2007 Trois-Rivieres - Grand-Am Cup

Beginning in 2007 the Grand-Am Cup series was sponsored by KONI and renamed the KONI Challenge Series. The three-year agreement between Grand-Am and KONI called for the company to offer the richest purse in the series history - $100,000 per event. The winning Grand Sport team would earn $5,000 but the prize fund doubled to $10,000 if the car was equipped with KONI shock absorbers. Street Tuner competitors were competing for a similar payout - $3,750 to the winner and $7,500 if the vehicle is fitted with KONIs.

The 2007 season consisted of twelve race weekends and started in January at Daytona International Speedway which was followed by a second event in Florida at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In April, the series would make their first visit to Iowa Speedway then move on to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Lime Rock Park. In June, the teams travelled north of the border to compete at Mosport after this event race weekends took place Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Watkins Glen International and Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. In August, teams made their second visit to Canada where the action would take place on the streets of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. The penultimate round was held at Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park with the finale being held at Virginia International Raceway. The Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes had separate races – the exceptions being Daytona, Watkins Glen and Miller Motorsports Park where they competed in a single event.

The cars 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 were divided into one of two groups:

Grand Sport (GS): The quicker of the two classes - this 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 2,900 – 3,300-pounds which is dependent on the motor configuration and displacement. This class includes cars such as the BMW M3, Pontiac GTO, Ford Mustang, Porsche 997 and Cadillac CTS-V.

Street Tuner (ST): The smaller displacement cars compete in this class in which engines typically produce between 170 and 240-horsepower. Popular vehicles found in this group are the Acura RSX, Acura TSX, Mazda RX-8, Mazda MX-5, Honda Accord, BMW 330i, Subaru Legacy, Chevrolet Cobalt and Mini Cooper S.

The Trois-Rivieres event was round-ten for the Grand Sport category. Twenty-eight teams would compete on the very tight ten-turn 1.521-mile street course.

The pole-sitter, Joe Foster in the No. 55 Ford Mustang FR500C leads the field of twenty-eight starters in to corner one. Starting on the outside of the front row and losing some ground to Foster is the BMW M3 of Will Turner and Don Salama. Tucked in behind, Foster is the third fastest qualifier, Todd Snyder who shared the JBS Motorsports Ford Mustang FR500C with Mark Ackley.

Winners of round four at Laguna Seca, Bill Auberlen and Chris Gleason shared the No. 96 Turner Motorsports prepared BMW M3. Gleason started the race in sixth place and handed the car over to Auberlen on lap-9. Auberlen took the lead for the final time when the class-leading Mustang pitted on lap-77. Despite pressure from Andy Lally driving a TRG Porsche, he was able to hold on first place and win by 0.267-seconds.

Fourth in the Driver standings were Brett Seafuse and James Gue. Driving the JBS Motorsports Ford Mustang FR500C, the duo had back-to-back fourth-place finishes at Homestead-Miami and Iowa. Despite trailing Thornton and Segal by over thirty points they still had a mathematical chance of taking the championship. During the event, Seafuse and Gue lost a couple of positions during the contest and finished sixth.

Jep Thornton and Jeff Segal led the Grand Sport standings by thirty-points - heading in to the Trois-Rivieres weekend but were yet to win a race. In eight of the first nine events the pair has finished in the top-ten. Their best result to date was a second at Watkins Glen. Sharing the Automatic Racing BMW M3, they qualified eleventh and scored another top-ten finish with an eighth.

Joe Foster was the early season point’s leader driving the Hyper Sports Ford Mustang FR500C. Foster shared a victory with Scott Maxwell at Mosport, however, three consecutive finishes outside the top-ten dropped him to third in the title chase. The pair was well positioned to score a second victory when Foster put the Mustang on the pole. During the race they slipped down the order and finished fifth.

Among the local favourites were Trois-Rivières natives and brothers, Jean-Francois and Louis-Philippe Dumoulin. The Dumoulins shared the No. 82 BRG Motorsports Porsche 997. Jean-Francois is a two-time Grand-Am Cup champion and teamed up with Dave Riddle to win the Watkins Glen event. They started fifth and just before the halfway point of the contest, Louis-Philippe led for ten-laps – the brothers would finish fourth.

The Racer’s Group entered four Porsche 997s. The quickest of the quartet was the entry shared by Bryan Sellers and team principal, Kevin Buckler – they started seventh. Unfortunately, they retired after forty-four laps and were classified twenty-fourth. The team’s fortune fell on the No. 41 entry driven by Andy Lally and Ted Ballou. The pair started twelfth but moved through the field and grabbed a runner-up finish.

The driver of the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche 997, Craig Stanton was matched up with Hugh Plumb for round ten. Stanton, the 2004 class champion, had a season-high fifth place finish at Mosport and stood seventh in the standings. The pair started the race in eighth. Stanton replaced Plumb during the first caution and ran as high as second before being passed by Lally in corner one after the final restart – the duo finished third.

The defending Street Tuner champions Don Salama and Will Turner drove a Turner Motorsport BMW M3. Salama and Turner earned their first Grand Sport podium at Barber Motorsports Park. The pair has had strong performances at Trois Rivieres – in the last two years they have finished in the top-five. Turner qualified the BMW on the outside of the front row. Issues during the event resulted in a tenth place at the checkered flag.

Co-driving the No. 137 JBS Motorsports ACKCO Inc. Consulting Group Ford Mustang FR500C were Mark Ackley and Todd Snyder. Snyder saved the best for the last lap of qualifying and recorded the third quickest time. Unfortunately, for him and Ackley they retired after only thirty-four laps and were classified in twenty-sixth position.

FINISH	START	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS
1	6	Bill Auberlen / Chris Gleason	BMW M3	90
2	12	Andy Lally / Ted Ballou	Porsche 997	90
3	8	Hugh Plumb / Craig Stanton	Porsche 997	90
4	5	Jean-Francois Dumoulin / Louis-Philippe Dumoulin	Porsche 997	90
5	1	Joe Foster / Scott Maxwell	Ford Mustang FR500C	90
6	4	Bret Seafuse / James Gue	Ford Mustang FR500C	90
7	21	Tim George Jr / Conrad Grunewald	BMW M3	90
8	11	Jep Thornton / Jeff Segal	BMW M3	90
9	13	Duncan Ende / Grant Maiman	Porsche 997	90
10	2	Don Salama / Will Turner	BMW M3	90
11	28	Jon Miller / Serge Glazunov, Jr.	BMW M3	89
12	15	Tom Nastasi / David Empringham	Ford Mustang FR500C	88
13	20	Moses Smith / Jamie Slone	Ford Mustang FR500C	88
14	22	Rick Skelton / Patrick Dempsey	Ford Mustang FR500C	87
15	23	Jack Roush / Dean Martin	Ford Mustang GT SVT	86
16	27	Jim Click / Mike McGovern	Ford Mustang FR500C	86
17	10	Tim Traver / Mikel Miller	Porsche 997	85
18	25	Frank Rossi / Marcelo Abello	Porsche 996	85
19	18	Tom Long / David Russell	BMW M3	81
20	14	Travis Walker / Romeo Kapudija	Ford Mustang FR500C	67
21	16	Ray Mason / Adam Pecorari	Ford Mustang GT SVT	58
22	19	John Bibbo / Scott Schroeder	Porsche 997	58
23	26	Kris Wilson / Dave Riddle	Porsche 997	46
24	7	Bryan Sellers / Kevin Buckler	Porsche 997	44
25	24	Fraser Wellon / Barry Ellis	Porsche 996	43
26	3	Mark Ackley / Todd Snyder	Ford Mustang FR500C	34
27	9	Nic Jonsson / Charles Espenlaub	BMW M3	29
28	17	Spencer Pumpelly / John Mayes	Porsche 997	15

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