Racing News

    Hindman and Espenlaub finish fifth in CTSCC Grand Sport

    Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra, in the Burton Racing 128i, secured the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Street Tuner drivers’ championship with a fifth-place finish in the season finale at Lime Rock Park. BMW won the Street Tuner championship, and Burton Racing won the team championship.
     
    Indeed, until four minutes before the end of the 2½-hour Street Tuner-class race, run on Friday afternoon, it appeared that BMW would win the race as well; Greg Liefooghe was leading in the BimmerWorld 328i that he shared with Tyler Cooke. But Joel Miller, driving the Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5 that he shared with 18-year old Tristan Nunez, closed on Liefooghe late in the race and got by after a final yellow flag period. Liefooghe stayed on Miller’s tail, but had to settle for his second. His BimmerWorld teammates Greg Strelzoff and Connor Bloum rounded out the podium in a 328i.

    Honda racer Ryan Eversley threatened the title hopes of Borcheller and LaMarra until late in the race. Eversley and his teammate Kyle Gimple, who were second in points, ran ahead of the Borcheller/LaMarra 128i for much of the race, maintaining a points margin large enough to give them the title. But Borcheller, who had been running seventh to Eversley’s second, moved up late in the race, regaining the points lead, and then Eversley’s Honda faded. It finished sixth, just behind Borcheller.

    Borcheller said, “I did all the math before the race, so I knew what I needed to do. Today was a thriller. It was a good way to win a championship; fighting. That’s why we were in the position and that’s why we won the championship – because we fight.”

    Two more BMWs finished in the top ten; Jesse Combs and Jeff Mosing were ninth in the #56 RACE EPIC/Murillo 328i, and James Clay and John Capestro-Dubets, benefiting from a boost adjustment to the new BimmerWorld F30 328i, ran a strong race and finished tenth.

    Espenlaub and Hindman finish fifth in Grand Sport

    Pole sitter Trent Hindman and his Fall-Line M3 teammate Charles Espenlaub finished fifth in Saturday’s CTSCC Grand Sport race. The win went to Mustang racers Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr.

    Hindman battled for the lead early in the race, but fell back as Aston Martins, Camaros, and finally Johnson's Mustang, took their turns at the front of the pack. Johnson took the lead from Camaro racer Matt Bell in the waning laps; Bell finished second in the car that he shared with John Edwards, while Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi finished third in the Rum Bum Porsche. Fall-Line’s Bryan Sellers and Mark Boden finished ninth, and Turner Motorsport’s Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana finished tenth.

    Plumb and Longhi won the Grand Sport drivers’ title, Rum Bum won the team championship, and Porsche won the manufacturers’ championship.—Brian S. Morgan