us, that is a real honor.  Also my team TruSpeed worked super hard this weekend. We were trying a bunch of things in every session and I think we made a lot of progress this weekend.  Our race pace was by far the best of anybody, we just need to work a bit on qualifying.  I am looking forward to Sonoma.” 

Sometimes championships come from dominating performances throughout the season and sometimes they are won through consistency.  Sloan Urry returned to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama this weekend as the championship leader and despite two performance inhibiting challenges, he remained consistent, he kept his car in-tact and scored enough points to remain on top.

The first challenge for Sloan this week was physical; he fell off his skateboard while riding home from his office last week and injured his left forearm.  He arrived in Alabama with a hard brace but it became obvious after Thursday’s practice session that he would need more support to be able to wrestle his Porsche 991 around the twisty 2.38-mile 15-turn road course.  Concerned about the weekend ahead and protecting the points lead, TruSpeed Autosport race engineer Tim Lewis contacted Olympic boxing coach, Dave Godber.  Godber owns Round One Boxing for Health in Birmingham and his very familiar with the taping techniques required to stabilize injuries for continued competition.  Godber was willing to help and spent the weekend at the track preparing Sloan’s arm for each session, “I’m really grateful to Dave.  His help made all the difference for me this weekend.  I am still in quite a bit of pain, but I might not have been able to compete without his help.”

The second challenge was mechanical.  The behavior of the #20 SecurityNational/Avasis/Porsche 991 changed dramatically from practice on Friday afternoon where Sloan recorded the fast time by a half a second.  Fighting massive oversteer, Sloan’s qualifying time on Saturday morning was slower than his practice times from Friday and in race one on Saturday afternoon, he struggled to keep the car on track. His fastest lap time during the race was two seconds slower than his quickest lap the day before. Despite the challenges, he preserved his equipment and took the checkered flag in third position, earning 90 valuable points.  Frustrated and confused, but committed to excellence, the TruSpeed Autosport team worked until midnight inspecting, rebuilding and replacing many components of the car on Saturday.

Sloan returned Sunday morning for his final race of the weekend hoping to pilot a much improved car, and looking for a victory.  Sloan took the green flag under sunny skies and immediately began to challenge Corey Fergus in the #00 Porsche. The two battled up and down the hills and through the 13 turns throughout the 45-minute race.  With just two minutes to go, Fergus was hit by another competitor and Sloan assumed second position, where he remained until the checkered flag.

Watch the race on CBS Sports next Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 4:00pm ET. Next up: Sloan heads North to Canada in May for a double-header at MoSport with a six-point championship lead over Alec Udell.  For more information, visit www.sloanurryracing.com

Sloan Urry: “Corey (Fergus) and I had a great battle throughout the race today.  Unfortunately, he was spun by another competitor. I feel bad for him, but I am happy for the points we scored out there today, and I am happy to push forward in the championship. I am looking forward to going testing soon because we have some gremlins in the car that we didn’t really figure out here.  Luckily we have some time before MoSport to work on that and also for my arm to heal.  Always a big thank you to Avasis, SecurityNational Mortgage and my team TruSpeed for getting us here and able to be a competitive effort.”

Tyler Tadevic: “It wasn’t an easy weekend for us, but I am really proud of Sloan and the TruSpeed guys.  It could have easily gone another way for us but Sloan hung in there and salvaged all the points he could and the boys worked their tails of to improve the car.”