With Sunday Sprint Victory at the Daytona Continental Historics
Sandridge Ends Title-Winning 2012 Campaign the Same Way it Started in Palm Beach in February
Ending the season the way he started it nearly nine months ago at Palm Beach International Raceway, Mark Sandridge closed out his championship-winning 2012 Pirelli Cayman Interseries Endurance Cup Championship campaign with a victory in Sundays season-ending sprint race at the Daytona Continental Historic Races.
Sandridge, who clinched the 2012 Pirelli Cayman Interseries Pro Division Championship with teammate Joe Varde in Saturdays 75-minute enduro race, took the lead from Al Carter with less than two laps to go in the Sunday morning sprint for his first race win of the Daytona Continental Historics weekend. Carter had swept the weekends pair of races on Saturday but had no answer when Sandridge made his winning pass today.
What a way to top off a championship with a great weekend after a long, long season, Sandridge said. I just want to thank HSR for everything they do and Napleton Porsche too. They build great cars and the Pirelli Cayman Interseries is a fun place to race. I also want to thank Joe Varde and Joe Hall, I couldnt do it without them and how could it be any better than this?
The victory completed an outstanding season for Sandridge and Varde that began with another sprint victory in the very first points race of the 2012 season last February at Palm Beach. The championship-winning duo raced all season in Sandridges white and red-and-yellow striped No. 49 Cayman S modeled after his 1994 IMSA Champion Team Salad Porsche 911 RSR.
Carter, who was making his Pirelli Cayman Interseries debut this weekend in the No. 59 Chris Smith Racing Cayman S, left Daytona pleased despite coming up just short of a three-race weekend sweep.
Mark kept the pressure on me and I almost met a new friend down there in Turn 1 with the barrier wall, Carter said. I got a little wide, Mark got through and it was good racing, I just couldnt catch him.
Bill Riddell shook off a hard weekend to finish third Sunday in his green No. 80 Cayman S that carries the white striped livery of a David Piper Racing Porsche 917K.
We had a tough weekend until now, Riddell said. We caught some cones over there at the bus-stop chicane, tore the whole front of the car out, and took the radiator out, so my guys were real happy to see me after that! Then in the enduro we lost a tire on the last lap and I was just trying to limp it in, so it is great to finally get on the podium. It was still a great weekend.
Tom Bloom, who backed up his breakout overall enduro victory at Sebring two weeks ago with a sweep of Saturdays pair of Sportsman class races at Daytona, suffered a rare dose of bad luck at the start of the Sunday sprint. Bloom lost the clutch in his black and red No. 16 Cayman S on the parade lap and never took the green flag.
Despite the Sunday morning setback, Bloom still earned both the Daytona and year-end JRZ Suspension Engineering Fine Tuning Awards. The honor is presented at most Pirelli Cayman Interseries races to the driver that best demonstrates improved lap times and performance through the use of suspension and setup changes during the event weekend.
Sandridge and Varde were also presented on Sunday with one-of-a-kind Louis Chevrolet Swiss Watches in commemoration of their 2012 HSR Pirelli Cayman Interseries championship. The custom designed timepieces feature HSR logo engravings on a watch that is already a popular item with collectors around the world.
Rounding out the top five in the Sunday sprint were debuting driver Keith Faver in a blue and white No. 14 Cayman S modeled after Al Holberts famous Lowenbrau Porsche 962 and Darrell Fancher in his white No. 72 Cayman S. Both Caymans are prepared and entered by Riddells RaceLink shop out of Jacksonville, Florida.
About The Pirelli Cayman Interseries Endurance Cup Championship: Established in 2009 by Napleton Porsche of Westmont, Illinois, the Pirelli Cayman Interseries Endurance Cup Championship is North Americas only auto racing series featuring the exclusive use of the 320-horsepower Porsche Cayman S. Sanctioned by Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR), the Pirelli Cayman Interseries conducted its first official seasons in 2010 and 2011 and crowned a pair of champion drivers in both the sprint and endurance racing formats each year. Races are run on legendary circuits such as Daytona, Sebring, Road Atlanta, Road America and other premier venues. Every competing Porsche Cayman S is exclusively supplied and prepared by Napleton Porsche and each car competes with an assigned and specific heritage livery themed after a famous Porsche race car from the past.
