2005 Trois-Rivieres - Grand Am Cup

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 Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres was round seven for the Grand Am Cup Grand Sport competitors. Twenty-seven teams were scheduled to race on the ten-turn 1.521-mile street course.

The pole-sitter, Scott Maxwell driving the Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT, leads the field of twenty-seven Grand Sport competitors into Trois-Rivieres’ first corner. Next to Maxwell is the other front row starter, Justin Marks driving the Turner Motorsport BMW M3. Behind the two fastest qualifiers is Maxwell’s teammate in another Ford Mustang, Gunnar Jeannette and the BMW M3 of Joe Foster.

It was victory number three of the season for Justin Marks and Bill Auberlen. During qualifying, Marks was second fastest driving the Turner Motorsport BMW M3. At the start of the race, Marks dropped back to fourth place but worked his way back to second. On lap-32, he followed the leader into the pits and Auberlen exited first. He grabbed the top spot after all the teams had cycled through their stops and cruised to the victory.

Scott Maxwell grabbed his first Grand Am Cup pole position of the season and, in the process, set a new lap record. Sharing the No. 05 Ford Mustang GT with Maxwell was David Empringham. Maxwell led the first thirty-two-laps before pitting. During the stop, the door broke and Empringham lost two laps. During his stint, he got one of the laps back and a late-race pass on Charles Espenlaub gave the team a sixth-place finish.

Sharing the No. 28 Race Prep Motorsports Porsche 996 was Tim Gaffney and Spencer Pumpelly. In 2001, Pumpelly drove to a solo victory in the Grand Am Grand Touring class at Trois-Rivieres. To date, Gaffney’s best finish was fourth and for Pumpelly, it was a sixth place. The qualifying honours went to Pumpelly and he was seventh fastest. The pair delivered a solid performance and were rewarded with a runner-up finish.

Another group earning their best result of 2005 was the Power Racing Team. Gridded tenth for the start of the Trois-Rivieres 150 were the team’s drivers, Mike Keravich III and Owen Trinkler. To date, their best finish in the No. 7 BMW M3 was an eighth place. The crew implemented an excellent race strategy and drivers capitalized on errors made some of the faster qualifiers to capture the final position on the Grand Sport podium.

It was an early exit for the No. 13 Unitech Racing Nissan 350Z. In the previous round at Barber Motorsports Park, drivers, Blake Rosser and David Murry, were victorious. Entering the first turn on the opening of the Trois-Rivieres, there was contact. This incident resulted in the first of the day’s five full-course caution periods. Track crews were required to remove the damaged Nissan, which did not make it beyond corner one.

Last season, Powell Motorsport debuted the Cadillac CTS-V and it proved to be competitive in the hands of Devon Powell and Terry Borcheller – Borcheller finished second in the final standings. This year, Powell and his co-driver, Don Knowles, had been struggling since the Santo Dominican event. At the Trois-Rivieres, the Cadillac started eighth and at the end of the race, the duo was in fourth place.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	GS	Marks / Auberlen	BMW M3	Turner Motorsport	88
2	GS	Gaffney / Pumpelly / Pickett	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	88
3	GS	Keravich III / Trinkler	BMW M3	Power Racing Team	88
4	GS	Powell / Knowles	Cadillac CTS-V	Powell Motorsport	88
5	GS	Gue / Jeannette	Ford Mustang GT	Multimatic Motorsports	88
6	GS	Empringham / Maxwell	Ford Mustang GT	Multimatic Motorsports	87
7	GS	Fox / Espenlaub / Grande	Porsche 996	Knobel Racing	87
8	GS	Guindon / Camirand	Cadillac CTS-V	Powell Motorsport	87
9	GS	Ellis / Bavaro	Porsche 997	Bodymotion Racing	87
10	GS	James / Nastasi	Ford Mustang GT	Blackforest Motorsports	87
11	GS	Macleod / Gorriaran	Nissan 350Z	DWW/GorillaRacing.com	87
12	GS	Krohn / Jonsson	Porsche 996	Krohn Racing	86
13	GS	Dumoulin / Dumoulin	Porsche 996	Knobel Racing	86
14	GS	Sahlen / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	86
15	GS	Gaffney / Lally / Pickett	Porsche 996	Race Prep Motorsports	85
16	GS	Kapudija / Pecorari	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing / Speedquest	84
17	GS	Thornton / Russell	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	79
18	GS	Kohler / Smith	Mustang Saleen	TF Racing	77
19	GS	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	77
20	GS	Skelton / Foster	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	68
21	GS	Ellis / Rossi	Porsche 996	Knobel Racing	64
22	GS	Riddle / Wilson	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	60
23	GS	Hainer / Hand / Said	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	48
24	GS	Alhadeff / Sigal	Porsche 996	Fiorano Racing	43
25	GS	Finlay / McDowell	BMW M3	Finlay Motorsports	28
26	GS	Munson / Sofronas	BMW M3	Anchor Racing	3
27	GS	Rosser / Murry	Nissan 350Z	Unitech Racing	0

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