SCC: VIR II: Hopwood, Borrows preview

Hopwood and Burrows Look For Strong Close at VIR; Return to Championship-winning track to end 2008 KONI Campaign

Alton, VA (2 October, 2008)--Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood enter this weekend's Bosh Engineering Twin Six Hour season finale at Virginia International Raceway looking to close the 2008 Grand-Am KONI Challenge season out by getting back up on the VIR podium. The 2007 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Champions delivered another strong performance at Miller Motorsports Park a fortnight ago, as the Utah setting saw the competition with forced-induction motors rise to the fore and make the most of the 4500 ft elevation to dominate the event. Burrows and Hopwood were in the thick of the "best of the rest" battle as Hopwood qualified third before the duo made a run to sixth place in the No. 76 Fischer Skis Compass360 Racing Acura TSX.

The duo demonstrated their championship status once again in 2008 by not only mastering the move to front-wheel drive machinery, but also by driving the Acura to the fore with two impressive race wins so far, with just six hours of racing to go. The two took time to look back at the season so far before heading out for Alton, Virginia, for the Bosch Engineering Twin Six at VIR.

What was the highlight of the season so far?

Burrows-No question, it was Trois Rivieres. That weekend, we changed how we'd approached nearly every KONI race before that. What we'd been doing had worked-we won the championship in 2007 and the Glen race with me qualifying, and Trevor finishing. But Ray (Lee) suggested changing that up, which was something we'd already been thinking about. So we did, and it worked out perfectly. Trevor qualified and started the car, and then I took it to the finish. To just dominate the race and not even use up the car was fantastic. Taking our first win at the Glen was sweet after having the problem that we did at Mid-Ohio, but the way we won on such a dynamically different track like Trois Rivieres, that was just awesome. Do we have to pick just one? Because moving up as well as we did during the Lime Rock Race the first time out in GS with Kinetic was pretty cool, too.

Hopwood-The win at the Glen was more of a relief than anything. We knew how hard it was to win in KONI (the duo set a record for podium appearances in their 2007 Championship campaign --ed.), so to make the move to front wheel drive and then to win was a big relief. We wanted to be the first to win a championship with rear wheel drive and then do it the next year with front wheel drive. But we had a few problems this season, so it just didn't happen. But even though we didn't get to make it two-in-a-row for the championship, winning races was the best way possible to get over not winning the championship.

Most frustrating part of the year?

TH: Not getting championship points for the Trois Riviers win because of how Grand-Am was calling the thirty-minute rule that week. Also, the other penalties. Stupid.

AB-That GS race started really well, but that contact we had with the car that came out of the pits just ruined our race. That was disappointing because we know that we could have brought a great result there. The half-shaft problem at Iowa was also a big let-down because we were on our way to another podium there after coming off the win at the Glen. To have a mechanical with just 20 minutes to go was pretty heartbreaking.

Biggest surprise?

TH-Well, losing a rear wheel at full speed at the end of the back stretch at Mid-Ohio, that was pretty surprising.

AB-I'll admit, I wasn't really sure about the move to front-wheel drive when we started out at Daytona. But once we got a few laps under our belt, it was just something you adapted to. Also, coming from a team that everyone knows is a championship kind of environment to a new team, I am very impressed with Compass360 Racing. I was also kind of surprised how much I liked Karl and Ray. I mean, you know, they are Canadian. So it was a little bit of a surprise that they were so cool...

A promoter test day will open the weekend on Thursday, with Friday practice preceding Saturday's early morning qualifying session before Saturday's 2:00 PM race start.

-credit: sgm