Presented by All-Fit Automotive
Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, will be returning to Viriginia International Raceway for the 1st time in 11 years. The last time the team raced at VIR was at the IMSA Continental Tire Series event, where the team secured a 4th place finish in the ST class in their #43 “Pepper” Porsche Cayman. The team 1st raced at Virigina International Raceway in 2000. This was the very 1st event of the track’s re-grand opening after having been closed for 2 decades prior. Over the years Team Sahlen competed in over 15 races at the track, securing 5 victories along the way.
The event that Team Sahlen will be competing in the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series National Championship event. The race will be a 15 Hour event. Saturday will be an 8 hour enduro -with a parc ferme overnight. Then the racing will resume on Sunday with 7 more hours of racing. The top finishing car in the event will be crowned the National Champion.
Both Team Sahlen’s #942 “Ketchup” and #943 “Mustard” are eligible for the championship. On the season both Porsche Boxsters have secured 3 Victories. Coupled together with a combined additional finishes of one 3rd place and three 5th place finishes, this places the #943 & #942 at the top of the regular season standings heading into the National Championship event.
For this weekend’s event, the drivers will be Joe Sahlen, Joe Nonnamaker, Wayne Nonnamaker and Will Nonnamaker. This line up has been busy all season securing victories, even beyond the ChampCar series. The team has also secured overall victories in the Lucky Dog Racing League and the NASA Team Racing Endurance Challenge series.
Wayne Nonnamaker shared his excitement for returning to Virginia – “Virginia is one of my favorite tracks. It has a real flow to it and going fast here requires extreme precision and daring bravery. Especially going up through the esses. I remember got flat through them in our old Acura Intregras. And as well I remember having to lift in our Mazda RX8 GT racers. I am expecting the Porsche Boxsters to be somewhere in between lifting and flatout.”
Joe Sahlen shared his thoughts leading up to the National Championship event – “Our team has contested ChampCar since 2011, but never have we contested for the National Title. This being a 15 hour event will be a true test of endurance for the drivers, crew and especially the race cars. I know that our team is up to the task. But the reality is that there is a lot that can happen over 900 minutes of racing. And the competition is really strong – so we will have quite a challenge ahead to be in contention come the end of the event.”
The weekend’s events start on Friday, December 5th with a full test day. Saturday will dawn with an 8 hour enduro starting at 8 am. The race will stop at 4 pm – with all National Championship entries set in parc ferme for the night. Then the racing will resume 8 am and run until 3 pm – with the overall winner being crowned the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series National Champion.
2025 Team Sahlen Campaign Partners:
honeybeeBase.com, Malco Products, Porsche Beachwood, Discovery Parts, ECS Tuning, Tarett Engineering, Guard Transmission, HubstandsPRO, Maxima Racing Oil, Pagid Brakes, NGK Spark Plugs, CM Racing Products, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Design Engineering Inc., OMP Racing, Bell Racing, Forgeline Wheels, Optima Batteries, All-Fit Automotive, Capri Tools, Fabspeed Motorsport, Eibach, Rennline & Valco Cincinnati with Big Wrench Racing
