2005 Daytona International Speedway

2005 was the fifth consecutive year of the Grand American Road Racing’s Grand Am Cup Series for American and Foreign sports cars and sedans.

There was a significant restructuring of the classes in 2004. The season debuted with a single Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) class.

Grand Sport (GS): The quicker of the two classes - the group features the larger displacement engines as well as smaller four-cylinder motors with forced induction systems. The power-plants produce between 350 and 405-horsepower. Minimum weights range between 2,730 – 3,250-pounds, which is dependent on the motor configuration and displacement. The top speed for a Grand Sport car is approximately 160-mph. This class includes cars such as the Acura NSX, Cadillac CTS-V, BMW M3, Pontiac Firebird, Ford Mustang, Nissan 350Z and Porsche 996.
Street Tuner (ST): The smaller displacement cars compete in this class in which engines typically produce between 170 and 240-horsepower. The top speed of a Sport Touring car is approximately 135-mph. Popular vehicles found in this group are the Acura RSX-S, Mazda RX-8, BMW Z3, BMW 330i, Chevrolet Cobalt SS and Mini Cooper S.

The cars competing 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 placed in the Grand Sport or Sport Touring group.

The 2005 season consists of eleven race weekends and starts in February at Daytona International Speedway. New for this year is a Grand Sport only race in Santo Domingo. Returning to the United States, teams travel to California Speedway in early April. At the end of the month, the series competes at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Then there is a trip to the East Coast for race weekends at Watkins Glen International, Mosport International Raceway, Barber Motorsports Park, Trois-Rivieres and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The penultimate rounds take place at Phoenix International Raceway with the Twin 200s. The Grand Sport and Street Tuner teams will compete in separate races. The finale is held in early October at Virginia International Raceway.

Seventy-five Grand Am Cup competitors were entered in the Grand Am Cup 200 and sixty-eight started the contest. Drivers would compete on the twelve-turn 3.56-mile roval in round one of the 2005 championship.

For the fifth consecutive season, the Grand Am Cup series opened as a support event for the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. Leading the field into corner one is the pole-sitter, Justin Marks driving the Turner Motorsport BMW M3. Beside Marks is another M3 that is piloted by Jeb Thornton of Automatic Racing. The second row includes the Ford Mustang of Ian James and yet another BMW, which is driven by Jordan Sandridge.

Sharing the No. 12 BMW Z4 was David Tuaty and Daniel Colembie. Colembie made his series debut last season with Ken Dobson at California Speedway, where the pair finished second in Sport Touring. At Daytona, Colembie qualified the BMW and was the fifth quickest in class. The Z4 was first across the finish line in Sport Touring but was later disqualified after it was discovered the fuel tank exceeded the maximum allowed size.

Starting on the overall and Grand Sport pole was the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3. Justin Marks qualified the BMW and attributed his pole position to a well-timed drafting strategy. Sharing the M3 with Marks was sports car veteran, Bill Auberlen. On lap-2 of the race, Marks lost first place to the Mustang of David Empringham. During the contest, the BMW developed an issue and finished fifteen-laps behind the leaders.

Blackforest Motorsports was one of the teams debuting the 2005 Ford Mustang. Qualifying the Mustang and third fastest was Ian James. For the contest, he would be joined by Tom Nastasi. James started the race and led five-laps before the driver change. Nastasi drove the final stint and was in contention for the victory. The Blackforest team decided not to change tires during the last stop which gave James and Nastasi the win.

Bill Fenton Motorsports, which helped Acura secure the 2004 Manufacturers’ title, was back for another season. Acura RSX-S were entered for Eric Curran, Bob Endicott, Mike Liebl, Chip Herr and team principal, Bill Fenton. Sharing the No. 27 Acura was Curran and Endicott. Curran was the third fastest in the qualifying session. With the disqualification of the TC Kline Racing BMW Z4, Curran and Endicott were declared the winners.

This is the Sport Touring podium before the post-race technical inspection. In the center are David Tuaty and Daniel Colembie. The fuel tank capacity on their BMW Z4 exceeded the maximum specifications. They were stripped of points and prize money. Standing on the left are Bob Endicott and Eric Curran, who would be awarded the win. Completing the rostrum are Tim Pappas and Steve Pfeffer, who were classified second.

David Empringham and Scott Maxwell co-drove the No. 55 Ford Mustang. The new Mustang was gridded sixth overall for the Grand Am Cup 200. Empringham started the race and moved into first place on the second lap. During his stint, the hood came off, but the team lost a minimal amount of time. Maxwell drove the last part of the race and led but a decision to change tires resulted in a second-place finish.

Findlay Motorsports drivers, Robert Findlay and Michael McDowell, didn’t start their 2004 campaign until round four at Watkins Glen International. They would capture an eighth-place finish which would be their best result of the year. At Daytona International Speedway, Findlay was fourteenth fastest during qualifying. The pair had a good race and maneuvered their way through the field to grab the final position on the podium.

The defending Sport Touring champions, Sylvain Tremblay and David Haskell returned in the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8. In Sport Touring qualifying, at Daytona International Speedway, Haskell set the fastest time in class and would start thirty-seventh overall. They lost first place during the race but rallied back to finish fourth. After the disqualification of the TC Kline Racing BMW Z4, they were classified as third-place finishers.

The second quickest in Sport Touring qualifying was Tim Pappas – just 0.196-seconds slower than the class pole-sitter, David Haskell. Pappas shared the Turner Motorsport BMW 330i with last season’s co-driver, Steve Pfeffer. Pappas and Pfeffer were third in class at the conclusion of the Grand Am Cup 200. However, they were another team to benefit from the disqualification of the TC Kline Racing and were awarded second place.

Starting on the outside of the front row was the N. 09 Automatic Racing BMW M3. Credit for the qualifying effort went to Jeb Thornton. Thornton was sharing the BMW with last year’s driving partner, David Russell. During the Grand Am Cup 200, the pair was able to maintain contact with the leaders but could not challenge for the lead. At the checkered flag, they were in fourth place.

The round one Grand Am Cup podium for the Grand Sport category at Daytona. Standing in the center are the winners, Ian James and Tom Nastasi. On the left side of the rostrum is one of the runner-ups, David Empringham – his driving partner, Scott Maxwell, left to fulfill Rolex 24 obligations. It was the same situation for the third-place finisher, Rob Findlay – his co-driver, Michael McDowell, had Rolex 24 commitments.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	GS	James / Nastasi	Ford Mustang GT	Blackforest Motorsports	57
2	GS	Empringham / Maxwell	Ford Mustang GT	Multimatic Motorsports	57
3	GS	Finlay / McDowell	BMW M3	Finlay Motorsports	57
4	GS	Thornton / Russell	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	57
5	GS	Plummer / Cosmo	Porsche 996	BGB Motorsports	57
6	GS	Stanton / Pumpelly	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	57
7	GS	Guindon / Camirand	Cadillac CTS-V	Powell Motorsport	57
8	GS	Wilkins / Lacey	Porsche 996	Doncaster Racing	57
9	GS	Gue / Jeannette	Ford Mustang GT	Multimatic Motorsports	57
10	GS	McCalmont / Law	Porsche 996	Zoom Motorsports	57
11	GS	Seafuse / Seafuse	Ford Mustang Cobra	JBS Motorsports	57
12	GS	Wortzman / Wilden	BMW M3	Zoom Motorsports	57
13	GS	Gaffney / Lally	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	57
14	GS	White / Lux	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	56
15	GS	Ellis / Bavaro	Porsche 997	Bodymotion Racing	56
16	GS	Friedman / Bailey	Porsche 996	Autometrics Motorsports	56
17	GS	Krohn / Jonsson	Porsche 996	Krohn Racing	56
18	GS	Rosser / Murry	Porsche 997	Synergy Racing	56
19	GS	Wellon / Ellis / Rossi	Porsche 996	Knobel Racing	56
20	GS	Martini / Collins	Porsche 997	Synergy Racing	56
21	GS	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	56
22	GS	Lehmann / Zacharias	Ford Mustang	Champion Motorsports	55
23	GS	Riddle / Wilson	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	55
24	ST	Curran / Endicott	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	55
25	ST	Pappas / Pfeffer	BMW 330i	Turner Motorsport	55
26	GS	Ridgway / Tetreault	Porsche 996	BGB Motorsports	55
27	GS	Ackley / Zavodsky / Rehagen	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing	55
28	GS	Skelton / Foster	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	55
29	ST	Haskell / Tremblay	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	55
30	ST	Salama / Turner/ Connolley	BMW 330ci	CSL Racing	55
31	ST	Abello / Espenlaub	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	55
32	ST	Holtom / Holtom	Chevrolet Cobalt	Georgian Bay Motorsports	54
33	GS	Shreiner / Lapcevich	Ford Mustang Cobra	Shreiner Racing	54
34	ST	Moorcones / Poscente	Acura Integra R	Radial Motorsports	54
35	ST	Magner / Seiler	Chevrolet Cobalt	WTF Engineering	54
36	GS	Konstant / Rakovchik / Sigal	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	54
37	ST	Schlesinger / Altenburg	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	54
38	GS	Auriemma / Pickett	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	53
39	ST	Crowe / Halpin	Mazda RX-8	Southpaw Racing	53
40	ST	Linville / Hauraney	BMW Z3	Compass360/Racing	53
41	GS	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	52
42	ST	Armengol / Walker	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	52
43	GS	Ham / Sandridge / Sandridge	Cadillac CTS-V	Team Salad Racing	51
44	GS	Rossi / Grande / Fox	Porsche 996	LNS Motorsports	51
45	ST	Kimball / Roach	Chevrolet Cobalt	Franklin American Mortgage	51
46	GS	Masessa / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	50
47	ST	Eaton / Howard	Mazda RX-8	Southpaw Racing	50
48	ST	Foo / Bocchino	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	46
49	GS	Hainer / Said	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	46
50	ST	Legg / Ellinger	Audi A4	LM Racing	46
51	ST	Liebl / Herr / Fenton	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	44
52	GS	Marks / Auberlen	BMW M3	Turner Motorsport	42
53	GS	Sandridge / Sandridge / Varde	BMW M3	Team Salad Racing	41
54	GS	Munson / Sofronas	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	35
55	GS	Keravich III / Trinkler / Linder	BMW M3	Power Racing Team	33
56	ST	Baglier / Luffy / Barrack	Mazda 6	Baglieracing	25
57	ST	Thomson/ Rosenblum	BMW Z3	Compass360/Racing	24
58	ST	O'Shaughnessy / O'Shaughnessy	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	20
59	GS	Dumoulin / Wilkins	Porsche 996	Fiorano Racing	16
60	GS	Putman / Courtney / Pickett	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	15
61	ST	Briody / Heffron	BMW 330ci	Matt Connolly Motorsports	12
62	ST	Diedrick / Wong	Nissan Sentra SE-R	DEI Racers Group	4
63	GS	Yeakle / Collyer	Pontiac Firebird	Michael Baughman Racing	3
64	GS	Kohler / Smith	Mustang Saleen	TF Racing	2
65	GS	Powell / Knowles	Cadillac CTS-V	Powell Motorsport	1
66	ST	Thornley / Schwartzott	Acura TSX	Kensai Racing	1
67	GS	Himes / Linder / Keravich III	BMW M3	Power Racing Team	1
68	ST	Gurucharri / Smellie / May	Mazda RX-8	HBAR Motorsports	0
69	GS	Kohler / Smith	Mustang Saleen	TF Racing	0
70	GS	Turner / Rehagen / Martin	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing	0
71	ST	Plummer / Tecce	BMW Z3	BGB Motorsports	0
72	ST	Turner / Salama	BMW 330i	Turner Motorsport	0
73	ST	Stewart / Herr	Acura TSX	Stewart Motorsports	0
DSQ	ST	Colembie / Tuaty	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	55

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