Competing in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge since 2009, Stevenson Motorsports has been inching closer and closer to winning the Grand Sport (GS) championship. After finishing third in 2012, and second the past two seasons, the team has the elusive title within its grasp heading into the 2015 season finale at Road Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 2.
Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell, drivers of the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R, enter the finale with a 28-point lead. To secure the title, starting driver Davis needs to drive the minimum 45 minutes needed to score points. The team won three consecutive rounds early in the season to build up its lead, and won its fourth race in the most recent event at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas.
“Entering this race, we’ve had a lot less pressure than we’ve had at the last few races,” Davis said. “Rum Bum was coming at us so strong. Now we’ve got a little breathing room, but we still have to produce. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, we just need to do what we’ve been doing all season. It’s been an amazing year, and I’m very proud of what this team has accomplished.”
Rum Bum Racing took a two-race winning streak into the Texas event, with brothers Matt and Hugh Plumb cutting the Stevenson lead to only 10 points. However, debris through the radiator of the No. 13 Billfish Foundation/Rum Bum Studios Porsche 911 ended a dominant run, resulting in a 14th-place finish. They now trail in the points, 286-258.
Eliminated from title contention despite being third in the points, Brad Jaeger and BJ Zacharias will be looking to give Doran Racing its first victory in the series. The drivers of the No. 14 Nismo GT Academy Nissan 370Z have scored five podium finishes in the last seven races. The team also fields the No. 41 Nissan for Nicolas Hammann and Steve Doherty.
Other GS teams to watch include Multimatic Motorsports’ two-car entry, the No. 15 Ford Shelby GT350R-C of 2014 Road Atlanta winner Billy Johnson and Scott Maxwell, and the No. 158 Shelby of Jade Buford and Austin Cindric; the No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports IHG Rewards Club/Trim-Tex BMW M3 of 2014 champion Trent Hindman and Ashley Freiberg; and the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R of Matt Bell and Lawson Aschenbach.
CJ Wilson Racing, Freedom Autosport Mazda Teams Separated By One Point Entering ST Finale
CJ Wilson Racing takes a one-point lead atop the Street Tuner (ST) standings entering the Road Atlanta finale. That’s not much security, given that the points lead has changed hands seven times after nine races this season, including one tie.
Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer have two victories in the No. 5 ModSpace Mazda MX-5. They have tallied 241 points, one more than Andrew Carbonell, who won one race with Liam Dwyer in the No. 26 Freedom Autosport SemperFiFund.org Mazda MX-5. Dwyer missed one race due to a minor medical issue and is fifth in the standings.
“With the improvements we have made throughout the year, we are going into the race with more confidence than we have ever had,” McCumbee said. “It’s obviously a high tension deal, but it is what it is. We have to go out and execute as we have done over the last few weeks. We need to keep the (No.) 26 car in sight and as long as we are well into the top 10, we’ll see what we need to do on the last lap.”
Defending ST champion Eric Foss is third in the standings with 226 points. To retain his crown, Foss would need to win alongside co-driver Jeff Mosing in the No. 56 Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman, with the CJ Wilson drivers finishing no better than 12th and Carbonell 11th or worse.
Spencer Pumpelly and Luis Rodriguez Jr. are the hottest pairing in the class, winning four races – including the last two – in the No. 17 RS1 Porsche Cayman. They enter the finale with a slight mathematical chance at the title. RS1 will again take a three-car entry into the event.
Compass360 Racing is the defending ST winner, with Kyle Gimple and Ryan Eversley taking last year’s race in a Honda Civic Si. This weekend, Gimple joins Paul Holton in the No. 75 AERO Advanced Paint Technology/Children’s Tumor Foundation Audi S3. Eversley will join Chad Gilsinger in the No. 93 HART Honda Civic Si.
Opening practice at Road America will be on Wednesday at 2:35 p.m. ET, with qualifying at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday. The two-hour, 30-minute race begins at 12:15 p.m. on Friday, and will be streamed live on IMSA.com and on the IMSA mobile app.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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