Bill Fenton Motorsports Takes Sport Touring Victory
TheRaceSite.com team kicked off the 2004 Grand-Am Cup Series with a victory Friday evening in the Daytona 250. Fuel conservation was key in drivers Craig Stanton and Terry Borcheller putting the No. 44 Porsche 996 in Gatorade Victory Lane.
"I knew that the Porsche's were really good on fuel from racing against theNonnamakers in the BMW last year," said Borcheller. "I was able to shortshift when I could, draft when I could to conserve fuel."
The polesitting No. 91 Porsche 996 of Doncaster Racing was a frontrunner formuch of the race and was in the lead on lap 50 of the 70-lap race whengearbox trouble took it out of the race. Although the team was able torepair the Porsche in the garage, it lost eight laps and finished 19th inthe Grand Sport class.
The Powell Motorsports No. 11 Firebird, which had battle with the No. 91Porsche for the lead, claim the top spot when the Porsche was struck withtrouble. However it ducked into the pits for fuel and tires on lap 54 andcould not manage to make its way back to the front of pack before thecheckered, finishing fifth overall.
TheRaceSite.com No. 43 Porsche next took over the lead, but it too was sentinto the pits with 11 laps remaining in the race for a splash of fuel,allowing Borcheller to move to the front, where he remained for thecheckered despite the fuel light that came on in the Porsche.
"I heard the fuel light came on. It must have been an hour ago, it feelslike, and Terry's going 'Oh I can make, I can make it,'" said Stanton, whoanxiously sat in the pits the last few laps waiting to see if his teammatewould make it to the checkered.
The BGB Motorsports No. 38 Porsche 996 of Guy Cosmo and Mark Plummer broughthome second-place honors overall.
"I'm really happy. Two wins in a row last year was really tough to beat. Iwanted to come in here and show the guys that we could pull off three, butfinishing second to a guy like Terry Borcheller isn't too bad. I'm not tooupset," said Cosmo.
Mike Cronin Jr. and Stu Hayner rounded out the overall and Grand Sportpodium with the Unitech Racing No. 33 Nissan 350Z.
John Schmitt and Mike Liebl captured the Sport Touring victory, piloting theBill Fenton Motorsports No. 29 Acura RSX-S to a lap lead over the TC KlineRacing No. 12 BMW Z4 of Anita Sangi and Neal Sapp.
"The car worked really well. Bob (Beede of the No. 29 Acura) and I swappedthe lead a few times. I just hung in there. I gave a good car to Mike(Liebl) and he did a wonderful job," said Schmitt, who won the STchampionship last season.
"It was just a great day. I've got to hand it to Steve Wheeler. He made anincredible call on the pit stops and that made the whole day. John reallydid all the hard work - picked off the fast laps. All I had to do was get inthere and drive," said Liebl.
The Grand-Am Cup Series will travel next to Homestead-Miami Speedway for theGrand-Am Cup 250, March 27-28. The Daytona 250 will be broadcast on SPEEDChannel on Saturday, February 14 at 4 p.m.
