Father-Son Duo Return to No. 30 Copps Industries Ligier in Sebring
Sebring, Fla. (14 July 2020) – Jr III (“Junior Three”) Racing heads to Sebring International Raceway this weekend to contest Round Two of the 2020 IMSA Prototype Challenge (IPC) season. Saturday’s one hour, 45-minute race will stream live on NBC TrackPass starting at 11:50 AM ET. Jr III Racing’s father-son driving duo of Greg and Eric Palmer will share the driving duties on board the No. 03 Copps Industries Ligier JSP3 around the iconic road course. The Palmers showed skill and determination in their IMSA Prototype Challenge debut together, racing through the three-hour endurance event to score a top ten finish in their first outing on board the capable Ligier prototype machine at Daytona International Speedway. The pair both have previous experience on the 3.74-mile track with Greg having raced in the Porsche GT3 Cup as well as getting some testing laps in the Ligier along with Eric earlier in the year.
With forecasted 90-plus degree weather, the hot Florida sun will play a factor with the large field as the two Wisconsin natives look to build on their Daytona outing following a long Covid-induced layoff for the series.
“With the IMSA Prototype Challenge Sebring race coming up next week, we are looking forward to being back in the car and competing at a high level again,” said the younger Palmer, Eric. “After not racing since January at Daytona, I’m sure the team is just as eager as we are to finally be back in the paddock. We had the chance to test there and that was good preparation not only for driving the car, but also for the heat. It is a challenging track but we are really looking forward to getting back to racing this weekend.”
The return to IMSA competition isn’t the first outing for the Palmers since Daytona, though, as the duo stayed fresh last month by taking the No. 03 Copps Industries Ligier to the SVRA event at Road America. The Palmers utilized the race weekend to develop the handling of the car, perfect the brake reaction as well as get more comfortable with the cockpit fitment to be 100% prepared heading back into IMSA action. The work paid off and the Palmers started on pole for the opening race and scored three podium finishes over the weekend.
“I’m most looking forward to getting on track for an IMSA start and seeing a line of LMP3 race cars ready to blast off when the green flag drops,” said the elder Palmer, Greg. “Getting back on the podium at Road America in the prototype helped our confidence in the car. Our goal for the weekend is to give it our best and focus on hitting our marks, and see what that brings us.”
The Jr III Racing crew has kept hard at work tuning the white and blue Prototype over the break. Team owner Billy Glavin also competed in the SVRA race weekend in the team’s second Ligier Prototype with his father Bill co-driving. Setting the driver hat down and putting the team owner hat back on ahead of the IMSA event, Glavin is optimistic heading to Sebring. “I am very excited to be back racing with IMSA and restarting our professional race season,” said Glavin. “The team, drivers and car are well prepared for this event and we are looking forward to hitting the ground running again. My goal for the weekend is to continue to build upon our 10th place finish at Daytona and run near the front. With the sprint race format, we will only do one pit stop so that will be critical to execute precisely to get Greg out of the car and Eric in with new tires and a full tank of fuel. I think we have done the work needed as a team to be very competitive on track and in the pits, so we are very excited to get a chance to race again.” The No. 03 Copps Industries Ligier will take the green flag Saturday, July 11th at 11:50AM ET. Flag-to-flag coverage will be available on TrackPass available on NBC Sports Gold.
Media Contact: Maddie Komar (maddie@sundaymanagement.com)