Greg Franz – The man who makes the Pirelli Drivers Cup USA Series happen

Greg Franz is the man who makes it happen for the Pirelli Drivers Cup USA Series. If you’re a POC racer you should be familiar with this series. And if you’re a racing spectator you need to go watch it. You will be impressed.

As a driver, you are always looking for competitive, fun, and cost effective ways to go racing. The Pirelli Drivers Cup USA Series offers this and you should look no further as a Porsche racer. RedLineTechnik.com had the opportunity to sit down with Greg at the Long Beach Grand Prix and have a one-on-one discussion regarding the series and learn more about.

RLT – Tell us about the Pirelli Drivers Cup USA Series.
GF – This series will be featuring Porsche 996 and 997 GT3 Cup Cars, and is a racing series dedicated to providing a safe racing environment for all participants where on race weekends drivers compete on such tracks as Auto Club Speedway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Miller Motorsports Park.

RLT – What Porsche Cars are Eligible?
GF – 
In the spirit of the series is to keep the cars reasonably equal and minimize the number of permissible changes. Any change not specifically authorized is prohibited. Violations are subject to penalties or exclusion. “Stock” means that the parts are unmodified and as originally supplied from Porsche.

The eligible model year cars are as listed below:

Porsche GT3 Cup Cars
Body Style 996 and 997
996 GT3 Cup cars run Group A (Model Years 2000-2005)
997 GT3 Cup cars run Group B (Model Years 2005-2009)
997 GT3 Cup cars run Group C (Model Year 2010)
996/997 KONI / Sportscar Challenge Specifications cars run Group D (Model Years 2004-2010)

RLT – Who can drive is this Porsche Series?
GF – The Pirelli Drivers Cup USA Racing Series is open to amateur and Club drivers only. Competent Motorsport, LLC reserves the right, in its sole discretion to reject any driver deemed to be a “professional driver”.

A driver must meet the following criteria:

Minimum age of 18 years old

Proof of current physical examination (within 3 months of Series commencement)

Current racing drivers license sanctioned by POC/PCA or equivalent sanctioning body

RLT – Why was this series created?
GF – Good question. In a nutshell, this series was created to help the driver move up from club racing and go the next level. It is can be used as a transitional series to the Grand-Am Rolex/Continental Series or ALMS GT/GTS Series and we have graduated drivers to those series. The budgets are not as high as the full professional series as mentioned and this allows our drivers to work a 9-5 job all week and have fun on the weekend in a safe and competitive environment. This series is also designed for a club racer who wishes to become a better driver and develop their race craft. So that said, we also offer professional driver coaching with Craig Stanton, a well-respected professional driving coach and racer. Craig is a wealth of knowledge and is at the events helping all our drivers with their racing endeavors. We offer competitive racing with the opportunity to learn on and off the track about racing a Porsche.

RLT – How long are the races?
GF – Typically our races are 40-45 minutes in length. But overall through the weekend, a driver in this series will have about 4-5 hours of actual driving time on track. That is a lot of track time and we are proud we can offer this to our drivers and teams.

RLT – What tracks will you be at in 2010?
GF – We will race at all the major circuits on the West Coast. Auto Club Speedway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Portland International Raceway, Miller Motorsports Park, and Infineon Raceway are on our schedule this year.

RLT – Who is supporting this series in terms of partnerships?
GF – Porsche NA is a big supporter as is Pirelli Tires. They both offer trackside and technical support at our events. Stand 21, BBS Wheels, MoTec Data Acquisition and KW Suspensions also support the series.

RLT – Thank you for your time. Any final words?
GF – From the drivers side, you will find our drivers safe and having fun at our race events. You’re perfecting your skills as a driver and learning more about yourself as you learn to push the limits. From a spectator standpoint, you will see close, competitive racing at tracks that are amazing. Plus the opportunity to see current Porsche cars run at the limits as they were designed to do.

For more information on the Pirelli Drivers Cup USA Series please go to: www.competentmotorsport.com