Alec Udell Given Professional Status by Pirelli World Challenge
Alec Udell Given Professional Status by Pirelli World Challenge
April 3, 2017 | Long Beach, California | Having won the first two races of the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) season in the GT Amateur (GTA) class, Alec Udell has been declared a full professional driver by series’ officials. The resident of The Woodlands, Texas will compete for the remainder of the 10-race season driving the No. 17 Euroworld Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R prepared by GMG in the GT class along with factory drivers and champions. The announcement comes the week of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Round Three of the Sprint Championship for North America’s premier sprint format GT class series.
PWC developed a graduated system that moves drivers, like Udell, from Amateur up to Professional status as a result of on-track performance. Initially, the differentiation between “Am” and “Pro” is whether a driver makes his/her fulltime living as a racecar driver. At 21 years old, Udell is a junior at Clemson University and therefore does not make a living driving. However, as the 2016 GT Cup class champion in PWC, and with professional aspirations and talent, Udell has been watched closely. After securing pole position and race wins in Rounds 1 and 2 at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix in March, PWC officials deemed he would be better placed in the “Pro” category of the championships.
The mechanical engineering student will race the same Porsche 911 GT3 R that he campaigned at St. Petersburg.
Udell will get his first opportunity without the “A” on his car, at a single practice session for the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Friday, April 7. A second session will take place just before GT/GTA qualifying on Saturday morning. Round Three of the Championship will take the green flag at 10:00 a.m. PT on Sunday, April 9. The 50-minute race can be seen live at www.world-challenge.com and on the CBS Sports Network at 2:30 p.m. ET, Sunday, April 9.
Alec Udell | “This is a great opportunity to compete at the highest level of GT racing in the Pirelli World Challenge. Being at the professional level is what I’ve been working towards my whole racing career. So, it is very exciting to have those efforts, and successes, recognized. I am under no delusions; I know that this will be the hardest challenge of my career. I will be racing against veterans and factory drivers like Patrick Long and Johnny O’Connell but that will only hone my skills that much more.
To meet my goals, this is where I need to be and, honestly, it comes a little earlier than I had thought it might and that makes it even more satisfying. Everyone at Euroworld Motorsports and GMG has been working so hard to put us into this position. Now we are there which only means the real work has begun. I am looking forward to the challenge.”
About Alec Udell |
Alec Udell is a junior studying engineering at Clemson University. The 21 year-old from The Woodlands, Texas began his racing career in karting at age five. He went on to win the Rotax National Points Championship in 2008 and represented his country as part of Team USA in Egypt in the World Championships in 2009. By 2011, he made history by becoming, at the time, the Pirelli World Challenge’s youngest ever competitor at age 15. He has 15 career Pirelli World Challenge GT Cup class wins entering the season and is the 2016 PWC GT Cup Champion.
About Euroworld Motorsports |
2017 is the third season Udell partners with Euroworld Motorsports (www.euroworldmotorsports.com). Euroworld is the country’s only certified automotive carbon fiber repair facility. Based in Houston, they are one of Texas’s leading European auto repair and performance facility.
Bio and Images Available Upon Request
More information on the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge can be found at www.world-challenge.com .
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