Record 14 Different Drivers Win Races in Banner Weekend of America's GT Cup Competition
LeQueux's Stuttgart Cup Championship, Lopez-Santini's Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy Title and The Maranello Cup's Debut Highlight Competitive Weekend with More Than 30 America's GT Cup Competitors
A record 14 different drivers won races in America's GT Cup competition this weekend at the Sebring Historics where Dominique LeQueux clinched The Stuttgart Cup season championship and Juan Lopez-Santini won the Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy USA championship in the season-ending race at Sebring International Raceway.
The competitive weekend, that attracted an entry of 31 America's GT Cup competitors, also marked the debut of The Maranello Cup, the newest America's GT Cup series that showcases previously eligible Ferrari Challenge race cars. Three different drivers won Maranello Cup races at Sebring.
Teams came to Sebring from all corners of the United States and beyond, from as far away as the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Northeast U.S. and Canada, to race in what was the biggest weekend of competition to date for America's GT Cup.
"The 2015 season has actually been fantastic," Lopez-Santini said. "We have had more cars, more people are coming over and the quality of drivers is very high. We have a really good camaraderie with everyone and enjoy coming to the track. I am looking forward to 2016, the Ferraris are here and I am glad to see that they are bringing competition. In qualifying I was third behind the Ferraris and I thought we were going to end up ahead of them. They are bringing their A game, we are going to do the same and it's just going to be more and more fun next year."
The weekend's total tally of 14 different class winners in five races was one more than the 13 drivers that raced to the top step of podium in last month's Daytona Historics at Daytona International Speedway.
The majority of the winners scored multiple race victories, including Lopez-Santini who avenged narrowly losing the season title in last year's Sebring finale with victories this past weekend in both sprints and Saturday's one-hour Enduro. Racing his 2008 3.8-liter No. 810 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup prepared by the 901 Shop, Lopez-Santini's Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy championship was his first in America's GT Cup competition.
Like Lopez-Santini, LeQueux won the Stuttgart Cup championship after a string of race wins throughout the season in his MOMO-themed No. 30 Cayman S prepared by Goldcrest Motorsports. Sebring was a rare weekend in that LeQueux did not win a race but a third-place showing in the one-hour Enduro combined with top-five showings in the first two sprints to clinch the title.
The Maranello Cup, which will run a full season alongside The Stuttgart Cup and Mission Foods GT3 Cup next year in America's GT Cup, moved off to a strong start in its season debut.
Chuck Quinton emerged as the top winner in the new series, winning all three sprints in the Maranello Cup and taking F458 honors in each at the wheel of his No. 112 Team SubscriptionSiteStartup.com F458.
Mario Guerin finished second to Quinton in all three races in his No. 720 F458 while Patrick Mullaney took runner-up honors in the Friday and Saturday sprints in his No. 136 F458 prepared by Speed Works.
"Absolutely a great weekend," Mullaney said. "This is the first time we have done The Maranello Cup, I have raced in The Stuttgart Cup with the Porsches before - always a great event - but this was the first opportunity we have had to put the Ferraris and the Porsches together on the same track, door-to-door at the same time, and it worked out absolutely great. It was really good racing, everybody enjoyed themselves, it was just good, good professional solid racing. I am going to be back, I am signed up now for next year."
Steven Hill was the Maranello Cup's top F430 competitor, taking three victories in his No. 33 F430, while F355 competitor Colin Cohen swept all three sprints and took class honors in the one-hour Enduro in his No. 8 F355. Both Hill's and Cohen's Ferraris are prepared by Norwood Auto Italia.
In Mission Foods GT3 Cup, 2014 series champion Steven White and driving coach and co-driver Louis-Philippe Dumoulin also posted multiple victories in the 4-liter No. 139 Porsche 991 GT America prepared by Alegra Motorsports. White raced to the Friday sprint win while Dumoulin scored class and overall victories in the No. 139 in the weekend's other two sprints.
White and Dumoulin also teamed up for the weekend's Enduros, finishing second to Lopez-Santini in the one-hour race and then scoring an impressive overall victory in Sunday's featured 4 Hours of Sebring. With the 2015 championships already decided before the race, the season-ending four-hour turned into an all-out battle for the overall victory.
White and Dumoulin battled throughout the four hours with Lopez-Santini and his co-driver Brady Refenning as well as the Team Salad 3.8-liter No. 255 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup car of Mark Sandridge and Joe Varde. All three finished on the same lap with Sandridge crossing the line in second just ahead of third-place finisher Lopez-Santini.
The 4 Hours of Sebring was also the crowning victory in a great debut weekend for Speedsport Tuning in The Stuttgart Cup. John Uglum drove his Texaco-Havoline/Bayside Porsche 962-themed No. 711 Cayman S to his second win of the weekend in the four-hour race in an impressive solo drive. Uglum's first win came earlier on Sunday in the morning sprint race.
Uglum's Speedsport Tuning teammate Carlos Gomez also earned a pair of victories in his Stuttgart Cup debut, winning the first two sprints in his No. 75 Cayman S before finishing second to Uglum in the third sprint.
"It's a great bunch of guys and the cars themselves are just fantastic," said Speedsport Tuning Owner and Chief Mechanic Spenser Cox. "It's nice to run with the Ferraris out there and the Porsche Cup cars and you always have a 'rabbit' to chase. My two drivers, Carlos and John, have run in other series for many years but just really like this, they liked the camaraderie, they liked hanging out with the other guys and it is nice being in what is more toward a professional-feeling series. There is a hospitality tent that shows us the organizers really care and are mindful that we pay a lot of money to do this. It is nice to be appreciated and get nice trophies to take home at the end of the weekend for bragging. We are not pro racers, we are not getting a pay check, but if you work real hard and your crew keeps a car underneath you, then you can actually bring home a trophy to show for everything you invested, and that's huge!"
The weekend's other Stuttgart Cup Cayman winner was season-long competitor Rick Stavola who won the one-hour Enduro in his Racelink-prepared No. 22 Cayman S. Stavola battled LeQueux for the Stuttgart Cup title all year and to the very end of the Saturday Enduro but ultimately settled for championship runner-up honors after a great season.
Other race winners from the Sebring weekend included David Ducote who won the Friday sprint overall in his Kelly Moss Motorsports 3.8-liter No. 701 Porsche GT3 Cup that he shared during the weekend with his father, Wayne Ducote, and brother, Chapman Ducote.
John Reisman also picked up a pair of Stuttgart Cup Boxster victories in the first two sprints of the weekend in his No. 70 Hudson Historics-prepared Boxster.
In 3.6-liter Mission Foods GT3 Cup competition, KMW Motorsports drivers Linden Burnstein and Jonathon Ziegelman were the class of the field. The duo co-drove Burnstein's No. 917 Porsche GT3 Cup to victory in the one-hour Enduro and each driver also picked up a sprint race class victory. Ziegelman finished a strong second overall behind Ducote in the Friday sprint in his No. 911 Porsche GT3 Cup while Burnstein drove the No. 917 to the win in the second sprint. KMW team owner Kevin Wheeler also got in on the winning weekend, taking the 3.6-liter victory at the wheel of Burnstein's car in the Sunday morning sprint.
Notable podium showings at Sebring were also earned by more than 10 other drivers.
Debuting Stuttgart Cup driver Mark Klenin finished third in Friday's first sprint in his No. 62 Cayman he co-drove all weekend with his son Brent Klenin. Returning driver Tom Bloom also hit the Stuttgart Cup podium, co-driving with Christian Maloof to runner-up honors in the one-hour Enduro in Bloom's No. 670 Cayman S.
The 4 Hours of Sebring also saw several Stuttgart Cup Cayman-class drivers have their best race of the weekend. Mike Cassling raced his Jägermeister-themed No. 2 Cayman S to a second-place finish, co-driving the CARS-prepared No. 2 entry with Chris Hall. The duo finished one spot ahead of the Racelink-prepared No. 27 Cayman S that finished third with Stavola, Tom Kievit and Scott Leder.
Paul Reisman scored a pair of 3.6-liter Mission Foods GT3 Cup runner-up finishes in his Hudson Historics No. 71 Porsche GT3 Cup while Stuart Fain co-drove his Zotz Racing 3.8-liter No. 990 Porsche GT3 Cup with Ron Zitza to a runner-up showing in the one-hour Enduro. Jeffrey Freeman finished third in that same race in his 3.8-liter No. 116 Autowerks Northwest Porsche GT3 Cup.
The weekend's Pirelli Tire Awards were earned by Uglum and Quinton who each earned a full set of Pirelli P Zero Racing tires for use in future America's GT Cup competition.
News about the 2016 America's GT Cup racing season will be announced in the near future.
All America's GT Cup racing series compete with the support of official series partners Pirelli Tire North America, BRM Chronographes, Pacifico Costa Rica, Mission Foods, Racerink, VP Racing Fuels, Palm Beach Driving Club and Bob Woodman Tires.
