Mid-Ohio's 2.2-mile twisty rolling terrain does not favor the Porsche GS cars, but the team had a solid run. Duncan Ende and Spencer Pumpelly had the No. 39 DigiTrust Group/Adam's Polishes/Racer's Roast Coffee/Intercity Lines/TRG Porsche 997 setup and ready to race. Ende, once again, had a monster qualifying effort, putting the No. 39 on the second row. Early contact in the race resulted in a bent wheel and a pit stop under green, hampering what could have been a possible win. The duo were able get up on the podium proving that well driven Porsche can still hang with the big V-8s.

"We had another good qualifying run," Ende said. "Spencer and I are really clicking on the setup of the car. We had a very strong race considering that little contact early on. I got hit by a Mustang in the right-rear on lap three. I had to pit, I thought we had a tire going down, but it ended up being a bent wheel. I went back out and was dead last. I was able to run it back up to sixth. We had a great car. If we could have stayed up front, we would have been battling for the win. With everything considered, it was a good result. We got lucky and wound up third. Spencer put in an impressive run and it was a good team effort."

"The car was fantastic all day," Pumpelly said. "We had the minor issue of Duncan getting hit from behind and bending the rim. We had to do an extra pit stop under green and that put us 15-seconds behind the last car in line. Duncan did a great job to make up the time and get the car up to sixth before handing off to me. Unfortunatelywhen you go green for two-and-a-half hours it is tough to make up that time. I think we had a car capable of winning the race. We didn't have the luck, but everyone on the team did a great job."

John Potter and Andy Lally had a tough day in their No. 41 Magnus Racing/TRG Porsche 997. Potter did an excellent job in qualifying putting the No. 41 on the fifth row. In the race Potter spent nearly half of the race behind the wheel. Lally got in and experienced an electrical problem which canceled feedback to one cylinder, costing the six-cylinder Porsche valuable horsepower and ending their day early.

"The whole race went green, no caution periods," Lally said. "It was a fast race. When I got in the car I immediately noticed the engine was down on power. We had an electrical, issue, a plug wire or something that affected the power. By this time we were really behind and didn't want to damage the engine any more. John did a great job and spent a lot of time in the car. We were lined-up for a good finish, but it was just one of those days."

Kevin Buckler, TRG team owner, had an up and down KONI Challenge race.

"Duncan did a great job in qualifying and on the track," Buckler said. "I am so proud of how he has come on this year behind the wheel. He gives excellent feedback proving he belongs up at the front with the best drivers out there. He and Spencer had to overcome some early adversity but they kept their heads down and ended up on the podium. We are very much alive in this championship! John Potter had another great run and continues to improve and impress. He spent a long time at the wheel battling with some of the best sports car drivers in the country. Unfortunately when Andy got in we had the electrical issue."

Ende started the race in the No. 39 DigiTrust Group/Adam's Polishes/Racer's Roast Coffee/TRG Porsche 997 from his second row qualifying position. At the start Ende was reporting handling problems and pitted on lap 15. On the next pit stop, Ende turned the car over to Pumpelly and the TRG crew made a sway bar adjustment on the front and an air pressure change, which brought the car back into the track.

"There was something going on with the handling of the car at the start," Ende said. "The car had huge understeer, I thought that there was a rear sway bar that broke or a shock that was bent. I brought the car in and the team took a look and didn't find anything. I came back in and turned the car over to Spencer and they made a front sway bar adjustment which might have done the trick. They also adjusted the tire pressure."

"I am not sure what happened early on," Pumpelly said. "We pitted the car three times and did a drive thru and still managed to finish on the podium. We made a strategy call to come in and just fuel and not take tires. I am not sure if I would have took tires if we could have won here with the power that the Mustangs and BMWs have. Third is a good place for us today."

John Potter and Andy Lally in the No. 41 Magnus Racing/TRG Porsche 997 had their second consecutive tough weekend. After a strong opening stint by Potter, Lally got in the car and while leaving the pits, lost the clutch and had to drive several laps without it. The result was a broken third and fourth gear as well as time in the paddock for repairs.

"Sometimes you have stretches like this in racing," Lally said. "John did a strong opening stint and had us in excellent position. I got in the car, dropped it into gear, left the pits and then when I went to shift to second the clutch went away. Just a tough stretch of races for us, it will turn around and we will win soon."

Kevin Buckler, TRG team owner, has the KONI program showing strength.

"Once again Duncan and Spencer had a great weekend," Buckler said. "Duncan had a few issues at the start, but was able to drive around them and hand off the car to Spencer in really good position. Spencer was contending for the win, but the Mustangs and BMWs just have too much motor. John Potter had a good opening run and those guys looked strong early. It was too bad for Andy, they actually beat the 39 car out of the pits and then the clutch went. A good points day for the 39 and TRG has the top finishing Porsche."

The KONI Challenge Sports Car Series will race across country to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut for their next race to run on May 25th.

Despite having excellent pace since we first partnered in the #39 Porsche in 2008, luck had been against us time after time and we walked away form the 2008 season with a pair of 2nd place finishes along with a mix of top ten finishes and DNFs.

Scoring our first win, my first in the series and Spencer's first since 2007, has finally gotten the monkey off our back and we are confident of making a strong run at the championship over the remainder of the season! Before showing up at the track on Thursday we already knew Thunderbolt Raceway would provide us with the best shot at a win we would have all season. With 12 turns in 2.25 miles of racetrack and only one significant straight the Thunderbolt puts a premium on handling and allows our Porsches to create some breathing space between us and the significantly more powerful BMW M3s and Ford Mustangs that can power right past us at so many other tracks.

I had an excellent and intense qualifying on Friday afternoon, putting our car 2nd on the grid for the race for our first front row start. As our class went out on the track for qualifying a sudden downpour washed down the track during the first lap before moving on, creating a situation with a drying track getting faster and faster with each passing lap. Each lap I put in put us at or near the top of the timesheet, but as the track continued to dry I would drop all the way out of the top 10 by the time I was two thirds of the way around the track, but with Spencer on the radio we timed my last lap to be as close as possible to the last seconds on the session, finally missing pole position by thousandths of a second despite being balked by slower traffic during the lap!

I had a really good stint in the car starting the race on Saturday afternoon. I successfully managed to keep in front of the V8 powered BMWs and Fords starting in the rows behind me on the start and avoid any carnage in the first couple of turns, briefly took the lead, then finished the first lap of the race in 2nd place once again behind the polesitting BMW. I settled in behind him until I was boxed in by traffic from the slower ST class and dropped to third place, where I remained as I pounded out the laps before pitting for fuel and a driver change during the race's first full course caution.

Spencer had awesome pace this weekend, netting fastest lap as well as the race win, but the victory was set up by our race strategy to take fuel and two tires early from the race lead and the excellent job our crew did on that pit stop. We expected to cycle back to the lead as the cars who stayed out eventually came in for fuel, but Spencer eventually had to take matters into his own hands to return to the head of the field. "We originally thought that the 91 was going to have to pit for gas," Pumpelly said. "Then Kevin came on the radio and said maybe they won't. I then had to get a little more aggressive, I was able to get a run on him and get by. TRG did an awesome job the last pit stop. It was super fast, we got on and off pit road the best we have all season. I think that was more than the four second gap than we won with, I really have to hand it to them. Duncan did a great first stint and they helped with those four seconds as well."That was a great race," Buckler said. "Duncan did an excellent job to set the tone for the team in qualifying yesterday by having us start on the front row. He did a great job at the beginning and then Spencer brought it home. We made the right calls in the pits, our pit stops were really good and the win is a great reward for this team. This was a long time coming and well deserved."

I can not overstate my thanks to our crew at TRG, Spencer, Kevin, and all of our sponsors who made it possible to get back to the top step of the podium. Without all of their contributions none of this would be.

It feels like a month ago that I left Los Angeles for Daytona, but I am finally back home after a very, very long week. The Rolex 24 Hours proved to be a dream weekend for TRG and Porsche, the team taking first and second in the GT class with the 67 and 66 cars and Porsche also capturing thrid place in GT, not to mention the overall victory in a Brumos Daytona Prototype in the closest finish in the history of the race! Unfortunately, our 68 car could not rise to that level in the race, but we all honestly knew we were not out there racing for the win and we are all proud of making it twice around the clock to finish 14th in GT. My codrivers, Steve Miller, Chris Pallis, Josemanuel Gutierrez, and Scott Schroeder all did a great job and together we survived a race that saw so many fall by the wayside. We lost some significant time in the garage making repairs during the night, but the crew did a stellar job and got us back out there on track. It really is due to our fantastic crew that we managed to bring home the result we did.

Ende started the No. 39 DigiTrust Group/Adam's Polishes/Fox River Coffee Racer's Roast/TRG Porsche 997 from his fifth place qualifying position. Ende proceeded to run in the top five, doing a double stint. When he turned the Porsche over to Pumpelly the team was running strong in seventh.

"I had a pretty good double stint," Ende said. "I was able to run up with the leaders and we were keeping a pretty good pace. Doing the double stint we didn't put tires on, so I was an hour and forty five minutes on the same set of tires, which is asking a lot. I made a couple of small mistakes, but when I gave the car to Spencer we were in solid shape."

During the yellow plagued three hour race, eight cautions for 31 laps, the restarts played havoc on the No. 39. The big V8 cars would be able to pull away on the restarts negating any advantage the TRG drivers were able to gain.

"We are really good in the infield," Pumpelly said. "Then when we get up on the bank the Mustangs just blow by us. The car was handling excellent, we just don't have the horses to challenge them. Duncan did a great job doing a double stint. He qualified well and ran up front all race. We had no issues with the car. It is just frustrating running in the top 10 and really not battling for a chance to win."

In the No. 41 Magnus Racing/TRG Porsche 997 John Potter and Andy Lally ran into trouble early in the race. John Potter started the Porsche from the 12th row and following the first caution period lost third gear and eventually fourth. He pitted on lap 18 and turned the car over to Lally.

"During the first caution I lost third gear," Potter said. "Then I also lost fourth. I was going through the Bus Stop turn in fifth. It became tough to keep the momentum of the car up. I turned the car over to Andy to see if he could nurse it home for some points."

Lally took over and soon lost all drive to the rear wheels of the 997.

"When I got in I had first, second, fifth and sixth gear," Lally said. "It wasn't fun to drive, but it wasn't impossible either. Then around lap 37 it went to total neutral. We weren't breaking gears. I think it was in the internal linkage somewhere."

Kevin Buckler, team owner, was satisfied with the performance of the team and worried about the future.

Petaluma, CA - TRG is ready to open the 2009 Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge season on January 23 at Daytona International Speedway. The team will field two cars to start, what hopes to be, a championship run.

Although the current rules configuration does not favor the Porsche 911 GS cars, the drivers are confident that the professional TRG approach to preparation, speed and strategy can still have a chance to win on Friday.

Duncan Ende and Spencer Pumpelly will be driving the No. 39 The DigiTrust Group/Adam's Polishes/Fox River Coffee Racer's Roast/TRG Porsche 997. The duo ran a lot of laps at the test in early January to prove out the work that the team has done on the cars over off season. Ende will be relying on TRG's strengths come Friday.

"Strategy always plays a big role in KONI Challenge races, but since Daytona is at least a half hour longer than our normal races we have even more to work with in the race strategy department than usual," Ende said. "Since we also have a bigger disadvantage to the more powerful Mustangs there than anywhere else we race, our pit strategy is really essential to a good result. With its emphasis on straight line speed over cornering ability, Daytona never shows our cars at their best. All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the way our car was working at the end of the test days. Spencer and I will be happy to have a solid race and take home decent points instead of the big goose egg we had in Daytona last year."

Ende will also be running in the Rolex 24 hour. He will be driving the No 68 James Farrell & Co./Pallis Properties, Inc./COLO Columbia River Logistics/Cohen Financial/TRG Porsche GT3.

"I'm really excited about driving the 68 car in the Rolex 24 this year! My goal for the car as a whole is for us to have a clean and consistent race in which we only see the pit lane for fresh tires and to fill our fuel tank. If we manage that, I think we have a very good chance at going home with a good result. My personal goals are to show what I can do in a very competitive GT field and do my absolute best for the team. We have such a solid team from top to bottom, both drivers and crew, that I cannot wait for things to finally kick off!"

In the No. 41 Magnus Racing/TRG Porsche 997 John Potter and Andy Lally are poised for a strong run. The pair worked well together in the early January test and are looking forward to getting the season going.

"While I have done several GT races, this will actually be my first KONI Challenge race," Potter said. "I am looking forward to seeing how the strategy is different. I do know that KONI races are extremely tight and very competitive. With the cars being so balanced by Grand-Am I know that strategy can make all the difference. I have had a great relationship with the TRG KONI crew, who are far more experienced than I am. I am looking forward to the "strategy" challenge. The KONI car felt great after the test day. I was a little nervous at first after driving the GT car at the same event. I didn't want to throw the GS car off or something trying to do what I could do in the GT car. It's very responsive, thanks to Andy Lally's help with set-up and the crew, the car did exactly what I told it to do. There were a few things that I am still working through but nothing that we can't deal with before the race."

Potter will also be running the Rolex 24 in the No. 65 Riegel-Stanton/Cystic Fibrosis Foundation/65 Roses/Magnus Racing/Marquis Jet/Resorts International/IPC/Total Lubricants/TRG Porsche GT3.

"Well this will be the longest race I have ever done. I have some great co-drivers and I hope to learn as much as I can while going as fast as I can, avoiding mistakes. I think we have a great opportunity to do well in the 24. It should be fun."

Kevin Buckler, team owner, is looking for some parity with the rules in KONI Challenge.