Tony Buffomante Joins TA2 fray with Mike Cope Racing at VIR
Mike Cope Racing Enterprises, Inc. announced today that Tony Buffomante will pilot the #77 Mike Cope Racing Camaro in the TA2 class in round the 10 of the SCCA Trans Am Championship at the famous Virginia International Raceway in Alton, VA. Buffomante, who scored three podiums and five Top-5 finishes in five weekends in the Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) GTS class this season, will make his second career start in TA2.
In 2013, Tony made his debut in Trans Am with a stunning performance at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for Wheels America Racing, in which he sat on the pole and led every lap en route to the victory in his first ever weekend in a Trans Am car.
“I can’t wait to get back into one of these cars!”, Buffomante said. “Last year I had a blast, and the series continues to grow leaps and bounds with new manufacturers, drivers and teams; especially in TA2.
I had a great time in PWC this year and thought we did a good job with the budget we had to work with. We had several podiums and were the fastest thing on track at several venues. But after burning through a big budget in a short time, my supporters and I were looking to do some more cost-effective professional racing. TA2 fits the bill nicely with the platform, rules package and intense competition at some of the best tracks in the country, including one of my favorites, VIR!
When I met with Mike and toured his facilities, it was pretty clear to me that our way of thinking is similar and our goals are aligned. We are both very hungry for race wins to build on the already great success he’s had with his chassis in the hands of Ron and Kevin.”
Mike Cope Racing has been impressive this year in its first full season of competition and is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in road racing. At present, there are 9 Mike Cope Racing chassis in circulation with new orders coming in every week.
“I’m very excited to add Tony to the MCR stable at VIR this year”, said team Principal Mike Cope.
“He has a long history of road racing in this country and has won in virtually everything he’s been in. We are building our road racing reputation one car at a time, and when someone like that comes to the shop and says ‘let’s go racing’, I think that tells us that we are doing a lot of things right in the short-time we’ve been operating this program.
Ron and Kevin have been all over the podium this year, and I’m confident that we can get Tony in the mix right away as well. There are a lot of exciting things happening at Mike Cope Racing Enterprises right now, and think this is the tip-of-the-iceberg from what you are going to see from us for the remainder of this year and going into 2015.”
About Mike Cope Racing Enterprises
The name Cope has long been associated with the world of oval track stock car racing, most notably in NASCAR. However, after successfully fielding cars part time in both GTA and TA2 classes over the past few years, Mike Cope Racing Enterprises is dedicating their knowledge and experience to the Trans Am Series. In December 2013 after the approval from Trans Am, MCRE became an authorized chassis builder for the series. This season, Mike Cope racing has scored a recent win at Brainerd International Raceway and several podium finishes with current drivers Ron Keith and Kevin Poitras.
