It’s been a hard-fought challenge for the 2016 Porsche GT Cup championship with Sloan Urry and Alec Udell swapping the points lead race to race. Urry hopes to re-take the lead this weekend with a sweep at Mid-Ohio; he sits 38 points behind Udell. Urry has four victories (COTA 2, St. Petersburg 1 and 2, Lime Rock 2), five second and two third-place finishes. He’s scored valuable points for pole position (7) in 50 percent of the races.

The highs of 2016 – so far: “There’s nothing quite like the first victory,” Urry said. “That happened from pole in the second race of the season opener at COTA. Last year I was so close, so many times, so to finally seal the deal the opening weekend was pretty rewarding. However, following it up with sweeping the weekend at St. Pete may be the highlight. Scoring two victories from pole was great for my team and sponsors and very satisfying for me.”

The lows: “Breaking my wrist before Barber and dealing with driving through it.”

Looking forward: “I’m most looking forward to my home race at Utah Motorsports Campus. It’s my home race, I grew up in Park City and live in Salt Lake City, so we will have a large sponsor contingent present. I love the track and winning for SecurityNational Mortgage and Avasis at home would be incredible. In addition, I will have a bunch of family and friends there rooting us on, so that makes it extra exciting.”

Heavyweight VIP: Urry worked with Olympic boxing coach Dave Godber while racing earlier this season in Birmingham, just after his wrist injury. Godber was on hand all weekend, wrapping Urry’s wrist each day before track activity. Owner of Round One Boxing for Health in Birmingham, Alabama, Godber invited Urry to return to watch his boxer, Deontay Wilder, defend the WBC heavyweight world title, and coincidently with a wrapped, broken hand. Sloan returned for the fight on July 16th when Deontay Wilder stopped Chris Arreola in eight rounds to retain his world heavyweight title.

“It was my first time at a fight and it was pretty astonishing to watch those guys trade blows,” Urry said. “It was great to see Dave in that environment.”

On Mid-Ohio: “Mid-Ohio was one of my first introductions to the true competition of racing. Back in 2010 I raced there in the Mustang challenge, and I had a great race climbing through the field for my first award on the podium … so there is definitely some nostalgia. Outside of that, I don’t have much experience on the windy circuit but it’s hard not to enjoy with its diverse layout. I am looking forward to working with team TruSpeed to get my first win there.”

Source: Racer.com