INDIANAPOLIS — Eric Curran and Lawson Aschenbach won the inaugural Brickyard Sports Car Challenge at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, withstanding two late-race restarts and a torrential rain for CKS Autosport’s first-ever win in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
The Curran-Aschenbach team took control after a downpour forced a 25-minute red flag period for standing water on the track. After teams made a widespread transition from dry tires to rain tires and back, the No. 01 CKS Chevrolet Camaro emerged in front after the running order shuffled.
From there, Curran held off the pressure once the red flag was lifted with 38 minutes left in the 2 1/2-hour event. The victory was Curran’s 14th in the series and Aschenbach’s sixth.
“We’ve had a bunch of podium finishes, but to finally get the top step is just awesome,” said Curran, who drove the anchor leg after the team made an early pit stop. “To have it happen here at Indy makes it really special.”
Jeff Bucknam and George Richardson finished second in the No. 62 Henderson Insurance Brokers/Lucas Oil Camaro from Mitchum Motorsports. The No. 48 Safecraft/OMP Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 of Charles Putman and Charles Espenlaub, which led briefly during the scramble for tires, was third as the race finished under the third full-course caution period in the final 30 minutes.
Seth Thomas and Daniel Rogers prevailed in the Street Tuner class, co-driving the No. 82 CRC Brakleen BMW 328i to victory. James Clay and John Capestro-DuBets finished second in a 1-2 finish by BimmerWorld Racing BMWs on the 2.534-mile Indy road course.
Gregory Liefooghe and David Levine, another pairing of BimmerWorld stablemates, qualified second but started in the rear of the field after their qualifying time was disallowed for a rules violation. The Liefooghe/Levine No. 81 entry brought out the race’s third full-course caution for an off-track excursion and finished 27th out of 34 cars.
.The Stats
DP 1st: Alex Popow and Sebastien Bourdais, No. 2 Soloson Ford/Riley
DP 2nd: Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett, No.01 TELMEX BMW/Riley
DP 3rd: Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor, No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP
GT 1st: John Potter and Andy Lally, No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3
GT 2nd: Jonathan Bomarito and Sylvain Tremblay, No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
GT 3rd: Andrew Davis and Leh Keen, No. 59 Brumos Porsche GT-3
Margin of Victory: 1.271 seconds (DP); 2.161 seconds (GT)
Average Speed: 76.827 mph (DP); 76.427 mph (GT)
Cautions: Nine for 34 laps
The Points (Unofficial)
North American Endurance Championship Presented by VISITFLORIDA.com
DP: Starworks Motorsport, 46; Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, 41; Action Express Racing, 36; Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, 32; GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, 30
GT: Magnus Racing, 44; SpeedSource, 38; Stevenson Motorsports, 37; Brumos Racing, 35; TRG, 29.
Rolex Series
DP: Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas, 265; Enzo Potolicchio/Ryan Dalziel, 254; Darren Law, 252; David Donohue, 243; Alex Popow, 242.
GT: Jeff Segal/Emil Assentato, 276; Robin Liddell, 250; Sylvain Tremblay/Jonathan Bomarito and Paul Dalla Lana, 249; Leh Keen/Andrew Davis, 230.
Credit – Halston Pitman/Trevor Andrusko – MotorSportMedia
Article/Stats – www.grand-am.com
