ANOTHER TRACK RECORD: Lee Saunders takes Viper to victory lane at Sebring.

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Lee Saunders’ car may have carried an “R” denoting a rookie driver, but the Florida native drove like a veteran in his debut with the Trans Am Series at famed Sebring International Raceway in his home state. Racing a Viper in the TA3I (International) class in the Earwood Classic, which served as the opening round of the 2014 Trans Am Championship, Saunders earned the pole position and led the entire distance of the 37-lap race to score the win.
Saunders also opened the event by turning a lap of 2:17 in his Viper to best the field in qualifying for the TA3I class. The race at the historic 3.74-mile circuit began with a total of 49 cars on the grid in four classes. The TA3 class is Trans Am’s production-based class, and found Saunders competing against both domestic and foreign makes in the International segment of the class. The win marked the first in Trans Am competition for a Viper in well over a decade.
En route to his TA3I victory in his 2008 Viper ACR-X, Saunders, who hails from Lakeland, Florida, set a new class track record with a lap of 2:16.918-seconds. He finished 19th overall of the 49 entrants, the highest-placing driver of the TA3I competitors. A total of four different classes comprised the starting field at Sebring.
“The win was very special for me as my first car, which I still have, was a 1970 AAR ‘Cuda, built specifically to homologate the car for the Trans Am series,” said Saunders. “Because of this, I have always loved the Trans Am series. When I learned that the Viper ACR-X would be legal for TA3 this year, I thought it would be a great opportunity to finally get a chance to run in the series. That we actually won and set a new track record is beyond my wildest dreams.”
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That's awesome! Congrats Lee!

I got to hang out with him for a while at VOI12, very cool guy. Also saw him run that monster silver/blue GTS at mopar nats a few years ago. That thing is bad.

[C.J]

Fantastic job, contrats on your win and track record!