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Western Swing Challenges FR500 Cars
May 14 - Spencer Pumpelly started from the pole position in the #49 Porsche 997 and led throughout his stint before handing off to co-driver Andy Lally. Lally went on to win the Avondale Mazda GS 200 by 11.808 seconds over Hainer and Said in the #97 BMW M3 in Saturday's Grand Am Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway.
Rob Finlay and Michael McDowell co-drove the #15 Playboy Racing Ford Mustang GT to a fifth-place result. Valerie Limoges and Ian James finished eleventh in the #4 Blackforest Motorsports Mustang. The #37 JBS Motorsports car, #16 Champion Motorsports Mustang and #3 Blackforest GT ended the race in 15th to 17th spots, respectively.
A week ago, the U.S. Sports Car Invitational race in Monterey, CA saw similarly disenchanting results from the ponycar herd. Notorious for its lack of grip, Laguna Seca Raceway penalized the Mustangs for their weight and need for traction.
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At the end, three Mustangs finished just out of podium position, with Limoges and Empringham in fourth with the Blackforest #4 car, team-mates Barber and Borcheller landed in fifth, while the Rehagen Racing GT, driven by Plummer and Stanton, occupied the half-dozen mark. Jumping to 16th place found the Smith/Kohler-driven TF Racing car and in 20th spot was the #3 Blackforest Mustang of MacDonald and Scattolin.
Continued popularity of the Grand Am Cup series has maintained very high entrant numbers that, particularly on short tracks, has resulted in freeway-style congestion and repeated full course caution periods. Both the Phoenix and Lime Rock events split the competition into two events - one for GS class and another for the ST group - given that the courses are just 1.5 miles long.
The Grand Am teams now head back east for a May 26 - 29 shindig at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.
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