After dominating the practice session at the World Challenge, Josh Hurley and the entire Fortis Watches–Sim-Sport–APR Motorsport crew began preparing for a run at the pole position in qualifying. Despite the best efforts of Josh and the team, they missed out on the pole but would start second.
The cars began to take their positions for the World Challenge standing start. The revs went up and when the lights went out the field scrambled. Josh was quickly able to get around some traffic and begin chasing the leading Volvo. The chase would quickly be interrupted by a full course caution as Josh’s APR Motorsport teammate was turned into the wall, necessitating a lengthy cleanup.
With the Volkswagens having less power than the Volvos, Josh knew his best chance would be to grab the lead on the restart. On a perfectly timed restart, Josh was able to put the Fortis Watches–Sim-Sport–APR Motorsport into the lead. It was then time to push hard! Josh was able to pull out a bit of a gap to the second place Volvo. However, as the race went on the Volvo was able to keep pace, using it’s horsepower to close while saving it’s tires.
Ride with Josh Hurley to Second Place
Josh put up a tough defense holding the Volvo off for quite a few laps. In the end the Volvo just had to much power and passed Josh on the back straight. Josh kept the chase though, and in the final laps began quickly closing on the Volvo. Unfortunately two other cars had a huge accident causing the race to end under full-course caution, preventing Josh from trying one final charge. However, Josh Hurley and the APR Motorsport team brought home a strong second place finish in their World Challenge debut.
“It was really tough out there. The Volvo’s had a bit more torque than us but the Fortis Watches–Sim-Sport–APR Motorsport car was really good today, and for our first time here, this result is really strong. The race was really fun though, I got to race against some really good friends of mine and it was a heck of a show,” Josh said. “I do wish the race had ended under green. I think the Volvo began having problems, as we pushed him really hard early in the race, but we’ll get them next time we see them.”
Josh Hurley Used Sim-Sport to Prepare for Atlanta
While Josh routinely hits the same race tracks year to year as part of his Grand Am commitments, the World Challenge race had Josh retuning to a track that he had only been on once, and three years ago at that. Faced with the prospect of having to already learn a new series with other new things such as tires Josh decided to cut his learning curve by using his Sim-Sport simulator to re-learn the infamous and fast Road Atlanta track before hand.
“It’s amazing how good simulation technology is these days. Aaron at Sim-Sport makes some incredible products that take simulation to the next level. It really lets me hit the first lap, as if I’ve been practicing for days,” said Josh. “Plus he takes real feedback from races into his product. So if you want raise your game to the next level, or just want to experience what it’s like to be a racing driver without huge expense and travel, make sure you check out Sim-Sport!”
Fortis Watches Official Timepiece of Josh Hurley
Fortis Watches is the official timepiece of Josh Hurley of the APR Motorsport Team for the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Season. Josh’s watch is the limited edition automatic black-dial Fortis Spaceleader.
Gevril Group is the US and Canadian agent for Fortis Watches. Contact us by email or by calling 845-425-9882.
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