(Ormond Beach, FL, USA - January 29, 2010)Continuing to break new ground
for both BGB Motorsports and Porsche in North American competition, Keith
Carroll of Stuart, Florida and Duncan Ende of Los Angeles, CA furthered an
effort of never achieved result for Porsche's newest platform, when they
brought their #23 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman home in 12th place, as
the 2nd highest finishing Porsche in the field. In a race dominated by much
bigger, stronger and higher horsepower BMWs and Mustangs, the Cayman
stepped up for the challenge during its debut to deliver a solid finish for its
first ever outing in professional road racing in North America.
Teammates Stewart Tetreault and Guy Cosmo finished in 22nd place in their
#83 Porsche 911 Carrera as the 5th highest finishing Porsche; Cosmo showed
signs of speed late in the race but an unexpected trip to pit road early in
the event produced a deficit too big to recover from, despite his ability
to keep pace on track with the overall race leaders. Had there been the same
amount of caution periods in the end of the race as there were in the
beginning, it may have been a story with a different ending. Clearly the
pair have unfinished business in the Continental Tire field, as evidenced
by Cosmo's lap time of 2:00.3 during the Test Days, the fastest lap to date
around Daytona's road course for any Continental Tire Porsche in
competition.
The #38 entry of Steve Jenkins and Craig Stanton found itself in the
middle of a first lap scrap which relegated it to the garages for repairs. The
BGB Motorsports crash crew was poised though for the execution, and the car
was back on track half a half hour later. The season long teammates were
forced to settle for 32nd finishing position, and both look forward to the next
event and putting this event behind them. This entry showed promise when
it out qualified all other Porsche entries during Thursday evening's qualifying session, which was backed up by Craig Stanton's lap time of 2:01.4 in the pre-race practice, where he produced the car's fastest laps yet to date.
"It's always hard when one car does well and the other guys don't have the
best day. I'm elated for both Keith and Duncan and I'm also grateful that
they were able to carry the BGB flag the way they did. In his first race
ever with us in his first full season of competition, Keith Carroll drove
from 21st up to 8th and Duncan in his first race as the 2nd driver brought
it home in 12th , after a late race stop for fuel. When you consider how
competitive the field was and how young this car is, that's a solid
result," added Team Principal John Tecce. "Steve, Craig, Stew and Guy didn't get
the finish we wanted for them but that's alright because they'll be working
even harder to produce results next month in Miami."
This past weekend's opening round of the 2010 Grand-Am Continental Sports
Car Challenge Series from Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach,
FL will air on SpeedTV on February 13th at 7:00pm, EST. Be sure to tune in
for the exciting action from this event and for the races to come during this season.
BGB Motorsports is an ambitious, professional motorsports business. The
team's facility is located less than 15 miles from Daytona International
Speedway and the headquarters for the Grand American Road Racing
Association. The team operates as a customer oriented business, running
cars under the Grand American Road Racing, Sports Car Club of America and
Porsche Club of America sanctioning bodies.
For more information, photos, and videos, visit http://www.bgbmotorsports.com.
John Tecce
BGB Motorsports Group, LLC
6C West Tower Circle, Unit #102
Ormond Beach, Florida 32174
W: 386/672.3336 F:386/672.3136
C: 917/439.3589
Email: johntecce@teambgb.com
http://www.BGBMotorsports.com
The Salt Lake City 200 at Miller Motorsports Park of Tooele Utah marked the penultimate round of the 2009 Grand-Am Koni Challenge season, and for the TRG team a return to the site of a dramatic podium for the 39 car one year ago. While the dramatic daylight-to-darkness run between the mountains did not deliver a repeat of 2008's success for our Porsche squad, thanks to a last lap pass by Spencer Pumpelly we came away with a 9th place result, our 7th top 10 finish in 10 races, and once again were the "best in class" as the highest finishing Porsche behind the more powerful BMW M3s and Ford Mustangs.
The event started out well for the DigiTrust Group/Adam's Polishes/Racer's Roast Coffee/TRG Porsche 997 as Spencer set the fastest time of the day around the 4.5 miles track on Thursday's test day. On Friday I struggled with the car's set up in the heat of the day, but came good for qualifying, slotting into the 4th position for the start, the outside of the second row. Unfortunately, from the drop of the green flag, we found ourselves at the mercy of the V8 powered cars around us. Unable to make up ground in traffic through the winding portions of the track, we helplessly watched the competition power past us down the long front straight.
While the result doesn't show it, the the team performed beautifully throughout the race, with a brilliantly executed pit stop picking up several positions at the mid-point of the race. Next week's season finale 4 hour endurance race at Virginia International Raceway should play to the strengths of both our Porsches and the talents of our team members as we look to finish out season on a high.
The Salt Lake City 200 will be televised Saturday, October 3 at 1:30 PM EST on SpeedTV.