# APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread



## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

Las Vegas, NV - October 30, 2007 - APR, LLC, the world's leading Volkswagen, Audi and
Porsche performance engineering firm, is entering professional racing with the formation of APR
Motorsport, LLC. APR Motorsport is excited to announce that it will campaign three Volkswagen
GTI race cars in the Koni Challenge Sport Touring class of Grand Am in 2008.
Pulling off what might be the coup of the year in racing, APR Motorsport has signed ten-time
national series champion Randy Pobst to drive for the team. Pobst, fresh off his third World
Challenge Speed GT Championship in six years, narrowly missed the famed "double," coming
close to winning both the Speed Touring Car and GT Championship in the same year. Pobst
narrowly missed out on this yet to be accomplished feat, only after being punted off the track in
the final laps of the final Touring Car race of the season. In hiring Pobst, APR Motorsport brings
one of America's top talents back to the Grand American series, where Pobst has won two
Daytona 24 Hour championships and has 9 Grand Am race wins.
Pobst said about the move, "I have worked with the guys at APR for years in development and
testing, and as soon as I heard they were founding a race team, I wanted in." He went on to say,
"I started my professional racing career in 1985, racing a VW Golf in the Volkswagen Cup.
Before that, I won a handful of autocross national and pro titles in a 1983 Rabbit, so this
opportunity brings me full circle and gives me the chance to relive a lot of great memories."
Pobst additionally noted, "with APR's technology, professionalism and work ethic, I expect us to
challenge for the championship. My co-drivers, Ian Baas and Mark White bring vast experience
to the team and I am totally comfortable with these guys as I have raced with each in the past
years. Our team chemistry is simply unmatchable."
The second major signing for APR Motorsport is Ian Baas, who has raced with Pobst in 2006 in
Grand Am's Rolex GT series in a Porsche GT3R as well as a Porsche GT3RSR in the American
Le Mans series in 2005. Their most notable achievement together was piloting their Porsche to
win the 2006 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Besides racing in Rolex in 2006, Baas spent the full
season in Porsche's Carrera Cup in Germany, as well as racing select Porsche SuperCup races
all over the globe. In 2007, Baas raced for STaSIS Engineering in Speed World Challenge
Touring Car, as well as for At Speed Motorsports and Farnbacher-Loles in Rolex GT.
Baas reviewed his recent hiring by APR Motorsport by simply stating, "I cannot tell you how
excited I am to work with APR and be back on a team with Randy. On top of all this, APR just
signed Mark White, with whom I spent many races in Rolex GT in 2007. Mark is fast, consistent
and both physically and mentally tough. I am just so happy to be involved with such a great team
that has shown its' seriousness in signing such top notch co-drivers as Pobst and White."
Mark White, who garnered a staggering record of 10 podiums in 12 starts, set multiple records en
route to a second place finish in the ALMS IMSA Lites Prototype Series. White was one of many
drivers evaluated by APR to join this ambitious first year effort. The team selected White over
many other top racers due to the direct recommendations of Pobst and Baas. White has raced in
five series in multiple countries, and brings his clean, fast driving style and his infamous mental
and physical toughness to a team already stacked with both talent and fitness.
White noted, "I cannot thank the guys at APR Motorsport enough, along with my co-drivers, Pobst
and Baas, who recommended me for this ride. The chemistry assembled on this team is
tremendous and I am thrilled to be part of it! APR's tuning prowess is unsurpassed and Randy
and Ian are both at the top of their game. Mix in these factors with an awesome platform like the
Volkswagen GTI and we should have a potent combination right out of the gate."
APR, LLC, the parent company of APR Motorsport, LLC, is based in Auburn/Opelika, Alabama.
APR is currently in the process of moving into a new corporate headquarters, which is expected
to be completed this winter. The new 12-acre facility features 38,000 square feet of office,
design, fabrication and warehouse space. The facility, which is complete with Pro-e CAD design,
two chassis dynos, engine dyno, CNC milling, CNC lathe, stereolithography machine, as well as
other state of the art equipment, features a race shop for the exclusive use of the team as well as
a nearly one mile test track for car development.
APR has over 180 distributors in 21 countries and employs over 40 full time employees.
APR Motorsport's race team will be run by Crew Chief Jeff Mishtawy, who came to APR from the
successful Team Cobalt California Koni Challenge Team.
Mishtawy has extensive race and Koni Challenge Sport Touring background, and expects the
team's VW GTI's to be front runners right from the start. Mishtawy said, "the VW GTI, in street
form, is so sound and well engineered; it has been fantastic to build a race car on such a
platform. Development has gone very well and working with drivers such as Pobst and Baas,
with all their set up experience, should give us an edge on the competition."


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## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread ([email protected])*

The links on this page should get everyone caught up to current!
http://www.goapr.com/VW/race/index.html


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## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread ([email protected])*

Mansfield, OH - APR Motorsport's weekend at Mid Ohio Raceway got off to a
great start when Mark White, co-driver with Randy Pobst in the #181 Team
Janica Racing GTi, qualified in 5th place today during a shortened qualifying
session.
White, who had been in the top ten during all the practices, upped his pace to a
time of 1:38.12 on his third and final lap of qualifying. Whit's time was a mere
.099 off the second place Acura TSX of Burrows/Hopwood, with four cars all
falling within 1/10th of a second (from position 2-5) in what is undoubtedly one of
the closest qualifying sessions in KONI Challenge history.
White said about his fast lap “Once the tires warmed up, the car really came into
it's sweet spot. The car was just so balanced. I tried to sit back and get as much
space as possible in order to avoid traffic but, with the shortened session, there
just wasn't enough time.”
White added: “ I really think Mid Ohio suits our cars well and it showed today. I
want to thank our crew for their great work this weekend. From the minute we hit
the track the car just kept improving with every session. Now it's up to Randy and
I to try and reward the team with our first podium, which I feel is entirely possible.
Let's get to racing!”
White actually had an interesting weekend here at Mid Ohio Raceway, as he was
left alone to set up the GTi due to the absence of co-driver Pobst, who was
partaking in a test for Motor Tend Magazine at Laguna Seca on Friday. Randy
said about Mark's qualifier “I am just so happy with how far up the grid Mark put
us. He did a great job of setting up the car and I was immediately comfortable in
it. Perhaps I should stay away more!”. Pobst added “I really like the way the car
is handling and I really think we have podium potential this weekend, as long as
we can keep our car impact free.”
Sadly, the qualifying was shortened due to another of APR Motorsport GTi's
mechanical problem. Car #171, driven by Ian Baas and Dion von Moltke, suffered
an oil leak early in qualifying, causing a black flag situation and preventing the
#171 from obtaining a qualifying time. The leak appears to be fixed and, though
starting from the second to last spot on the grid, expectations are high for the
two. Baas said “Is there a golden horseshoe I can buy around here. Man, we
need some luck!” Dion von Moltke added “Ian and I should get some of those
golden race boots that Fernando Alonso wears. That'd be the ticket!”. Both
drivers took the problems in stride and are excited the problem is solved and
they'll race tomorrow.
The last bit of APR Motorsport's luck came crashing down with the #191 car of
Scott Tucker and Ed Zabinski failed to make to make the qualifying session due
to an unknown (as of time this release was drafted) driveline issue. Tucker, who
is pulling double duty this weekend in also racing in the Miller Challenge Mustang
series, simply said “What can I say, that's racing. Luck doesn't always fall your
way. I look forward to the race tomorrow and rest assured we have a car that can
compete with the best.”
The EMCO Gears Classic weekend KONI Challenge ST race starts tomorrow
(Sunday June 22) at 12:45pm Eastern Time and is scheduled for 2.5 hours. Fans
can watch the progress via real-time timing and scoring at: http://www.grandam.
com/livetiming/


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## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread ([email protected])*

Lexington, OH - APR Motorsport rode the roller coaster that is racing this weekend at Mid-Ohio Raceway during the rain soaked EMCO Gears Classic.
The weekend was a strange one for APR Motorsport, having started with a fast practice, followed by development reliability issues. The team saw a top five qualification spot, the fastest lap of the race, a run from the back of a 47 car grid to 8th spot (in a mere 45 minutes) and ultimately finished with both cars retiring due to contact, amidst running in the top ten.
Mark White ran fast in all practices and qualified the #181 APR Motorsport/Team Janica Racing VW GTi in the 5th spot on the grid. Mark was then fastest in the morning practice on race day, and things were looking great for the APR Motorsport team. Mark started well and remained in 6th position through most of the race, dueling with Peter Cunningham, Charles Espenlaub and others, in a stint in the car that lasted just over an hour. Just before he was to hand the car over to Randy Pobst, a two-car collision at the exit of turn 14 resulted in contact and damage to the left front of the GTi. Mark reported some power loss, possibly due to the damage, when he handed the car over to Pobst in the 6th place.
Randy was able to run a mere three laps in a heavy downpour before the engine stopped making power and he was forced to retire. Pobst said about the race, “Man, we were in such a great position. Mark did an awesome job of setting up and qualifying the car, I wanted so badly to reward him and the crew with a podium.” (Pobst had missed Thursday and Friday practices while doing a magazine test for Motor Trend in California).
White added, “I really thought we had it this time. It seems like déjà vu. We were running third at Mosport, when we were called in with 20 minutes to go due to a loose bumper from Randy getting hit on the restart. We came into Mid-O with a lot of confidence and all signs pointing to a podium. We had it all, fast practices, good qualifying position and a great place in the race, when it all came crashing down. Sadly, the incident in front of me did damage to our car that likely prevented us from finishing. I really look forward to Watkins Glen, where my teammate has won four of his last four races and we feel our car should be really strong.”
Car #171, piloted by Dion von Moltke and Ian Baas, had a tough time all weekend. A parts failure caused the car to suffer in the first practice and miss the next two practices, as well as qualifying. The failure to turn a complete lap in qualifying forced them to start from the last position on the grid in 47th place. Von Moltke, who started the race, earned the distinction of setting the fastest lap of all cars in the race in the middle of his stint. During his blistering run, von Moltke passed 39 cars en route to an eighth place handover to Ian Baas near the mid race mark. Baas took over the car and was quickly called back in for rain tires, as the team was keeping a keen eye on the radar. On the rain tires, Baas was running the third fastest laps of all cars on circuit, nearly identical to the winning Subaru. Sadly, a mere 15 minutes after taking over the car, while passing on the inside of turn 5, Baas was struck by a lap down Meyer Motorsport RX-8 and rookie Samual Stuard. The contact with Stuard caused a bent tie-rod, thus taking Baas’s car out of the race.
Von Moltke said about the weekend and race, “Wow, that was a tough one to endure. Just as things would get better, we’d continually get knocked back down. I am pretty happy with my drive, as this was the first time I’ve had the fastest lap time in a KONI race. Additionally, it was actually a blast to run from the back, picking off a few cars per lap. It was busy, but fun! The car just came into its’ own early in the race and I really felt that we had true podium potential when I handed the car over to Ian. It’s just too bad he got hit.”
Baas said, “Dion did an incredible job, especially considering the race was really our car’s first laps of the weekend. He hit the fast lap of the race pretty early and told me over the radio that the car was great. I was excited to get in and make a run for the front. Unfortunately, my effort was sadly cut short when I was struck on the drivers left while passing a lapped RX-8 that didn’t see me coming fast in the rain at turn 5. I caught the RX-8 on the straight and out-broke him into turn 5, but three-quarters of the way through the turn, BOOM! The damage was too great to continue. It’s really too bad, as we were in 10th place at the time, we were matching the fastest lap time of the leaders and were closing quickly on the others.”
APR Motorsport races next at Watkins Glen International Raceway on July 3-5, 2008, where they look forward to a less stressful weekend.
You can read more about APR Motorsport at http://www.aprmotorsport.com


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## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread ([email protected])*




































































_Modified by [email protected] at 10:37 AM 6-24-2008_


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## collins_tc (Dec 19, 2000)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread ([email protected])*

You guys need just a touch of good luck for a change. I was out on track with you guys at Daytona in December (I wrote the article on the event for Vortex) and it's awesome to see how far you've come in developing the cars.
Keep flying the flag - podiums and wins are definitely in your future! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## [email protected] (Oct 30, 2007)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread (collins_tc)*

Definitely exciting to see the growth and follow along...








Absolutely _love _that pic!!


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## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread (collins_tc)*


_Quote, originally posted by *collins_tc* »_You guys need just a touch of good luck for a change. I was out on track with you guys at Daytona in December (I wrote the article on the event for Vortex) and it's awesome to see how far you've come in developing the cars.
Keep flying the flag - podiums and wins are definitely in your future! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif 

Thanks man. Thought we had it at Mid O and then again at the Glen. So close.....


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## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread ([email protected]!NG)*


_Quote, originally posted by *[email protected]!NG* »_Definitely exciting to see the growth and follow along...
Absolutely _love _that pic!!

Thanks Dion. Prolly hard for Ian to see where he's going though, lol.


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## 3 bar (Aug 16, 2001)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread ([email protected])*

What other races do you have planned in the North East. Im gonna have to check you out. I wish I had taken Steve up on his offer when you guys just started. Im happy to see you you guys are doing well. Tell the guys Steve Brett and Chris Ron Byron said Hi


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## rsphil (Jul 28, 2008)

Hey guys - New here but have been following the APR boys for a while now. Im building a GTI race car myself to run in a Middle East Touring car championship.
Anyway...updates? what's happening guys?
Would be great to hear the sort of mods that you have done to your cars? would you be willing to describe?
Cheers, Phil


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## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

*Re: APR Motorsport News and Discussion Thread (3 bar)*


_Quote, originally posted by *3 bar* »_What other races do you have planned in the North East. Im gonna have to check you out. I wish I had taken Steve up on his offer when you guys just started. Im happy to see you you guys are doing well. Tell the guys Steve Brett and Chris Ron Byron said Hi

I sure will.
Check out the rest of the schedule. We've got NJ and VIR.
http://www.konichallenge.com


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## [email protected] (Apr 14, 2005)

*Re: (rsphil)*


_Quote, originally posted by *rsphil* »_Hey guys - New here but have been following the APR boys for a while now. Im building a GTI race car myself to run in a Middle East Touring car championship.
Anyway...updates? what's happening guys?
Would be great to hear the sort of mods that you have done to your cars? would you be willing to describe?
Cheers, Phil

Getting ready for Iowa this weekend. Sabine,








Give us a call and I'll put you in touch with our Crew Cheif. We can recreate any of the prep we've done and ship it to you even if its something you can't get done over there.


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## msweeney3056 (Jun 24, 2008)

Psst! Phil, you want the stuff on the APR cars. Talk to Keith, and go forth and dominate.
Mike


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