Photos: Grand Am

There is little argument that the Laguna Seca track is one of the most memorable on the West Coast and after a one year absence, the Grand Am series returns to Salinas, CA, this weekend for the eighth event on the ten race Grand Am calendar.

Jim Click Racing returns to the fray with a Boss 302R, as do Multimatic Motorsports and Capaldi Racing. Racer’s Edge Motorsports will be running the new pony along with the pair from ROUSH Performance. Both Jim Click and Capaldi Racing will be running older Mustang GT entries as well.

Brad Adams and Ben Crosland return in the Race with RP #95 Mustang GT and this could be a pair to watch. The youngster from Salt Lake City – Crosland – has been fast through his entire Mustang racing career. Both Adams and Crosland cut their teeth in the now-defunct Mustang Challenge series.

Between ten Mustangs on the entry list, as well as five Camaro GS.R entries, the domestic contingent now makes up half of the 29-car Grand Sport (GS) field. The rest of the entrants are mostly BMW M3s – eleven in all.

At 2.24 miles inlength, series officials are running GS and ST practice sessions together, which could put 53 cars on the 11-turn track at the same time. However, the classes are being separated for qualification, also on Friday.

Going into the race, the ROUSH Performance team, with Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr, sits in second place, just 15 points off the lead. The #61 Mustang has six podium finishes in the first seven events, including two P1 results. Multimatic Motorsports is just seven points behind the ROUSH team with two poduim finishes for the season.

The Continental Tire Challenge race starts at 10:45 a.m. Pacific time on Saturday July 9.