Craig Stanton and Terry Borcheller scoredtheir third Grand-Am Cup Series victory of the season in as many races inthe Phoenix Grand Sport 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on Fridaynight. The pair piloted TheRaceSite.com Racing No. 44 Porsche to nearly aminute lead over the second-place Doncaster Racing No. 91 Porsche of GregWilkins and Bobby Julien.
A late-race penalty resulted in a change for third place during thecaution-free race. Wayne Nonnamaker was running fourth in theTheRaceSite.com Racing No. 43 Porsche when he clipped the third-placeIstook/Aines Motorsport Group No. 4 Audi S4, sending it into a spin andallowing Nonnamaker to move into third with only six laps remaining.
Race officials penalized the No. 43 Porsche 10 seconds for the aggressivemove, sliding the car back into fourth place. The Unitech Racing No. 23Nissan 350Z of Blake Rosser and Kelly Collins, which was involved in theincident that cut qualifying short earlier in the day, finished in thirdplace, one lap behind the leader.
The No. 4 Audi of Randy Pobst and Dino Crescentini was able to recover fromits spin to take fourth place.
Unitech Racing's other entry, the polesitting No. 33 Nissan, led for morethan half the race before a halfshaft let go on lap 75, allowing Borchellerto maneuver the No. 44 Porsche into the lead. Although the Unitech crew wasable to repair the Nissan in the pits, it finished in 20th place.
The second of the Grand-Am Cup Phoenix Twin 200s will be run on Saturdayafternoon at Phoenix International Raceway featuring the Sport Touring classimmediately prior to the Rolex Sports Car Series Food City 250.
Tickets to Saturday's races are available online at www.phoenixraceway.comor at PIR's ticket office. For additional information on the Grand-Am CupSeries, visit www.grandamerican.com. The Phoenix Twin 200s will be broadcaston SPEED Channel on Sunday, April 18 at noon ET.
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For additional information contact Grand American Road Racing AssociationAdam Saal, Director of Communications,386-547-6711 cellular,asaal@grandamerican.comChristie Hyde, Public Relations Manager, 386-547-8489 cellular,chyde@grandamerican.com
Grand Sport 200 Driver Quotes
Craig Stanton, driver of TheRaceSite.com No. 44 Porsche 996Winner of the Phoenix Grand Sport 200
ON THE WIN"It starts back with the Nonnamakers. This is a really seasoned team. Theyare very focused in the arena. The one-stop pit strategy worked great forus. I think we stretched the fuel load about as far as we could. In mystint, I wanted to put the car in the best position I could for Terry, so Iwas pushing the Nissan pretty hard while trying to preserve our car. TheNissan was better on the banking, but I could keep the pressure on him. Iwanted to burn him down, and I guess we did. Terry took over and put in agreat stint and brought it home. It's pretty unbelievable how this wholeteam rallied. Three wins in a row. That's pretty cool! I'm really, reallypleased for this whole effort."
Terry Borcheller, driver of TheRaceSite.com No. 44 Porsche 996Winner of the Phoenix Grand Sport 200
"We've got a great team. They really stand behind us. Hats off to Craig. Itwas similar to Homestead where Craig got in the beginning, and I finished.We overcame a lot of obstacles in this race. The team did a great pit stop,but the drivers' change was pretty slow. Into my stint something was goingwrong with the car. I'm not sure if it was the diff or what it was, but itwasn't right. I was trying to build as big a lead as I could in case theproblem got worse. So, I was really happy when I could start backing offthere at the end."
Bobby Julien, driver of the Doncaster Racing No. 91 Porsche 996Second-place finisher in the Phoenix Grand Sport 200
ON FINISHING SECOND"It was great. After the bad luck in Daytona where are transmission broke,and in Homestead we dropped out of second place with an overheating motor,we are thrilled to finish the race and finish on the podium. We're back, andwe're having a good time.
Greg Wilkins, driver of the Doncaster Racing No. 91 Porsche 996Second-place finisher in the Phoenix Grand Sport 200
ON THE TRACKIt was a great run. I've never driven this car before this weekend. It tooka little bit of getting used to, because it slides around a little bit morethan the Rolex cars. It was fun.
ON FINISHING SECONDIt's fabulous. For the first time in the car, I didn't expect this result.I'm delighted.
Mike Cronin Jr., driver of the Unitech Racing No. 33 Nissan 350ZPolesitter for the Phoenix Grand Sport 200
ON THE CAR'S PROBLEM"The care was awesome. We thought we would have something for them at theend but something in the axle let go. We had that problem before atVirginia so we will have to go to work on our axles and fix it. It wasactually a U-bolt back there so we will be able to figure out what wentwrong. All in all, the car was good though, both cars on our team. Kelly(Collins) did a great job in the other car and we made the podium."
Stu Hayner, driver of the Unitech Racing No. 33 Nissan 350ZFinished 20th in the Phoenix Grand Sport 200
ON THE CAR'S PROBLEM"I felt a vibration right when I got in the car, saw a little smoke, anddidn't think too much of it. These are race cars, they do that sort ofthing, but then it just went bad. But we had good cars. Typically nothingever, ever goes wrong with these Nissans but today it did, twice. The leftaxle went, we fixed it and then the right side went. At least we think thatis what happened so we will check it out. It was good to run as strong aswe did."
Guy Cosmo, driver of the BGB Motorsports No. 38 Porsche 996Sixth-place finisher in the Phoenix Grand Sport 200
ON THE CAR'S PROBLEM"I lost all gears going into turn one. I went to go down to third, the leverwas moving, but it wasn't in gear. I coasted to a stop and knowingmechanically how that who system works, I tried looking down to see where itbroke and if there was a chance that I could yank on the wires that leadback to the tranny. After fumbling with those, I managed to find a gear,which turned out to be the fourth gear. I got rolling and left it in fourthgear for the remainder of the race. I couldn't take a chance trying to getit to third for a better lap."
Mark Plummer, driver of the BGB Motorsports No. 38 Porsche 996Sixth-place finisher in the Phoenix Grand Sport 200
ON THE FINISH"Last year we would have begged for sixth place, this year we aredisappointed. After crashing out at Homestead, it's great to just roll thecar back on the trailer and get some testing and get ready for Canada."
