After a fourth-place finish in Round 1 of the Detroit doubleheader on Saturday, Baldwin gridded second for Sunday’s finale and stayed in the lead battle throughout the 27-lap race. He was edged at the standing start by championship rival Peter Cunningham but later retook second with and award-winning pass in Turn 1 of the tight Belle Isle track.
“I like street racing and Detroit has always been my favorite circuit, they do a great job here,” said Baldwin, who earned the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race award for the Turn 1 pass. “I got past Peter down into Turn 1 and then raced with Andy Lee. My hat is off to him, he did a great job, he was smart and he had a real good car. I really didn’t have anything for him. I had a couple of opportunities, but I couldn’t make them materialize.”
Lee scored the victory to sweep the Detroit weekend and take the GTS championship points lead with 832 points, just 10 points ahead of Cunningham. Baldwin also continues to factor into the championship mix and ranks a close third with 759 points.
Baldwin’s other 2012 podium appearances were a Long Beach victory in April and second at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last month. He is also riding a five race streak of top-four finishes and the No. 68 Cayman has finished out of the top-five just once this season after the year’s first seven races.
The Belle Isle Pirelli World Challenge race will air on NBC Sports, July 7 at 5:00 p.m. EDT. Expect Baldwin to tune in to watch his own performance on one of his favorite tracks.
“I am pretty sure I have run every circuit here in Detroit, a couple downtown around the Renaissance Center, and then in the first year at Belle Isle in Trans-Am,” Baldwin said. “I drove in the Motor City 100 here for a couple of years and it was my favorite race. I was driving for the factory Chevy team, like the factory Cadillac in GT now, and it was great when I saw this race was coming back on the schedule. I almost won it with Hot Wheels back in the Trans-Am days so I was really hoping to grab the win today. I drove the Hot Wheels Camaro back then and drive the Hot Wheels Porsche Cayman now, so 20 years late it is kind of déjà vu all over again!”
The No. 68 Team Hot Wheels/GTSport/Porsche Napleton Racing Cayman S is also supported by Napleton Porsche Motorsports, BBS, Jamestown Fish Restaurant, RaceLink, SPEEDCOM Communications, TPC, AIM, RS683 and Schnorr Art.
ABOUT PORSCHE NAPLETON RACING (PNR): Porsche Napleton Racing (PNR) is the performance and competition division of the Chicago-area auto dealership Napleton Porsche of Westmont. An established and full-service racing division and prep shop, PNR specializes in amateur and beginner-level competition on up to entry-level and top-tier professional racing series. The performance-focused PNR operation is just one division within Napleton Porsche of Westmont, which is the Ed Napleton Automotive Group’s flagship Porsche dealership. A family business that was established in 1931 by their grandfather Edward W. Napleton with a single dealership on Chicago’s south side, Ed Napleton and his brothers today own 60 franchises in four states. The Ed Napleton Automotive Group operates 29 of these franchises in 14 locations. Learn more at www.napletonmotorsports.com and www.westmontporsche.com.
Contact: SaalGood - (321) 890-2848 - SaalGoodPR@gmail.com
