Erin Vogel Joins Round 3 Racing for Eastern Championship
Vogel to join Unser and Cook to field first all-female lineup in for R3R in WRL on board championship-leading entry
Joliet, Ill. (19 October 2022) - With an established record of success with strong female pilots in their driver lineups, Round 3 Racing (R3R) will field an all-female entry for the first time as the 2022 World Racing League powered by Hagerty Eastern Championship season heads to Sebring International Raceway on October 28-30th.
SRO GT World Challenge America driver Erin Vogel will join R3R, teaming with fellow Shift Up Now drivers Loni Unser and Sabré Cook in the No. 701 Cooper Tire Porsche Cayman. The Cooper Tire team will be the first all-female-driven lineup that R3R has fielded in WRL. The No. 701 Porsche currently leads the WRL Eastern Championship going into the Sebring weekend.
Vogel started in motorsports by taking her street car to local track events which evolved into competing at a professional level. In 2021, Vogel competed in the SRO GT World Challenge America series and she became the first female to win a race in the Pro-Am class globally. During that same season, Vogel and teammate Micheal Cooper earned three podiums and a pole award. The Vogel / Cooper duo just wrapped up the 2022 SRO GT World Challenge America season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with RealTime Racing, competing in an Acura NSX GT3.
"I'm really excited to be joining Round 3 Racing for the Sebring round of WRL," said Vogel, a Shift Up Now driver (https://shiftupnow.com/). "The whole team has been so welcoming, and I'm particularly excited to work with Loni Unser and Sabré Cook, two women for whom I have enormous respect for as drivers and as leaders. I'm confident that we're going to have a great weekend!"
Other Shift Up Now drivers on R3R's lineup include Sarah Montgomery, competing in the No. 401 Hagerty BMW M4 GT4, and Hannah Grisham, racing the No. 605 Hagerty Drivers Club Porsche Boxster. Vogel marks the tenth Shift Up Now driver to team up with R3R since 2019, when the partnership began.
"I've been following Erin in SRO for a few years, and I have been a big fan," said Brad McCall, owner of R3R. "When I met her at VIR this year we struck up an immediate friendship. She fits in perfectly with the family atmosphere at R3R and we all wanted to get her into one of our cars ASAP. An opportunity arose to have her join us for the WRL event at Sebring and we both (Erin and R3R) jumped at the chance. Not only are we excited to have Erin bring her professionalism and experience to R3R, but we're thrilled that she will be a part of our all-female team in the No. 701 Porsche. Plus, Erin started off her intro to our team by asking if we're going to wear Halloween costumes at Sebring. She's going to fit in perfectly!"
The No. 701 team will aim to continue their podium momentum from Virginia International Raceway at Sebring later this month. The race weekend begins on Friday, October 28th, with practice and qualifying, followed by two days of action-packed racing. The Sebring event marks the first WRL event where tickets can be purchased (https://bit.ly/3TiFqKV).