2003 Circuit Mont-Tremblant

The 2003 Grand Am Cup season consisted of eleven race weekends. The championship kicked off in January at Daytona International Speedway, which was followed two months later by an event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Beginning in May, the teams crisscrossed the United States, making a visit to Phoenix, Arizona and then back to the east coast for a stop at Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama. The championship made their final west coast swing of the year to Fontana, California. Round six was held at Watkins Glen International, which was followed by the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Next on the schedule was a visit to Canada for races at Mosport International Raceway and Le Circuit Mont Tremblant. The penultimate race weekend was held at Virginia International Raceway with the finale taking place at Daytona.

Most races were 3-hours in length and were 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 were 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, Barber, Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen, these four classes competed on the track at the same time.

Just one week after competing the Sunoco 94 3-Hour event, teams traveled to Quebec for the Mont-Tremblant 250. Drivers would compete on the fifteen-turn 2.65-mile road course.

The pole-sitter, Devon Powell, driving the No. 11 Powell Motorsport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 leads the field of forty-nine starters into corner one for the first lap of the Mont-Tremblant 250. Behind Powell is the other front row starter, Bill Adam, in a TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup. Trailing Adam is his teammate, Michael Levitas, driving the No. 18 Porsche GT3 Cup and the GS I points leading Doncaster Porsche driven by Robert Julien.

Doncaster Racing’s Robert Julien and Jean-Francois Dumoulin entered round nine at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant with a comfortable twenty-five-point lead in the Grand Sport I standings. As usual, Julien was responsible for qualifying the No. 119 Porsche GT3 Cup and was fourth quickest. With five laps remaining, Dumoulin was second but when the Powell Corvette spun, he inherited the lead and won for the fifth time this year.

It was not a very good qualifying effort for Forest Barber driving the Bell Motorsports BMW M3. When the session ended, he was tenth quickest in GS II and would start nineteenth overall. During the race, Barber and his teammate, Terry Borcheller’s performance improved. At the end of the Mont-Tremblant 250, they were tenth overall and first in class. This result moved the duo to the top of the GS II driver standings.

Bob Beede and Eric Curran crossed the finish line second in ST II but after the post-race technical inspection, they claimed first in class. The point’s leader, Beede, drove the No. 27 Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura Integra LS and was fourth fastest in the ST II qualifying session. He and Curran battled their way to the front but did not catch and pass the HRPworld.com Acura until the post-race technical inspection.

Entering the Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant weekend, the Planet Earth Motorsports drivers, Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker, were tied at the top of the GS II standings with Forest Barber and Terry Borcheller of Bell Motorsports. Joe Nonnamaker out qualified Barber and would start the No. 41 Porsche fifteenth overall and sixth in GS II. In the race, the Bell drivers outperformed the Nonnamakers who finished second in their division.

The Grand Sport I podium for round nine of the Grand Am Cup series at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant. In the center are the winners and class points leaders, Robert Julien and Jean-Francois Dumoulin. This was the third consecutive victory for the duo and their fifth of the season. On the right side of the rostrum from TPC Racing are the runner-ups, Michael Levitas and Randy Pobst. Completing the podium are Devon Powell and Doug Goad.

The third quickest in the qualifying session was Michael Levitas piloting the TPC Racing Porsche GT3 Cup. During the race, Levitas and his teammate, Randy Pobst, ran in third place – chasing the Powell Motorsports’ Corvette and the Doncaster Racing Porsche. When the Corvette encountered brake issues and spun with five laps to go, the TPC team was another beneficiary and finished in the runner-up position.

A week after Mosport, Devon Powell put the No. 11 Chevrolet Corvette on the GS I and overall pole. Again, he did it in style, breaking the existing lap record by 1.424-seconds. Powell and his teammate, Doug Goad, dominated the race and were in an excellent position to capture their first victory of the season. Unfortunately, the brake issue they experienced at Mosport returned. Goad spun the car and lost two places.

Driving duties for the No. 29 Bill Fenton Motorsports prepared Acura Integra LS were split between Mike Liebl and the team principal, Bill Fenton. Performing the qualifying duties was Fenton, who would be gridded forty-second overall for the start and third in the ST II group. When the HRPworld.com Acuras were disqualified, the duo moved from fourth to second in class which gave the team a one-two finish.

The ST II class podium before the post-race technical inspection. First across the finish line were Belinda Endress and Mike Fitzgerald driving the No. 44 HRPworld.com Acura. Upon examination of the car, series officials discovered illegal engine parts which led to their disqualification as well as the second entry shared by Will Nonnamaker and Howie Liebengood. Second place finishers, Bob Beede and Eric Currin, were declared the winners.

Sharing the No. 38 Duane Neyer Motorsports BMW Z3 was Jim Hamblin and Guy Cosmo. Hamblin only participated in the series on a part-time basis and his best result to date was a sixth in ST I at Daytona International Speedway. The Mont-Tremblant 250 would be Cosmo’s first Grand Am Cup event. The pair proved to be competitive. Hamblin was second quickest in class and the duo scored their first ST I victory.

Unitech Racing replaced the engine in the No. 33 Nissan before qualifying and the effort paid off. Mike Cronin not only earned the team’s first GS II pole position but also the first for Nissan’s 350Z model. Cronin was partnered with sportscar veteran, Stu Hayner. The pair had a good race but could not manage the pace set by the Bell Motorsports and Planet Earth Motorsports drivers and finished third in their category.

Another team having their best result of the season was Villaconn International. Drivers, Matt Connelly and Jason Potter, were quick, but their best result to date was a fourth place in ST I at Mid-Ohio. At Mont-Tremblant, Connolly qualified the team’s BMW Z3 and was sixth fastest in class and would start twenty-ninth overall. During the event, the pair turn-in their best performance of the season and finished second in class.

With their third-place finish in ST I drivers, Steve Lisa and David Rosenblum gave BMW a clean sweep of the class podium. Lisa and Rosenblum were driving a BMW Z3 entered by ICY / SL Motorsports. Lisa drove the BMW in the qualifying session and was tenth quickest in class. During the race, the pair benefitted when their competition encountered issues. They finished twentieth overall and earned the final spot on the rostrum.

In the center of the Grand Sport II celebrations are the winners from Bell Motorsports, Terry Borcheller and Forest Barber. This was the team’s fourth victory of the season and the third in a row. Their results broke a tie for the lead in the driver’s title chase. For Borcheller, this was his fiftieth professional win. Standing on the right and finishing second were Joe and Will Nonnamaker. In third place were Mike Cronin and Stu Hayner.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	GS I	Julien / Dumoulin	Porsche GT3 Cup	Doncaster Racing	91
2	GS I	Levitas / Pobst	Porsche GT3 Cup	TPC Racing	91
3	GS I	Powell / Goad	Chevrolet Corvette	Powell Motorsport	91
4	GS I	Dyson / Law	Porsche GT3 Cup	G&W Motorsports	91
5	GS I	Lacey / Wilkins	Porsche GT3 Cup	Doncaster Racing	91
6	GS I	Cawley / Davis	Porsche GT3 Cup	Foxhill Racing	91
7	GS I	Jackson / Adam	Porsche GT3 Cup	TPC Racing	91
8	GS I	France / Lynn / Heath	Porsche GT3 Cup	dds Racing	91
9	GS I	Morgan / Plumb	Porsche GT3 Cup	Glenn Yee Motorsports	91
10	GS II	Barber / Borcheller	BMW M3	Bell Motorsports	90
11	GS II	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Porsche 911	Planet Earth Motorsport	89
12	GS II	Cronin / Hayner	Nissan 350Z	Unitech Racing	89
13	GS II	Rudl / Brown	Mustang Cobra R	Frederick Motorsports	89
14	GS II	Baughman / Del Vecchio	Pontiac Firebird	Baughman Racing	88
15	GS II	Thornton / Russell	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	88
16	GS II	Schuitemaker / Zacharias	Nissan 350Z	Schuitemaker Motorpsorts	88
17	ST I	Hamblin / Cosmo	BMW Z3	Duane Neyer Motorsports	88
18	GS II	Kopperl / Camp	Mustang Cobra R	Frederick Motorsports	88
19	ST I	Potter / Connolly	BMW Z3	Villaconn International	88
20	ST I	Lisa / Rosenblum	BMW Z3	ICY / SL Motorsports	88
21	ST I	Galati / Schmitt	Acura RSX-S	Honda of America Racing Team	87
22	GS II	MacAlpine / Mason	Pontiac Firebird	Baughman Racing	87
23	ST I	Schlesinger / Tremblay	Porsche Boxster	SpeedSource	87
24	ST I	Pfeffer / Salama	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	86
25	ST I	Guenette / Lally	Lexus IS300	Team Lexus	86
26	ST I	James / Goldsborough	Lexus IS300	Team Lexus	86
27	ST I	Legg / Ellinger	Audi A4	LM Racing	85
28	ST II	Liebengood / Fitzgerald / Endress	Acura Integra LS	HRPworld.com	85
29	ST II	Fenton / Beede / Curran	Acura Integra LS	Bill Fenton Motorsports	85
30	ST II	Liebengood / Nonnamaker	Acura Integra LS	HRPworld.com	85
31	ST I	Olsen / Chenoweth	BMW 330i	CSL Racing	83
32	GS II	Schlesinger / Shep	Porsche 911	SpeedSource	83
33	GS II	Assentato / Longhi	Mustang Cobra SVT	TF Racing	83
34	ST II	Alderman / Hemmingson	Mazda Protege	ICY / SL Motorsports	83
35	GS II	Trentini / Van Der Dys	Porsche 993	G&W Motorsports	83
36	ST I	Himes / Moorcones	Acura Integra R	Craftsman Motorsports	81
37	ST I	Keravich / Trinkler	Acura Integra R	Power Racing Team	80
38	GS II	Istook / Zube	Audi S4	Istook / Aines Motorsport	78
39	GS II	Hebert / Vincent	Chevrolet Camaro	89 Racing Team	76
40	ST II	Fenton / Beede / Liehl	Acura Integra LS	Bill Fenton Motorsports	73
41	GS II	Hilliar / Jones	Chevrolet Camaro	Precision Motor Werks	72
42	ST I	Halsmer / Schmitt	Acura RSX-S	Honda of America Racing Team	70
43	GS II	Yeakle / Ward	Pontiac Firebird	Baughman Racing	67
44	ST II	Jacobs / Ellis	Mazda Miata	Nuzzo Motorsports	55
45	ST II	Baglier / Luffy	Mazda Protege	Baglieracing	52
46	ST I	Buisson / Patch	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	38
47	GS II	Theetge / Wilden	Acura NSX	Theetge Motorsports	31
48	GS I	Kohler / Smith	Saleen SR	TF Racing	8
49	ST I	Richardson / Linder	Acura Integra R	Power Racing Team	5

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