Turner Motorsport pilots Michael Marsal and Joey Hand added yet another win to the team’s tally with a run to the Virginia International Raceway Victory Barn in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship series at the April 22 Bosch 200.
The Street Tuner (ST) class win went to the Compass360 Racing Civic Si of Ryan Eversley and Zach Lutz.
The 2.5-hour race covered 66 laps on the 3.27-mile natural terrain road circuit, with an early yellow flag splitting the field for fuel strategy as some teams elected to pit early while others looked to make it closer to the halfway point before pulling in for fuel, a driver change and new Continental tires.
“The strategies were further jumbled as a persistent threat of rain on the radar, and occasional sprinkles in pit lane, kept team managers fully on their toes looking to make the best decision,” recounts communications manager Dana Zamalloa.
“The drama wasn’t just on the pit wall either, as eight different drivers led the race in GS, while a full 10 different pilots saw their names atop the timing pylon before the Eversly/Lutz combination emerged with the win in the ST class,” according to Zamalloa.
“This is great to get a first win with the E92 BMW M3,” says Hand. “These tires, they come out really strong and you can really put some laps down and then they trail off and are stable for the rest of the run,” he adds.
“It was key for us to put on two tires when we did, because I was able to throw down some big laps right in the middle of the race with the new tires that really ended up being our margin of victory at the finish – that’s what won us the race,” Hand continues. “These tires just keep on trucking, they run a big number, they plateau, and then they just keep going; it’s great.”
The Chevrolet Camaro of Stevenson Motorsports, which carries the legacy colors of the Sunoco Racing Fuels Trans-Am machines of yore, scored second at the finish with drivers Matt Bell and Jeff Bucknum rallying from a last-row starting position.
“It was a magical setup,” says Bell. “The car came together. While everyone else was struggling with looseness, we were just perfectly neutral. I just did my job to make sure the car came in clean and make as short a fuel stop as possible. Jeff (Bucknum) did an amazing job. He got the car and just ran away with it. We led the race for a little while, but couldn’t hold on to it – just ran out of gas like everybody else did.”
Gianluis Bacardi and Matt Plumb finished third.
“With just two caution periods covering nine laps, the fuel mileage became almost as important as horsepower with several cars forced to pit lane for one late splash of fuel,” Zamalloa reports. “But avoiding that stop proved to be key for the ST winners.”
“We short shifted for most of our stint, to just try and save, save, save, as much fuel as we could,” says Eversley. “It was a fantastic race. Zach (Lutz) did a great job keeping it in the top three. He led a few laps and was up there fighting with the cars that are as fast as our car. It was a great day. We saved a little fuel in the second stint, hoping for a yellow or the rain – and neither came. So we had to baby it the whole way. This kid (Lutz) is going to get rookie of the year if I can help it.”
The event will be broadcast on the Speed Channel May 1 at 1 p.m. Round 5 of the series is May 28-29 Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.
For more information, visit www.conti-online.com and www.grand-am.com.
