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 PHOENIX,
AZ (April 10-11) -- Both the Grand American Rolex Series and the
Grand-Am Cup Series were in action over the weekend at Phoenix
International Raceway. In the Grand-Am Series, Craig Stanton and Terry
Borcheller (left in photo) remained undefeated on the season winning
their third race in a row competing in the Grand Sport class. While in
the Sport Touring class in the Grand-Am Series, Sylvain Tremblay and
David Haskell (right in photo) were first-time winners this season in
a Mazda RX-8. It was the first North American professional race win
for the RX-8. The Grand-Am Series has run exclusively on Hoosier tires
since its inception in 1999. In the Rolex Series, Michael Levitas and
Randy Pobst were the top finishing team in the SGS class (14th
overall). This season, for the first time ever, the SGS class runs
exclusively on Hoosier tires.
GRAND-AM SERIES
GRAND SPORT CLASS
PHOENIX, AZ (April 10) -- On Saturday, the first of two Grand-Am
Series races making up the Phoenix Twin 200's was contested. The
Phoenix Grand Sport 200 was won by the team of Craig Stanton and Terry
Borcheller driving the TheRaceSite.com No. 44 Porsche 996. The team is
undefeated on the season winning first at Daytona in February and,
then again, at Homestead (FL) in March. They won by nearly a minute
over Canada's Greg Wilkins and Robert Julien in the Doncaster Racing
Porsche 996. Blake Rosser and Kelly Collins, one lap down, rounded out
the top three driving the Unitech Racing Nissan 350Z.
The race had 28 entrants competing on the 1.51-mile
course. The race was completed in 2:30:57.352 with the No. 44 car
winning by 54.17 seconds. The winning Porsche 996 had a best lap time
of 1:08.151 while averaging 76.822 mph.
SPORT TOURING CLASS
PHOENIX, AZ (April 11) -- On Sunday, the Phoenix Sport Touring 200
was won by David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay--both drivers hail from
Florida. The pair took the win by only taking on two tires during
their pit stop when the race leader opted for four fresh Hoosiers. The
strategy paid off with their first win of the season in the
SpeedSource Mazda RX-8. It was also the model's first North American
professional race win.
Massachusetts's Don Salma and Will Turner settled for
the runner-up spot after starting on the pole in the Turner Motorsport
BMW 330i. Bob Beede and Eric Curran finished in third place claiming
the final podium spot driving the Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX-S.
The race had 19 participants and took 2:30:51.718 to
complete. The race winning car averaged 75.069 mph and won by a margin
of 27.642 seconds.
ROLEX SERIES
PHOENIX, AZ (April 11) -- After the
completion of the Grand-Am Sport Touring 200, the Rolex Series
contested the Food City 250. When the race was over, the SGS team of
Michael Levitas and Randy Pobst were the SGS winners. The pair guided
the TPC Racing Porsche GT3 No. 36 car to an overall 14th place finish.
Impressive about the run was that the team's best lap time was on lap
121 of the 126 laps they ran on the day on Hoosier tires. Finishing in
second place in the SGS class (15th overall) was Craig Stanton and
David Murray. Marc Bunting and Andy Lally finished third (16th
overall).
This is the first season the SGS class
has run exclusively on Hoosier tires. Forty teams started the race
with 12 competing in the SGS class.
The race was attended by Hoosier's
Grand-Am Track Service Manager Tim Gilvin and the Hoosier track
service team.
Next up on the circuit is a trip north to Canada at
the Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant on May 21-23.
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