Continental Tire Beyond the Podium: CTSC Lime Rock

Continental Tire Beyond the Podium looks at some of the other news, notes and nuggets to come out of this past weekend’s sixth round of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season, from Lime Rock Park.

GS

***The only downside to Multimatic Motorsports’ first 1-2 finish with its pair of new Ford Shelby GT350R-Cs was that Austin Cindric wasn’t present for the podium festivities. Immediately after his stint, Cindric left Lime Rock Park to head to Detroit for his Red Bull Global Rallycross GRC Lites commitments. Co-driver Jade Buford was left to celebrate on the podium on his own, with race winners Scott Maxwell and Billy Johnson.

***In a class move, Stevenson Motorsports’ Andrew Davis apologized to Hugh Plumb and the rest of the Rum Bum Racing crew after the race, after Davis contacted Plumb and knocked him off track in the opening 35 minutes of the race. Davis admitted he misjudged the situation in a rare unforced error.

***Despite the No. 6 car’s contact with the Rum Bum Porsche, Davis and Robin Liddell extended their lead in the GS driver’s championship. With fourth place, it marks the first time in six races this year they have been off the podium.

***Although it was during a round of pit stops, the three laps Brad Jaeger led in the No. 14 Doran Racing Nissan 370Z from Laps 58 to 60 marked the first both the team and car have led in competition this year. Jaeger and BJ Zacharias scored their third podium finish of the year in third place.

***A throttle issue dropped the second Doran Nissan of Steve Doherty and Nic Hammann from a likely fourth or fifth place finish down to seventh in the final 15 minutes. Hammann, who impressed the paddock in his series debut this weekend, turned 22 on Sunday.

ST

***The points lead changed hands with the race-winning CJ Wilson Racing Mazda pair of Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer moving ahead of Freedom Autosport’s Andrew Carbonell and Liam Dwyer.

***Carbonell capped off a tough weekend for the No. 26 Mazda MX-5 with a last lap pass of Terry Borcheller’s No. 23 Burton Racing BMW 128i for 11th. Various mechanical issues limited running for the No. 26 car on Friday before Dwyer qualified 15th in the 28-car field. In-race contact stunted the team’s progress, but they kept going.

***In another quietly solid effort, the No. 44 CRG-I Do Borrow Honda Civic Si of Sarah Cattaneo and Owen Trinkler recorded its third top-five in the last four races with fourth place. Unfortunately, none has yet been a podium! Honda only has one podium finish (third at Watkins Glen) this season.

***Rennsport One put all three of its Porsche Caymans in the top 10, with its No. 17 car third, the No. 18 car fifth, and the No. 19 car in eighth.

***Bill Auberlen and John Edwards were a non-factor in their guest appearance in the No. 21 Burton Racing BMW 128i, struggling with a sway bar failure and hanging on to bring the car home in 22nd place.

***Strategic Wealth Racing led its first laps in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge competition as Corey Lewis paced the field for 15 laps off-sequence in the No. 36 Porsche Cayman. Hopes for a strategic caution, unfortunately, left them without a wealth of options when it stayed green. Lewis, who usually finishes, handed off to Matthew Dicken and the car finished an unrepresentative 19th in class.

***Paul Holton turned in an impressive first stint in the No. 75 Compass360 Racing Audi S3, running a full 64 laps on a single fuel stint before pitting and handing off to Kyle Gimple. Sadly, the long fuel run bit them on the short track, and they ended 17th.

***The No. 87 Rebel Rock Racing Porsche Cayman of Mark Pombo and Ruben Pardo had a wild day, with several spins, an off-course excursion that ran nearly the length of the grass from Turn 1 to Turn 3, contact with Lawson Aschenbach’s No. 9 Stevenson Camaro, and an eventual 18th place finish in class.

AUDIO

BJ Zacharias closed a 10.470-second gap to Jade Buford to just 0.117 of a second by the checkered flag after a spirited charge in the final stint of the race, but was unable to pass the other Ford. If not for the final caution for Kevin Boehm’s stranded Honda Civic Si, Zacharias reckoned he could have passed Buford for second.

Jeff Mosing had a good day’s work in the No. 56 Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman. Mosing stayed close enough to the otherwise dominant Chad McCumbee in his stint before handing over to Eric Foss, then watched from the pit wall as Foss held off Spencer Pumpelly for second in one of the two best battles in the final stages. As Mosing missed the team’s last podium at Daytona for a family commitment, Saturday’s podium was his first in the series since Circuit of the Americas last September.