Continental Tire Beyond the Podium: CTSC Road Atlanta

Continental Tire Beyond the Podium looks at some of the other news, notes and nuggets to come out of this past weekend’s tenth and final round of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season, from Road Atlanta.

GS

***Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell not only secured the driver’s championships, but also provided Chevrolet its first GS Manufacturer Championship and Stevenson Motorsports its first ever championship in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Davis and Liddell completed a perfect run of 10 top-five finishes in as many starts in their No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R.

***Billy Johnson and Scott Maxwell moved up to third in driver points to conclude the season with their No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Shelby GT350R-C, following a fourth-place finish. Meanwhile Fall-Line Motorsports ended third in team points following its win by Trent Hindman and Ashley Freiberg in the No. 46 BMW M3.

***Mantella Autosport banked its best results of the season with Kyle Marcelli and Martin Barkey a season-best third, and Mark Wilkins and team principal Anthony Mantella an season-best equaling fifth in its pair of Camaros.

***By contrast, Doran Racing failed to place either of its Nissan 370Zs in the top five for only the fourth time in 10 races this year. The No. 14 car sustained damage to its right rear, its suspension and its exhaust system in an accident, and Brad Jaeger and BJ Zacharias fell from third to fifth in driver points.

***Racers Edge Motorsports sent its venerable Ford Mustang Boss 302R out with a top-10 finish, with Michael Lira and returning driver David Levine ending 10th in the No. 57 car.

ST

***Class champions CJ Wilson Racing and drivers Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer finished eighth in the No. 5 Mazda MX-5, which was actually the pairing’s worst finish since coming home 18th at the season opener at Daytona. The CJWR team picked up a number of pieces of hardware and awards at Friday night’s Continental Tire championship celebration.

***Each of the three cars that finished on the ST class podium – the No. 75 Compass360 Racing Audi S3, No. 73 MINI JCW and No. 23 Burton Racing BMW 128i – made it to the podium for the first time this season.

***Next Level European led the Porsche Cayman contingent with results of fifth and sixth for the Nos. 38 and 83 entries. Seth Thomas and Dan Rogers closed with back-to-back fifth places in the No. 38 car.

***Despite its last lap accident, the second Compass360 Audi of Nico Rondet and Jim McGuire still ended a season-best ninth, with Rondet OK after the accident. Their best previous result had been 11th at Watkins Glen.

***A tough day for the Rennsport One team saw all four of its Caymans outside the top 10, with team newcomers Casey Carden and Ben Haymann 11th the best of the bunch in the No. 88 car. Although Spencer Pumpelly and Luis Rodriguez Jr. ended 15th, they still ended third in points with a class-high four wins.

***HART placed both of its cars in the top-10, with Chad Gilsinger and Ryan Eversley fourth and Kevin Boehm and Steve Eich 10th in the pair of Honda Civic Sis.

***Strategic Wealth Racing’s run of three top-10s in a row came to an end, as Matthew Dicken and Corey Lewis finished 14th in the No. 36 Porsche Cayman run by Goldcrest Motorsports.

AUDIO

Hear from Kyle Marcelli after he nearly tracked down and passed fellow Camaro driver Robin Liddell for second in Friday’s race.

Mat Pombo wasn’t even scheduled to drive until late race week, and then wound up delivering a 26th to second performance co-driving with Derek Jones in the No. 73 MINI JCW.