2002 Watkins Glen International - Grand Am Cup Street Stock Series

The 2002 Grand-Am Cup Street Stock Series consists of ten race weekends. The championship kicks off in January with the first of two visits to Daytona International Speedway. Seven weeks later, the teams travel to the West Coast, making stops and California Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway. Then it is back to the East Coast for a race at Watkins Glen International. Watkins Glen was followed by events at Virginia International Raceway, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and, then back to Virginia on the Labour Day weekend. Next on the schedule is a visit to Canada for rounds at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant and Mosport International Raceway. The finale takes place at Daytona in early November.

Most races are 3-hours in length and scheduled as a support event for the Rolex Sports Car series. Mosport was the only weekend when the Grand-Am Cup series competed without the Rolex championship.

The cars racing in the series are relatively unchanged from their road-going versions – modifications are mandated mainly for safety – roll cages, window nets, etc. They also used spec DOT-approved tires produced by Hoosier. Based on performance potential, the cars are divided into one of four groups:

Grand Sport (GS I and GS II): Grand Sport is the quicker of the two groups - this division features the larger displacement engines as well as smaller four-cylinder motors with forced induction systems. The power-plants produce between 400 and 500-horsepower. Minimum weights range between 2,900 – 3,300-pounds, which are dependent on the motor configuration and displacement. The GS I category includes cars such as the Porsche 993 Turbo, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper and Saleen Mustang SR. The Acura NSX, Audi S4, BMW M3, Nissan 350Z and Pontiac Firebird are examples of vehicles competing in GS II.
Sport Touring (ST I and ST II): The smaller displacement cars compete in the ST category. Engines in this group typically produce between 220 and 280-horsepower. Popular vehicles found the ST I class are the Acura RSX, Audi A4, Lexus IS300, Porsche Boxster, BMW Z3 Coupe and Acura Integra Type R. The ST II group includes the Mazda MX-5, Honda Civic EX, Chevrolet Cavalier Z24, Acura Integra LS, Dodge Neon and Mazda Protege.

With the exception of Phoenix, Watkins Glen and the second round at Virginia, the four classes compete together.

Round four of the 2014 Grand-Am Cup Street Stock Series was held at Watkins Glen International. At this event, the Grand Sport and Street Tuner teams competed in separate races called the Twin 250s. Each contest would be three-hours in length around the eleven-turn 3.337-mile-long road course.

Randy Pobst, made an excellent start from the second row and led the field of thirty-seven Grand Sport competitors into corner one for the round four of the 2014 Grand-Am Cup Street Stock Series at Watkins Glen International. Behind Pobst is the pole-sitter, Darren Law, in the No. 01 G&W Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup and Scott Maxwell is driving a similar model for Doncaster Racing.

The No. 76 Doncaster Racing Porsche GT3 Cup was driven by Canadians Scott Maxwell and David Empringham. Maxwell missed securing the pole by a margin of 0.348-seconds. He was in the lead when he lost the top spot to the Corvette of Doug Goad. Empringham retook first place when Goad was slowed by a lapped car. He was able to hold off the Corvette and claimed the team’s second victory of the season.

Winning the Grand Sport II division at Watkins Glen International were Nick Longhi and Emil Assentato. They co-drove the No. 53 Max Q Motorsports / TF Racing Ford Mustang Cobra R. Assentato started the Twin 250 from twentieth on the grid – sixth in class. He maintained the leader’s pace during his stint. After changing drivers, Longhi charged through the field and captured the team’s second win of the season.

Gridded twenty-first overall and seventh in Grand Sport II category for the start of round four at Watkins Glen International was Benoit Theetge. Theetge shared the No. 73 Theetge Motorsports Acura NSX with Showroom Stock veteran, Kenny Wilden. The pair ran with the class leaders and at the end of the Twin 250 were thirteen-seconds behind the winning Mustang of Longhi and Assentato in the runner-up position.

Devon Powell qualified the No. 11 Chevrolet Corvette and was the fourth fastest. Sharing the Corvette with Powell was Doug Goad. Powell started the contest with Goad driving the season half. Goad moved the car into the lead and pulled away from the field. A lapped car slowed his progress, causing him to be passed by the Doncaster Porsche. In an effort to catch the Porsche, he cashed but was still able to finish second.

Zoom Motorsports entered a Porsche 993 in the Grand Sport I division for Alan Wortzman and Michael Fitzgerald. Wortzman handled the qualifying duties and was gridded seventeenth overall and fourteenth in class for the Twin 250. Fitzgerald drove the final stint and moved the Porsche up the race order. Despite being challenged by the Porsche of Brent Martini late in the contest, he held on for a third-place finish.

The local TF Racing team brought three Fords to round four of the Grand-Am Cup series at Watkins Glen International. The most successful entry was the No. 17 Ford Mustang Cobra R with Todd Snyder and Gary Smith behind the wheel. In qualifying, Snyder recorded the third-fastest time in Grand Sport II and started seventeenth overall. The duo turned in a solid performance and was rewarded with a third in class.

Darren Law driving the G&W Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup qualified on the pole for the Twin 250 at Watkins Glen International. In fact, Law set a new Grand Sport I lap record with a time of 2:03.187 lap time at 99.361-mph. Sharing the Porsche with Law was Danny Marshall. Marshall was unable to maintain the pace set by Law and was in seventh-place at the checkered flag.

Qualifying fastest in the Grand Sport II category was the No. 04 Istook/Aines Motorsports Group Audi S4 piloted by Alejandro Lince. Unfortunately, the team failed the post-qualifying inspection when it was discovered that the fuel cell was too large. They were moved to the rear of the grid and the No. 49 BMW M3 Howard Liebengood and John Lloyd started on the class pole. The BMW finished sixteenth in their category.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	GS I	Maxwell / Empringham	Porsche GT3 Cup	Doncaster Racing	73
2	GS I	Powell / Goad	Chevrolet Corvette	Powell Motorsport	73
3	GS I	Wortzman / Fitzgerald	Porsche 993	Zoom Motorsports	73
4	GS I	Martini / Wagner	Porsche GT3 Cup	G&W Motorsports	73
5	GS I	Lacey / Wilkins	Porsche GT3 Cup	Doncaster Racing	73
6	GS I	Gilbert / Pobst	Porsche GT3 Cup	Gilbert Racing	72
7	GS I	Marshall / Law	Porsche GT3 Cup	G&W Motorsports	72
8	GS I	Wellman / Tremblay	Porsche GT3 Cup	SpeedSource	72
9	GS I	Weinberg / Hayner	Chevrolet Corvette	Powell Motorsport	72
10	GS I	Levitas / Baker	Porsche GT3 Cup	TPC Racing	72
11	GS II	Assentato / Longhi	Ford Mustang Cobra R	Max Q Motorsports	72
12	GS II	Wilden / Theetge	Acura NSX	Theetge Motorsports	72
13	GS II	Smith / Snyder	Ford Mustang Cobra R	TF Racing	71
14	GS II	Danaher / Baughman	Pontiac Firebird	Baughman Racing	71
15	GS II	Sturm / Tremblay	Porsche 911	SpeedSource	71
16	GS II	Seafuse / Seafuse	Ford Mustang Cobra R	JBS Motorsports	71
17	GS II	Shep / Alexander	Porsche 911	SpeedSource	71
18	GS II	Barber / Borcheller	BMW M3	Bell Motorsports	71
19	GS II	Dumoulin / McCalmont	Porsche 993	Zoom Motorsports	71
20	GS II	Sachs / Snipes	Ford Mustang Cobra R	Snipes Ford Motorsports	70
21	GS II	Schreiner / Lapcevich	Ford Mustang Cobra R	Shreiner Racing	69
22	GS II	Abello / Horne	Porsche 911	SpeedSource	68
23	GS II	Rehagen / Martin	Ford Mustang Cobra R	Rehagen Racing	66
24	GS II	Pfeifer / Nyberg / Helton	BMW M3	RTG Motorsports	66
25	GS II	Mountain / Snyder	Ford Mustang Cobra R	CMA Sports	66
26	GS I	Minkin / Bartkiw	Porsche GT3 Cup	Team Turbo Performance	65
27	GS II	Lloyd / Liebengood	BMW M3	Competition Preparation	64
28	GS I	Pilve / McAndrew	Chevrolet Corvette	Gilbert Racing	60
29	GS I	Lewis / Nonnamaker	Chevrolet Corvette	Planet Earth Motorsport	59
30	GS I	Kohler / Smith	Saleen SR	TF Racing	54
31	GS II	Jones / Hilliar / Thompson	Chevrolet Camaro	Precision Motor Werks	48
32	GS II	Istook / Lince	Audi S4	Istook / Aines Motorsport	47
33	GS II	Kintzi / McDougall	Audi S4	R.A.C.E. Team Inc	41
34	GS I	Mears Jr / Haskell	Porsche GT3 Cup	SpeedSource	34
35	GS II	Thornton / Russell	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	14
36	GS II	Mason / England	Pontiac Firebird	Baughman Racing	14
37	GS II	Polidori / Argetsinger	Ford Mustang Cobra R	TF Racing	6

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