SCC: Homestead: BGB Motorsports race report

PORSCHE TEAMS STRUGGLE IN MIAMI AS BGB PUSHES ON

(Ormond Beach, FL, USA - March 13, 2010) BGB Motorsports completed round # 2 of the 2010 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series season at Homestead Miami Speedway as Stewart Tetreault and Guy Cosmo finished in 8th place as the highest finishing Porsche in their orange 911. Teammates Keith Carroll and Duncan Ende finished in 15th place as the 3rd highest finishing Porsche in a 2009 Cayman S, while BGB teammates Steve Jenkins and Craig Stanton rounded out the team's three car stable in 20th, despite starting their Cayman S from last on the grid due to Jenkins' missing most of the weekend to attend to a family emergency. Throughout the weekend's practice sessions, lap times resembled the opening Daytona round as it looked to be yet another parade of big V8 muscle led by a handful of strong Mustangs and BMW M3s. During a few of the weekend's practice sessions, however, Porsches from TRG, BGB Motorsports and Magnus Racing posted top 5 times. In the closing laps of the race, the only Porsche in a position to contend with the leaders was the #41 TRG Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly, but a stringent penalty at the end for contact landed the pilot and his car back in 17th place in the final finishing results.

As Saturday's 1:05pm race got underway, all three starting drivers executed clean stints just before a series of caution periods shuffled things up with pit stops and race strategy. Executing an alternate strategy, Keith Carroll and his blue #23 Cayman S stayed out on track, as Steve Jenkins was the first BGB driver to bring his #38 Cayman S to pit road from 16th place. BGB teammate Stewart Tetreault pulled his 911 in just after him, from 21st. While those two Porsches started the race deep in the field, each driver stayed clean to deliver their car to pit road for their driver change, fuel and tire stops. When the stops were executed and the action resumed, drivers Guy Cosmo and Craig Stanton assumed control of their respective cars and got to work as usual with one of BGB's and Porsche's oldest and newest chassis in the field. The two worked their way up through the lineup with Cosmo's settling into 3rd place and Stanton right behind him in 5th. At this point it was time for Keith Carroll to then bring his car to pit road for a full service and driver change with teammate Duncan Ende which he did from 9th place, after qualifying the car in 17th. At just beyond the race's halfway point, all driver changes had been completed, but more fuel stops were required for 2 cars and a little bit of luck would be needed to bring home the 3rd car without an extra stop. With two Porsches in the top 5 and Duncan Ende's #23 Porsche in 18th, having just advanced his way up through the field from 30th place after his stop, things were beginning to come together for the Florida based Porsche team.

As the race's final hour clicked on, the final stops were executed for both the #83 Porsche 911 of Guy Cosmo and the #38 Porsche Cayman of Craig Stanton, but neither were without some unforeseen excitement. A quick fire was put out over the right front tire after fueling was near completion on the #83, and as a result Cosmo's stop for right side tires turned into only 1 new rear tire. A premature fuel stumble for the #38 brought Stanton to pit road a lap or two earlier than anticipated for more gas, but he went back out with two new rear tires and resumed pace with the leaders, albeit further down in the order. As Duncan Ende continued to push on, a late race caution bunched the field up again for one more attempt at advancement for all 3 drivers, but guaranteed that Ende could finish the race without another pit stop. As racing resumed for the final time, all drivers used everything available to them, to the best of their ability to bring home three running race cars at race's end, with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises.

After two rounds of the 2010 season, solid finishes have the #23 Porsche Cayman S of Keith Carroll and Duncan Ende sharing 10th place honors in the Team Championship with this past weekend's race winning Roush Mustang, while Stewart Tetreault and Guy Cosmo sit only 3 points back in 12th place. The action from this weekend's battle will air on Speed TV today March 13th at 1:00pm EST, with a 2nd broadcast on Thursday March 18th at 12:00pm, EST.

Porsche teams look forward to next month's race at the tight and twisty Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL, a venue more suited to the Porsche's strengths. The pressure will be on to perform there though, as Barber Motorsports Park is Porsche's home track in North America and event where for many years, Porsche Cars North America has been the title sponsor.

-source: bgb motorsports