MINI USA AND THE MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS RACE TEAM HEAD TO VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY AFTER TAKING THREE PODIUMS AT CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS

Woodcliff Lake, NJ,  June 16, 2023. MINI USA and the MINI John Cooper Works Team will continue to ride their momentum in the 2023 SRO TC America as they head to Virgina International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Va., for the fourth race weekend of the 2023 race season. Last month, Clay Williams swept the weekend at Circiut of the Americas in Austin, Texas, taking the #60 MINI JCW PRO to victory lane twice in the Touring Car (TC) class. This double win weekend put Williams in first place in the Driver’s Championship in the TC class. Teammate Cristian Perocarpi also drove the #37 MINI JCW PRO to a second place finish in Race 2. Williams and Perocarpi will joined this weekend by PJ Groenke in the #62 MINI JCW in the Touring Car A (TCA) class.

The Brownsburg, Ind. -based LAP Motorsports team, which operates the MINI JCW Team, will be supported this weekend by four qualified MINI Dealer technicians, working alongside the team during practice, qualifying and race days as part of the MINI Technician Race Crew Program. The four dealer technicians are from dealers in the Southern and Eastern Regions, including one each from Flow MINI in Winston-Salem, N.C., MINI of West Chester in West Chester, Pa., and two from Hendrick MINI in Charlotte, N.C. Each of them will support the team for the entire weekend at Virginia International Racway. The race team relies on the skill and knowledge of the technicians that work, day to day on MINI, to bring that expertise to the track.

“The team is looking forward to VIR after being so close to taking home multiple victories at the track last season,” said Luis Perocarpi, team owner, LAP Motorsports. “We have great momentum heading into this fourth weekend of racing and look to bringing our MINI JCW and MINI JCW PRO race cars to victory lane.”
 
Last season the team took home two podiums at VIR, with Clay Williams taking third place in Race 1 and Cristian Perocarpi taking third place in Race 2. The team finished last season as the runner up for the Manufacturer’s Championship in both the Touring Car (TC) and Touring Car A (TCA) classes. Clay Williams, driver of the #60 MINI JCW Pro, also finished the 2022 season in 2nd place in the Driver’s Championship in the TC class.
 
2023 SRO TC America

• March 30 – April 2:             Sonoma Raceway - COMPLETE
• April 28 - 30:                      NOLA Motorsports Park - COMPLETE
• May 19 – 21:                      Circuit of the Americas - COMPLETE
• June 16 – 18:                     Virginia International Raceway
• August 18 – 20:                  Road America
• September 22 – 24:           Sebring International Raceway
• October 5 – 8:                    Indianapolis Motor Speedway

About the MINI JCW Team
The MINI JCW Team, operated by LAP Motorsports, drives MINI’s most powerful Hardtop ever in the two-door MINI John Cooper Works Hardtop. The team competes in the fiercely competitive SRO TC America Series. For additional information please visit minijcwteam.com or email luis@minijcwteam.com.
 
About MINI in the US
MINI is an independent brand of the BMW Group. In the United States, MINI USA operates as a business unit of BMW of North America, LLC, located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey and includes the marketing and sales organizations for the MINI brand. The authorized MINI USA dealer organization is represented by a network of 104 MINI full passenger car sales and service dealers located throughout the US.  MINI USA began selling vehicles in the U.S. in 2002 with the introduction of the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S Hardtops. Since then, the MINI brand in the U.S. has grown to encompass a model range of five unique vehicles.
 
Journalist notes: Media information about MINI and its products is available to journalists on-line at MINIUSANEWS.com.