SCC: Millville: Marren Motorsports race report

Marren Motorsports Earns 11th At New Jersey Motorsports Park In Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Action

Millville, N.J. (July 19, 2010) -- In a hot and humid race that tested their No. 55 Honda Civic Si and the Marren Motorsports team, co-drivers Bob Beede and Toby Grahovec finished 11th in the ninth round of the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

It marked only the team's third outing in the series.

"This year was a testing program for the car and the team which even used qualifying sessions as test sessions," stated team owner Tim Marren. "In trying something new in qualifying, it put the car back at 20th on the grid for the start of the race. You don't know if it's going to work until you try it."

Instead of basing pit strategies around refueling, Marren was more concerned about the drivers' physical condition because of the heat. Starting the 2.5-hour race from behind the wheel, Beede worked his way up to ninth place early, passing four cars in the first couple of laps before several yellow flags slowed the pace. The younger Grahovec then took over and finished the race.

The strategy proved well for the fledging team, Marren said, and with the yellows coming out at the right time, they were in the hunt for a top-10 finish. The team and pit crew performed flawlessly with veteran car chief Frank DiCaprio.

Marren Motorsports would also like to send its congratulations to RSR Motorsports and Randy Smalley for winning at New Jersey. The MINI was the car Marren started with in GRAND-AM several years ago, and the car won with a Marren-prepared engine.

-source: marren motorsports