The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series race at Road America turned into a fuel economy run for many competitors. One of the cars with almost enough fuel to make it to the podium was the #73 Mini piloted by Mat Pombo and Derek Jones.
The Mini led the competitive ST class for a time, and ran second late in the race behind the Porsche Cayman driven by Spencer Pumpelly and Nick Galante. But the Mini ran out of fuel on the final lap and fell to seventh. The Cayman won the class.
Fuel woes plagued the front runners in the Grand Sport class as well; Charles Espenlaub, leading the class and the race near the end in the Aston Martin that he shared with Charles Putman, had to pit for a splash of fuel on the final lap. The car finished fourth. The winning Ford Shelby GT 350R-C that won was running on fumes when Billy Johnson nursed it home; he shared the winning car with Scott Maxwell.
It was a rough race for the rest of the BMW and Mini runners. Tyler Cooke in the #84 BimmerWorld 328i took the class lead at the start and held on for a time. He fell to second between a pair of Hondas, but stayed among the front runners. James Clay returned the car to the lead, but eventually faded, finishing fifteenth in class at the end. Ramin Abdolvahabi and Nate Norenberg finished twelfth in the #52 Mini. The car took a long pit stop on lap one to address a problem with fuel spillage. The #37 Mini driven by Ethan Low and Mark Pombo finished twentieth in class. The race ended for the #54 BMW when Michael Johnson found it impossible to avoid a Cayman that shot across the track in front of him.
Two BMWs did not start the race. The #81 BimmerWorld car, with Jerry Kaufman at the controls, and the #65 Murillo car with Tim Probert driving, were taken out in a practice incident by the second Murillo car, the #56 Cayman driven by Jeff Mosing. The Murillo crew resurrected the Cayman; Mosing and Eric Foss drove it to third in class.
There were four full-course yellow flag periods in the race; the first, a long one that began on lap two, occurred when the Mustang driven by Paul Holton was tagged by Trent Hindman in a Porsche. The light tap turned the Mustang sideways. It collected the Cayman driven by Till Bechtolsheimer; the Mustang landed on its side and the Porsche landed on its roof. Both drivers were okay.
The series runs again at VIR on August 26-28.—Brian S. Morgan
The #73 Mini (shown here at Lime Rock) ran second at Road America until it ran out of fuel and fell to seventh on the final lap. Brian Morgan photo
