BMW just missed the podium in each of the two Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge races run at Lime Rock Park on Saturday. Eric Foss and Jeff Mosing in the #56 Murillo Racing 328i finished fourth in the morning Street Tuner race, while John Edwards and Trent Hindman in the #46 Fall-Line M3 finished fourth in the afternoon Grand Sport race.
Murillo Racing’s Foss and Mosing finished behind a trio of Mazda MX-5s, the cars that have now won all three races since Daytona, where Foss and Mosing won. Seth Thomas and Mike Colborn finished fifth in the #82 BimmerWorld 328i.
It was a storybook Memorial Day weekend finish for the winning Freedom Autosport Mazda. The car was started by U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Liam Dwyer, who lost his left leg in Afghanistan in 2011. He co-drove with team manager Tom Long, who brought the car home low on fuel after running a one-stop race. The Lime Rock race, part of a three-event deal for Dwyer, marked his first win in only his second professional race. More on Dwyer’s story appears here.
Friday qualifying was rained out for both the Street Tuner and Grand Sport groups, so the racers started in points order. As a result, Mazda’s Randy Pobst and Andrew Carbonell started from the pole, with BimmerWorld 328i pilots Tyler Cooke and Greg Liefooghe next to them on the front row.
Mazdas led early, but Cooke took over at the 20-minute mark, after the first full-course yellow of the race. A second yellow came out soon; after it the Mazda driven by Chad McCumbee took over. Murillo Racing’s #56, with Jeff Mosing at the controls, also ran in the lead group, with Pobst in the MX-5 also in the mix.
Soon after Cooke pitted and handed off to Liefooghe a mechanical problem emerged that affected handling and set the car back.
Seth Thomas, whose regular co-driver Dan Rogers was unable to make the race because of his daughter’s graduation, shared the #82 BimmerWorld 328i with James Colborn. Thomas took over early in the race, and steadily moved through the pack. He moved up to sixth early in the final hour, and then to fifth with about 45 minutes remaining. Foss, in the #56 Murillo 328i, ran just behind Thomas.
As the last 1 ½ hours of the race were run in green flag conditions, the opportunity for a pit stop under caution that the leaders were banking on never came. As a result, most pitted under green in the final fifteen minutes of the race. Still, the Mazdas were able to hold on to capture the top three spots, with the #56 Murillo 328i car fourth and the #82 BimmerWorld 328i fifth.
John Edwards started the Grand Sport race from the pole in the #46 Fall-Line M3 that he shared with points co-leader Trent Hindman. He held onto the lead for his entire stint, handing off to Hindman just before the one hour mark. Hindman soon regained the lead.
But the complexion of the race changed during a full-course caution period that began with about an hour left in the race. Rum Bum Porsche racer Matt Plumb came in immediately and made a very fast stop. Hindman, who did not get the message that the pits were open, stayed out for a lap, as did second place runner Peter Ludwig in an Aston Martin. After the pit stops were done, Hindman found himself in sixth, unable to pass Andy Lally in a Stevenson Camaro. He eventually moved up to fourth, finishing just behind Lally. Plumb and his co-driver Nick Longhi won the race ahead of Subaru WRX STI racers Kyle Gimple and Ryan Eversley. Despite the rain that took out qualifying on Friday, race day weather was dry except for light showers in the final laps of the Grand Sport race.—Brian S. Morgan
