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Created on Monday, 05 May 2014 08:13

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• ESM garners first win of 2014 with Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek behind the wheel.

• Close racing, bold passes and cooler temperatures dominated two days of racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Salinas, CA – May 4, 2014.   Cooler temperatures prevailed over Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Sunday’s double header race making for lower track temps and minimal tire wear.  While some teams opted to double stint their Continental tires, others, like the Prototype (P) winning, No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM team, tackled the entire two-hour race on just one set of tires.  The win, by co-drivers Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek, was well deserved as the top-six cars traded position lap-after-lap putting on a spectacular show for the thousands of fans in attendance.  The win marks the teams first in 2014.

In the first race of the day, the Prototype Challenge (PC) and GT Daytona (GTD) cars saw a few breathtaking moments and a handful of cautions.  In PC action, Renger van der Zande marched through the field to garner the win in the No. 8 Starworks ORECA FLM09 with co-driver Mirco Shultis.  In GTD competition, Spencer Pumpelly put on a clinic in the Flying Lizard Audi R8 but coming into the famed Corkscrew, heartbreak for Pumpelly as he ran out of fuel allowing the No. 94 Turner Motorsports BMW to get by for the win with co-drivers Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala.

Click here to see our Tudor United SportsCar Champoinship Victory Lane photo gallery

TIRE NOTES

• The ambient and track temperatures were roughly 20 degrees cooler than earlier in the week which challenged many teams as far as getting heat in the tires and other parts of the car.
• The Extreme Speed Motorsports team ran the entire race on one set of Continental Tires.
• The Action Express team doubles stinted one set of Continental tires during the race.

QUOTES Ricky Taylor, driver No.10 Konica Minolta Chevrolet (finished second in P) – “I think it was a good day.  It was a bit colder than we thought it was going to be so we didn’t have any issues with tires or tire wear.  The car was really good.  We made some big changes overnight which really changed our car a lot but a quick two stops, we were thinking about keeping the tires on the car for more than one stint but we just kind of followed other people and did what they did.”

Memo Rojas, driver No.01 Telcel Ford (finished third in P) – “It’s probably been the coldest weather we’ve had all year as far as the tire temp and track temp so it was challenging to get the temperature in everything, the brakes, the tire and the car itself.  But it was the same condition for everybody.  Everything went well for us.  We scored a podium finish which we’re  happy with because we didn’t have the best car today but we’re happy to get a podium.”

Renger van der Zande, driver No.8 Starworks ORECA FLM09 (finished first in PC) – “We only changed right side tires and at the end of the day, that’s what won the race.”

Sean Rayhall, driver No.25 8Star ORECA FLM09 (finished second in PC) – “Our tire strategy was a little bit off because we took four but only needed two because the Continental tires were so good.  We were strong all race and that’s where the Starworks car seemed to beat us was getting two tires instead of four.  Tire wear was good and the track never really fell off.  It stayed neutral most of the time.  Our 8Star Motorsports car was great and it was always good to have Luis Diaz as my co-driver and Takis on board with us, I really can’t thank them enough for that.”

CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTSCAR CHALLENGE The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge kept fans on the edge of their seats for the entire 2.5-hour race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  While track temps were significantly lower than the previous two days, tire wear remained good for both the Grand Sport GS) and Street Tuner (ST) classes.  In GS, with one hour to go, John Edwards took the lead in the No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 and never looked back.  Edwards and pole-winner, Trent Hindman, rode to victory after back-to-back second-place finishes.   It was a battle of the Mazda’s for the ST win between the No. 26 Mazda MX-5 and the two C.J. Wilson Mazda MX-5 entries.  A variety of pit strategies were implemented with some teams taking two tires and others, like C.J. Wilson Racing, not taking any.  Lap after lap, the Mazda’s raced door-to-door but it was Carbonell who beat out Tyler McQuarrie (with co-driver, and pole-sitter, Elliott Skeer) and Stevan McAleer (with co-driver Chad McCumbee), who both race for C.J. Wilson, team owner and pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Aneheim.  The one, two, three finish was a huge coup for Mazda at their home track. View our Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge photo gallery

Tyler McQuarrie, driver No. 3 C.J. Wilson Racing Mazda MX-5 (finished second in ST) – “The track conditions today were by far the best that’s it’s been.  Simply just because of the heat and how hot it’s been.  The Continental tires were awesome so that’s why we decided to not change tires at all throughout the race.  There was a period, in the very middle, where I was racing Andrew (Carbonell) for the lead and it did start to burn up the tires a little so I decided to let him go and cool down the tires.  We also had some issues with fourth gear and Stevan (McAleer) got by.  Andrew was really on it today and on the last lap I was a little bit better than Stevan so I was able to pass him on the last lap and it all worked out.”

Elliott Skeer, driver No. 3 C.J. Wilson Racing Mazda MX-5 (finished second in ST) – “(Continental) is definitely a good tire, a very raceable tire.  The cars slide around a little bit here so all the driver’s really have to work and it show’s who’s getting after it out there.  Overall the team was great today and hopefully we can carry this momentum into Lime Rock.”

Come into the paddock with us @continentaltire, #tiresrule.

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