2005 Watkins Glen International

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.
Sport Touring (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 (which would hold events for the Grand Sport and Sport Touring classes) 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. While the finale is held in early October at Virginia International Raceway.

The Chemung Canal Trust 200 was held at Watkins Glen International on the 3.337-mile eleven-turn road course. This would be round four for the Grand Am Cup Sport Touring competitors and race five for the Grand Sport teams as they had an additional event in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republican.

Seventy-four Grand Am Cup competitors line-up on Watkins Glen International’s front straight for the Chemung Canal Trust 200. On the pole is the Turner Motorsport BMW M3 driven by Justin Marks and Bill Auberlen. Starting beside the Turner BMW is the Race Prep Motorsports Porsche 996. Sharing the Porsche were Spencer Pumpelly, Tim Gaffney and Mike Pickett. In the second row are the Doncaster Porsche and Powell Cadillac.

Justin Marks captured his fourth pole position in five events at Watkins Glen. Marks and his driving partner, Bill Auberlen, had demonstrated the speed of the Turner Motorsport BMW but their results to date were mixed. At the Chemung Canal Trust 200, Marks jumped into an early lead. After pitting for the driver change, Auberlen charged through the field and grabbed first place with three laps remaining to claim their second victory of 2005.

New York age requirements prevented 17-year-old Jamie Holtom from sharing the No. 00 Chevrolet Cobalt SS with his father, Jim. As a result, the team drafted Andy Lally to share the Cobalt with the senior Holtom. The car started fifth but was in contention during the contest. Late in the event, many of the top Sport Touring competitors were caught out by oil on the track. Lally and Holtom avoided the trouble and won the category.

Scott Maxwell and David Empringham won the previous round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. During the qualifying session at Watkins Glen International, Maxwell was fifth fastest in the Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang. Empringham drove the final stint and was in the lead when Bill Auberlen passed him with just three laps to go. Although they didn’t win, they took over the lead in the Grand Sport Driver standings.

Race Prep Motorsports entered three Porsche 996. Sharing the No. 18 Porsche were Spencer Pumpelly, Tim Gaffney and Mike Pickett. Pumpelly qualified the car and missed securing the pole position by a margin of 0.450-seconds. The trio fell out of contention early in the Chemung Canal Trust 200 and were two-laps behind the leaders at the checkered flag – finishing forty-first overall and thirtieth in the Grand Sport category.

The overall and Grand Sport class winners of the Chemung Canal Trust 200 at Watkins Glen International. On the left side is Justin Marks and beside him is sports car racing veteran, Bill Auberlen. This was their second victory of the season. The first came in March at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republican. Their results in the other events were disappointing – a low of thirty-fifth at Daytona and a high of fifth place at Fontana.

Scoring their best result of the season were Tom Lepper and Bo Roach. The pair shared the driving duties on the No. 32 Franklin American Mortgage sponsored Chevrolet Cobalt SS. The Cobalt started forty-second overall and second in Sport Touring. After leading a number of laps, the pair was second at the end of the race. In fact, three of the five top finishers were competing in the Chevrolet Cobalt SS.

Finishing third overall were Canadians, Greg Wilkins and David Lacey. Their No. 17 Porsche 996 was prepared by the very successful Doncaster Racing team. The Porsche was gridded third overall for the start of the Chemung Canal Trust 200. During his stint, Wilkins led a total of nine-laps. At the end of the race, they could not hold off Bill Auberlen or match the pace of the Multimatic Mustang and finished third.

Another Sport Touring team delivering their best performance of the season was the No. 20 Nuzzo Motorsports Mini Cooper S. Sharing the Mini were Steve Pattee and team owner, Tony Nuzzo. The car was well off the pace in qualifying and started seventieth overall and twenty-seventh in class. During the event, they moved through the field and avoided the oil on the track to capture their first podium finish of the season.

In Sport Touring qualifying, it was the usual suspects at the top of the timesheet. Securing the class pole was the Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX-S shared by Bob Endicott and Eric Curran. The Acura won the top spot by a margin of 0.491-seconds and started forty-first overall. But it would not be their day and they retired after completing thirty-laps. The pair recorded their worst result to date – twenty-sixth in class.

The Sport Touring class winners of the Chemung Canal Trust 200 at Watkins Glen International. On the left side is James Holtom and beside him filling in for his son, Jamie is Andy Lally. This was the first class victory of the season for Holtom and Lally. The category point leaders, Will Turner and Don Salama, had a difficult day and finished thirteenth. As a result, Holtom now trailed them by a single marker.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	GS	Marks / Auberlen	BMW M3	Turner Motorsport	56
2	GS	Empringham / Maxwell	Ford Mustang GT	Multimatic Motorsports	56
3	GS	Wilkins / Lacey	Porsche 996	Doncaster Racing	56
4	GS	McCalmont / Law	Porsche 996	Zoom Motorsports	56
5	GS	Gaffney / Pumpelly	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	56
6	GS	Munson / Sofronas	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	56
7	GS	James / Nastasi	Ford Mustang GT	Blackforest Motorsports	56
8	GS	Riddle / Wilson	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	56
9	GS	Thornton / Russell	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	56
10	GS	Krohn / Jonsson	Porsche 996	Krohn Racing	56
11	GS	Skelton / Foster	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	56
12	GS	Powell / Knowles	Cadillac CTS-V	Powell Motorsport	56
13	GS	Ellis / Bavaro	Porsche 997	Bodymotion Racing	56
14	GS	Schuitemaker / Zacharias	Nissan 350Z	Schuitemaker Motorsports	56
15	ST	Holtom / Lally	Chevrolet Cobalt	Georgian Bay Motorsports	56
16	ST	Lepper / Roach	Chevrolet Cobalt	Franklin American Mortgage	56
17	GS	Sahlen / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	56
18	GS	Himes / Linder	BMW M3	Power Racing Team	56
19	ST	Pattee / Nuzzo	Mini Cooper S	Nuzzo Motorsports	56
20	ST	Milner / Connolly	BMW 330ci	Matt Connolly Motorsports	56
21	GS	Flanagan / Stanton	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	55
22	GS	Macleod / Gorriaran	Nissan 350Z	DWW/GorillaRacing.com	55
23	GS	Camp / Lapcevich	Ford Mustang Cobra	Frederick Motorsports	55
24	GS	Kapudija / Pecorari	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing / Speedquest	55
25	GS	Plummer / Cosmo	Porsche 996	BGB Motorsports	55
26	GS	Sandridge / Heinricy	Cadillac CTS-V	Team Salad Racing	55
27	GS	Grand / Henzler	Porsche 996	Team RPM	55
28	GS	Guindon / Camirand	Cadillac CTS-V	Powell Motorsport	55
29	GS	Finlay / McDowell	BMW M3	Finlay Motorsports	55
30	GS	Bupp / Bupp	Nissan 350Z	Hamilton Safe Motorsports	55
31	ST	Magner / Strub	Chevrolet Cobalt	WTF Engineering	55
32	GS	Masessa / Longhi	Ford Mustang Cobra	Frederick Motorsports	55
33	ST	Becker / Halpin	Mazda RX-8	Southpaw Racing	55
34	ST	Johnson / Kintzi	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	55
35	ST	Schlesinger / Altenburg	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	55
36	ST	Moorcones / Poscente	Acura Integra R	Radial Motorsports	55
37	ST	Bisignano / Walker	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	55
38	ST	Robinson / Mitchell III	Mazda RX-8	Play Therapy Racing	55
39	GS	Wortzman / Wilden	BMW M3	Zoom Motorsports	54
40	GS	Rosser / Murry	Porsche 996	Fiorano Racing	54
41	GS	Gaffney / Pumpelly / Pickett	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	54
42	ST	Valentine / Briody	BMW 330ci	Matt Connolly Motorsports	54
43	GS	Hennessy / Zogaib / Marden	Nissan 350Z	Schuitemaker Motorsports	54
44	ST	Salama / Turner	BMW 330ci	CSL Racing	54
45	ST	Pappas / Pfeffer	BMW 330i	Turner Motorsport	54
46	ST	Fero / Sigal	Mini Cooper S	Nuzzo Motorsports	54
47	GS	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	53
48	GS	Bosler / Fitzgerald	Porsche 996	BGB Motorsports	53
49	GS	Seafuse / Seafuse	Ford Mustang Cobra	JBS Motorsports	53
50	ST	Goulart / Thomson	BMW Z3	Compass360/Racing	53
51	ST	Schultz / Stoddart	Mazda Protege	Fountain Motorsports	53
52	GS	Gue / Jeannette	Ford Mustang GT	Multimatic Motorsports	53
53	ST	Thornley / Schwartzott	Acura TSX	Kensai Racing	53
54	ST	Colembie / Tuaty	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	52
55	ST	Abello / Espenlaub	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	51
56	ST	Eaton / Sellers	Mazda RX-8	Southpaw Racing	51
57	GS	Zavodsky / Ackley	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing	49
58	ST	Liebl / Beede / Fenton	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	46
59	ST	Gurucharri / Allen	Mazda RX-8	HBAR Motorsports	46
60	ST	O'Shaughnessy / O'Shaughnessy	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	39
61	GS	Wellon / Ellis / Rossi	Porsche 996	Knobel Racing	37
62	GS	Munson / Scott / Probert	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	37
63	GS	Kohler / Smith	Mustang Saleen	TF Racing	34
64	GS	Keravich III / Trinkler	BMW M3	Power Racing Team	34
65	ST	Curran / Endicott	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	30
66	ST	Hrymack / Goulart / Wehrheim	BMW Z3	Compass360/Racing	30
67	GS	Sandridge / Varde / Galati	Cadillac CTS-V	Team Salad Racing	29
68	GS	Hainer / Hand / Said	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	26
69	ST	Phillips / Diedrick	Nissan Sentra SE-R	DEI Racers Group	25
70	GS	Martini / Collins	Porsche 997	Synergy Racing	17
71	GS	Mason / Turner	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing	15
72	ST	Haskell / Tremblay	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	3
73	GS	Gaffney / Pumpelly / Pickett	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	0
74	GS	Rossi / Grande / Fox	Porsche 996	Knobel Racing	0

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