Sloan Retains Points Lead Despite Challenging Weekend

Sloan Retains Points Lead Despite Challenging Weekend

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.”

Sloan Urry, SecurityNational Mortgage and TruSpeed AutoSport Return for Championship Bid

Sloan Urry, SecurityNational Mortgage and TruSpeed AutoSport Return for Championship Bid

Salt Lake City, UT – American race car driver Sloan Urry, 24, of Salt Lake City, Utah announced today he will drive the #20 SecurityNational/Avasis/991 Porsche GT in the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge Porsche GT Cup championship.

Urry had a sensational rookie season in World Challenge with TruSpeed AutoSport in 2015. In addition to his 13 podium finishes and second place in the series championship, Urry qualified in the top-three in 85% of the races. He will continue with TruSpeed in 2016 and looks forward to the continuity in his quest for the 2016 series title, “We had a very successful season in 2015, but I am racing to win the championship this year and knowing I have the same ingredients; the same great team with TruSpeed, the same great sponsor and the 2016 Porsche 991 is a great feeling. I feel very well prepared” said Urry.

California based TruSpeed Autosport enters its second season of Porsche GT Cup competition. The team is looking for its second championship, after winning the GT title with Pat Long in 2011. Veteran motorsports team owner, Tyler Tadevic commented on his expectations for the season ahead, “We are stoked to have Sloan back driving for TruSpeed again this year, and we are very proud to have SecurityNational Mortgage and Avasis backing us up. I want to thank them for choosing us as their partners. We are looking forward to a fantastic season,” said Tadevic. He continued, “We were very strong last year, but we left a few cards on the table and we are looking to make up for that this year. We’ve got a great crew at TruSpeed, they’ve been working hard all winter to get us ready for a very strong effort in 2016.”

SecurityNational Mortgage returns as the title sponsor of Urry’s #20 2016 Porsche 991 Cup. Ranked as a ‘Top 50 Mortgage Lender,’ SecurityNational Mortgage uses key elements of its marketing strategy around the motorsports program. SecurityNational Mortgage will activate their program with exciting at-track events in eight race markets, including Miller Motorsports Park where the company expects over 400 guests.

The 2016 Porsche GT Cup championship kicks off this weekend at Circuit of the Americas, a 3.41-mile road course in Austin, Texas. Urry has mastered the 20-turn counterclockwise Formula One circuit in the past, he won there while competing in the IMSA series three years ago, “The green flag can’t come soon enough! COTA is a great track to open the season,” commented Urry. “It’s challenging and it’s fast. There is nothing quite like the 133-foot hill we climb at turn one. I guess it’s the direct opposite of the 109-foot drop at the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca where we’ll close our season. I’m looking forward to it, we had a great car there last year and finished second in both races. I’m certainly racing for two victories this weekend.”

The 19-race championship begins this weekend with a double-header, March 3-6. The race will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network, Sunday, March 13th at 10:30am E.T. The race will be shown live at www.world-challenge.com. Live updates from the track will be available online at www.sloanurryracing.com, on Twitter @sloanurryracing and Facebook.com/sloanurryracing.

Sloan Urry Adds 13th Podium of the Year for SecurityNational at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Sloan Urry Adds 13th Podium of the Year for SecurityNational at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

 

Monterey, Calif. (13 September 2015) – Sloan Urry closed out the 2015 Pirelli World Challenge championship on a high note on Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca when he delivered SecurityNational’s 13th podium of the season in what has been an impressive run for the 23-year old racer.

Urry qualified third on the grid for the GT Cup presented by MOMO season-finale continuing his positive trend of qualifying performances throughout the year. He scored a starting position among the top-three in all but two races of the 18-round championship.

Opening the race from the inside of the second row, the GT Cup class lined up for a standing start and Urry perfectly hit his marks at the drop of the green flag. He stuck right with the leading two cars as the trio pulled away and put a significant gap over the remainder of the field.

As Urry chased down the second place car of Alec Udell, the faster class of the GT machines caught the GT Cup cars as each raced for position in their respective categories. That made for some challenging racing as Urry fought for second place while also remaining mindful of the GT class machines.

‘It’s really tough with all the other GT cars out there that are quite a bit quicker than us,” said Urry. “It makes it interesting, a lot of times it’s frustrating but it adds another element to the race. You just kind of have to be careful, because the GTs don’t play too nice, they want to get by and that’s understandable in a sprint race like this. You just have to be careful and pick your places where you need to be aggressive with them and other places to let them go.”

Urry skillfully maneuvered past Udell late in the race and drove to his eighth runner-up result of the year as he also secured second in the championship standings.

“The competitor in me always wants to be first and that’s what we aim for, but we finished second in the championship, and we’ll take it in our first year in this series,” said Urry. “I’m just happy to be on the podium again for all of my sponsors SecurityNational, Alder and Tweed, Metro National Title and Engels & Volkers and for TruSpeed Autosport. They deserved wins this year so next year we’ll tighten it up a bit!”

TruSpeed Autosport Team Owner Tyler Tadevic was pleased with Urry’s performance throughout 2015.

“I’m just really proud of Sloan (Urry) and the guys at SecurityNational, this is a fantastic way to end the year,” said Tadevic. “Sloan had a good battle for third and ended up slotting into second there at the end against someone who is probably going to be our nemesis next year. We’re looking forward to announcing a big program for next year with at least a couple of cars. Overall, it was a successful weekend and a successful season. I think we left a little on the table, but we’re going to come back and do the best we can next year. A heartfelt congrats to the Kelly Moss team and to Colin Thompson on his championship. Thank you to the crew. We had three tubbed cars this season, many sleepless nights, and at every race they got it done and the cars back on the track. The sum of any organization are the people who work for them and I have the best, so I’m thankful for them as well!”

The Pirelli World Challenge event from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will be televised on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, September 20 at 3:30 PM ET.

Season-Finale This Weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Sloan Urry and SecurityNational

Season-Finale This Weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Sloan Urry and SecurityNational

Costa Mesa, Calif. (8 September 2015) – It’s been an incredible season of Pirelli World Challenge competition for Sloan Urry and SecurityNational that has seen the No. 02 Porsche compete on a wide range of road and street courses across North America. This weekend, the 2015 GT Cup presented by MOMO championship comes to a close at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca at what is one of the favorite tracks on the 2015 calendar for both drivers and fans alike.

The event will cap off what has been an impressive year for Urry in which he’s tallied 12 podium results in 18 races. Those results have seen Urry stay in contention for the championship through most of the 2015 season.

He currently sits second in the standings with 1534 points.

With the championship title already wrapped up by Urry’s TruSpeed Autosport / Kelly Moss teammate Colin Thompson, the goal for Urry this weekend will be to take a victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca while also locking in second in the 2015 championship.

Urry claimed a podium finish at Laguna Seca last year while driving for JDX Racing in Porsche GT3 Cup competition. The 2.238-mile track is a challenging one and is known for its elevation changes and signature “Corkscrew” corner combination.

“I can’t believe we are already at the last event on the Pirelli World Challenge 2015 calendar but I can’t be happier that it’s at Laguna Seca,” said Urry. “I have quite a bit of experience at Laguna Seca and it is one of my favorite tracks – it’s hard to beat The Corkscrew! The track has a great flow to it and is a blast to drive. We have some good momentum from the last weekend at Sonoma, so I’m eager to get back at it. As always I know TruSpeed will do their side of things and give me a great car. It’s up to me to end the season on a good note for the SecurityNational/Engel & Volkers car.”

The season-finale weekend will begin with testing and practice on Thursday. A second practice session takes place on Friday with qualifying scheduled for 11:25 AM PST on Saturday. The race is set for Sunday with festivities beginning at 1:35 PM PST.

Live coverage of the race can be viewed at www.world-challengetv.com with CBS Sports Network televising the event on Sunday, September 20 at 3:30 PM ET.

EVENT SCHEDULE:
Thursday: Practice → 4:30 PM – 5:00 PM PST
Friday: Practice → 12:00 PM PST – 12:30 PM PST
Saturday: Qualifying → 11:25 AM – 12:10 PM PST
Sunday: Race → 1:35 PM – 2:25 PM PST

Another Double Podium for Sloan Urry and SecurityNational at Sonoma Raceway

Another Double Podium for Sloan Urry and SecurityNational at Sonoma Raceway

Sonoma, CA. (31 August 2015) – Sloan Urry has continued to shine in Pirelli World Challenge competition this year and added yet two more podium performances to his 2015 list of accomplishments when he scored second and third in Rounds 16 & 17 of the GT Cup presented by MOMO at Sonoma Raceway over the weekend.

The results marked Urry’s 11th and 12th podium results of the season for SecurityNational while driving the No. 02 Porsche supported by TruSpeed Autosport.

Urry opened Race 1 on Saturday from the second row of the grid after qualifying the No. 02 SecurityNational Porsche third. He ran a clean and consistent pace among the 34-car combined class field.

As the race wound down into its final laps, Urry was poised for a sure podium finish as he ran comfortably in third and chased down the second place car of Alec Udell. An off by the racer leader late in the running saw Urry take over second place to claim his seventh runner-up result of the year.

“I’m quite pleased about the car that TruSpeed has put underneath me,” said Urry following Race 1. “The car is handling great and it was super consistent throughout the whole race. It was quite fast in qualifying we just didn’t hit our marks how we would have liked. I just put my head down and was catching the leaders. Just at the end, I ran out of time. Second is a great finish, but when you have the leader in your sights you’d really like to finish it off.”

Urry once again showed strong pace in Race 2 after starting from third on the grid. Running lap times equivalent to those of the leaders, the No. 02 SecurityNational Porsche ran in podium contention through the entire 50-minute race. As Urry closed the gap to the two GT Cup cars ahead of him in the final stages of the race, several GT class cars got together in front of Urry and he was forced to take avoidance which lost him time to the leaders.

Fortunately, Urry had built enough of a gap over fourth place that he still maintained third position at the checkered flag.

“Once again TruSpeed gave me a great car and we had pretty darn good pace,” said Urry. “We were fastest at some portions of the race and I was catching up to the leaders quite quickly toward the end there. I had a big gaggle of GT cars coming through that weren’t too kind and I had quite a few cars spin in front of me which was just kind of bad timing and I couldn’t do anything about it. I’m a little disappointed in the result compared to what we could have achieved today but I’m just happy to once again be on the podium for SecurityNational, TruSpeed, Alder and Tweed, Metro National Title and Engels & Volkers. It was a good weekend.”

Urry will close out the championship in two weeks’ time at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the final round of the Pirelli World Challenge championship September 11-13.

“It was great to be back at Sonoma, and Sloan (Urry) was on it once again this weekend in the SecurityNational Mortgage car,” said TruSpeed Autosport Team Owner Tyler Tadevic. “He was fighting for a win late in the first race and just ran out of laps. On Sunday he did a great job to not get taken out by some tough driving from the GT guys there at the end. Sloan showed some real race smarts behind the wheel to be able to bring it home on the podium again for us. Now we’ll all just look to close out  the year with a big weekend at Laguna!”

The Sonoma Raceway events will be televised on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, September 6 at 2:00 PM ET.

SecurityNational Enjoys Big Weekend at Miller Motorsports Park

SecurityNational Enjoys Big Weekend at Miller Motorsports Park

Tooele, Utah (24 August 2015) – Racing at Sloan Urry’s home track, SecurityNational Mortgage had a big weekend at Miller Motorsports Park with a significant marketing activation as well as strength on track. Contending the MOMO GT Cup class of Pirelli World Challenge competition, Urry scored a double podium finish with a run to third on Saturday and then returning to the podium again on Sunday with an encore third place result.

The strong finishes marked Urry’s ninth and 10th podium results of the year in his first season of Pirelli World Challenge MOMO GT Cup competition after showing himself as a race winner in IMSA last year.

The Pirelli World Challenge staged a double header at Miller over the weekend and after qualifying third on the grid for Race 1, Urry converted that into a run to third place with a quickest lap time of 1:55.596-seconds.

“It’s hard to be unhappy with a podium finish, and I think we put on a good show for the hometown crowd and all of our sponsors,” said Urry following Race 1. “The support I’ve had this weekend is unbeatable. SecurityNational Mortgage, Alder and Tweed, Metro National Title and so many others have really stepped up to come and bring a large contingent of guests and make it quite the event so hats off to them. I really appreciate everything they do for me and the team and hopefully tomorrow I can give them a little bit more of what we’re expecting.”

Once again racing in front of a packed house of SecurityNational Mortgage guests, Urry took to the challenging road course for Race 2 on Sunday. The race saw a standing start and though Urry didn’t get the best start off of the line, he made up for it with his experienced driving at the track to once again drive to a podium finish.

“The car was good – it was pretty similar to yesterday,” said Urry. “The TruSpeed guys put a good car under me. I didn’t get the start I wanted, I just bogged down the motor off the line. I had traffic I had to work through after that and it separated me a bit from the leaders. I was really hoping for a yellow to give me a shot to step a little higher on the podium but considering the start I got, I’m pleased to have finished on the podium. Hats off once again to SecurityNational Mortgage, Alder and Tweed, and Metro National Title for just showing me a great amount of support this weekend. I think everyone was very pleased this weekend.”

Urry and SecurityNational will be back in action when the Pirelli World Challenge stages the penultimate rounds of the 2015 championship at Sonoma Raceway next weekend.