Round three of the Grand-Am Cup Series will be held at Phoenix International Raceway with the Phoenix Twin 200s, April 9-10. Tickets are currently on sale for the races and can be purchased online at phoenixinternationalraceway.com. Additional information on the Grand-Am Cup Series is available online at grandamerican.com.
In only its second Grand-Am Cup Series race, Turner Motorsports improved upon its third-place finish at the season opener in Daytona, finishing second with the No. 95 BMW 330i of Don Salama and Will Turner. Team Lexus rounded out the class podium with the No. 3 Lexus IS 300 of Andy Lally and Jason Bowles.
Martin and co-driver Scott Turner finished in second place overall, while Fox and co-driver Tracy Krohn took third.The Sport Touring race was a battle throughout the entire three hours, with numerous cars taking their turn at the front. In the closing minutes of the race, a trio of cars mixed it up for the lead, exchanging places at the front of the class nearly every lap. When the full-course caution came out at the end of the race, it was the DF Motorsports No. BMW 328i of Manny Matz and Jason Potter in the lead for the team's first win.
The Anchor Racing No. 92 BMW M3 slid across the gravel pit and into the wall in turn six with only 10 minutes remaining in the race. Safety crews were unable to retrieve the BMW before the three-hour time limit, resulting inthe race ending under yellow.
The battle for second place overall was heated up as the three-hour time limit clicked closer. Joe Fox was running third in the G&W Motorsports No.81 Porsche with Dean Martin in the second-place Rehagen Racing No. 52Mustang Cobra SVT within his sights. With the Mustang beginning to lose its tires, Fox was ready to pounce when the sixth full-course caution of the race came out.
TheRaceSite.com Racing No. 44 Porsche lost the lead briefly to the TF RacingNo. 47 Mustang Saleen and Race Prep Motorsports No. 18 Porsche during its pit stop under full-course caution. However, Borcheller quickly maneuvered the No. 44 Porsche back to the front only one lap after the green flag and kept it in the lead through the checkered flag.
The Michael Baughman Racing No. 45 Firebird claimed the lead next, but held it for only four laps before being passed by Stanton in the No. 44 Porsche.Although the Firebird continued to be a threat for the lead, it was taken out of the race when it got entangled with the Turner Motorsports No. 97 BMW330i on lap 53.
Polesitter Anders Hainer kept the Istook/Aines Motorsport Group No. 04 AudiS4 out in front of the field for the first 29 laps of the race. He lost the lead on a pit stop during a full-course caution and fell further behind when he was assessed a stop-and-go penalty when the race returned to green for running over equipment when he exited the pits. Mechanical trouble later in the race sent the polesitting car behind the wall, taking it out of contention for the win.
Stanton started TheRaceSite.com Racing No. 44 Porsche 996 in the outside pole position and handed the reigns over to Borcheller just past the halfway mark in the three-hour race.
Terry Borcheller and Craig Stanton scored their second victory of the Grand-Am Cup Series season, repeating their success from the season opener with a win in the Grand-Am Cup 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday.
