Gormley, Ontario – Racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park only once this season with Pirelli World Challenge, Samantha Tan had great expectations. Having left COTA with unfinished business, Samantha was ready to take on the track and get serious.

With a new motor in her No. 38 GPI/Kia Forte Koup, Tan had to get re-acquainted with her race car, which seemed to be a more delicate task than it appeared to be. Unable to get more than 5500 RPM out of her newly installed engine, Thursday’s practice sessions were dedicated to testing and fine tuning. Nevertheless, once comfortable, Samantha found some horsepower in her machine. While she was trying to get the best qualifying time on a track she knows so well, she was slowed down by a pack of slower competitors and had to accept an unsatisfying P9 with a best lap time of 1:37.184.

“I didn’t like my qualifying session, it was not my best”, admitted Samantha. “I could have done a lot better if I would have had the chance to have some room in front of me. Those guys were slowing me down, and even if I was giving them a huge gap of about ten seconds, I was getting caught up with them all the time. With some space, it would have made a big difference with my overall performance.”

During Round Four of the Pirelli World Challenge season, and the first race of the weekend on Friday, Samantha was not happy with the car. Overheating issues kept her from climbing more than three positions but she had a great time battling with Emilee Tominovich and Patrick Seguin. She finished the race in sixth position in class just behind Seguin and in front of Tominovich by 1.714 seconds.

Saturday’s race had a different flavor. A first standing start brought interesting challenges to the competition, and the loss of several positions at the start stimulated the competitiveness in Samantha Tan. Staying behind was not an option. Especially at her home race track. Climbing back up from the 11th place, and catching up to Seguin once again, Tan was in a very good place and battled with him for the third place. Seguin finished in front with a margin of only 0.74 seconds.

The final round of the weekend took place on Sunday morning. Much more confident for this race, Samantha Tan was fifth in class on the grid. The start was better managed by Tan and the race went well until her teammate, Jason Wolfe, got hit by a competitor. This race incident caused a full-course yellow and a restart. With hopes that the restart would help her pass several cars, Tan was boxed in and held hostage to the traffic around her, not able to go anywhere. Managing traffic for several laps, she ended the race with a respectable fifth position.

“Overall, it was a good race weekend”, shared her coach Pierre Savoy. “She progresses very well and I am very proud of Samantha. There are still things we need to work on in order to prepare for the next event. Road America is a demanding circuit. But the fact that Samantha has raced on it before should help considerably. In addition, this track falls in her preferred track configurations (as well as mine), so we should be in good shape.”

Rounds 7, 8 and 9 will take place on June 26-28 at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Samantha’s race fans can follow her on Facebook (STRSamantha) and on Twitter (@STR_Samantha).

To learn more about Samantha Tan, visit www.samanthatanracing.com.