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.

Round six of the Grand Am Cup Sports Touring class was held at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres. Twenty-four teams would compete on the very tight ten-turn 1.521-mile street course.

Twenty-four Sport Touring competitors enter Ryan’s turn at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres in anticipation of the Starter’s flag. On the pole is the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 driven by David Haskell. Next to Haskell is Eric Curran in the Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX-S. The second row is occupied by the Turner Motorsport BMW 330i of Tim Pappas and David Tuaty in a BMW Z4 prepared by TC Kline Racing.

It was a great homecoming for Quebec native, Sylvain Tremblay. It started when his teammate, David Haskell, put the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 on the pole at Trois-Rivieres. In the previous round at Barber, a victory tied Tremblay with Wayne Nonnamaker for the most class wins. The pair won their second consecutive event in round six, helping Haskell retain the points lead and establishing a new record for Tremblay.

The second fastest Sport Touring qualifier, Eric Curran, drove the Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX-S with Bob Endicott. The pair were still looking for their first victory of the season. Curran led the first 18-laps in the No. 27 Acura before being passed by the Mazda RX-8 of David Haskell. Endicott was able to maintain second place until the brakes began to fail late in the race. He slowed down and finished fourth.

A routine pit-stop and driver change for the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW 330i during the Trois-Rivieres 150. Tim Pappas started third and maintained contact with the leaders. His teammate, Steve Pfeffer, drove the second half of the race and was running fourth when the Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX-S encountered braking problems. He inherited third place when the Acura slowed and captured the last spot on the podium.

Sharing the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW 330i was Don Salama and team principal, Will Turner. Salama performed the qualifying duties and was the fifth quickest. It didn’t take long for Salama to move into third place and follow the Mazda RX-8 of David Haskell and Eric Curran in an Acura RSX-S. Brake problems for the Acura late in the event allowed Turner to capture a runner-up finish which was their best result of the year.

Trois-Rivieres is hard on the brakes and the walls are unforgiving – just ask Daniel Colembie. Colembie’s co-driver, David Tuaty, qualified No. 12 BMW Z4 fourth fastest. Colembie drove the second stint and caused the event’s only full-course caution only lap-79 when he crashed on the exit corner one. The two drivers were classified in nineteenth place. This was not their worst result of the season, they were disqualified at Daytona.

The Grand Am Cup Sport Touring podium for round six at Trois-Rivieres. In the center are the SpeedSource drivers, Sylvain Tremblay and David Haskell. Tremblay set a record of nineteen Grand Am Cup wins and Haskell padded his points lead. Standing on the left side of the rostrum are the runner-ups, Will Turner and Don Salama, who achieved their best finish of the season. Completing the podium are Tim Pappas and Steve Pfeffer.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	ST	Haskell / Tremblay	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	90
2	ST	Salama / Turner	BMW 330ci	CSL Racing	90
3	ST	Pappas / Pfeffer	BMW 330i	Turner Motorsport	90
4	ST	Curran / Endicott	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	90
5	ST	Holtom / Magner	Chevrolet Cobalt	Georgian Bay Motorsports	89
6	ST	Johnson / Connolly	BMW 330ci	Matt Connolly Motorsports	89
7	ST	Walker / Povoledo	Acura RSX-S	Kensai Racing	89
8	ST	Ciekiewicz / Thomson	BMW Z3	Compass360/Racing	88
9	ST	Moorcones / Poscente	Acura Integra R	Radial Motorsports	88
10	ST	Wollersheim / Walker	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	88
11	ST	Briody / Halpin	BMW 330ci	Matt Connolly Motorsports	88
12	ST	Abello / Thornton	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	88
13	ST	Schlesinger / Altenburg	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	88
14	ST	Holtom / Holtom	Chevrolet Cobalt	Georgian Bay Motorsports	87
15	ST	Fenton / Beede	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	85
16	ST	Sahlen / Nonnamaker	Dodge SRT-4	Team Sahlen	84
17	ST	Baglier / Luffy	Mazda 6	Baglieracing	78
18	ST	Thornley / Schwartzott	Acura TSX	Kensai Racing	77
19	ST	Colembie / Tuaty	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	75
20	ST	Lepper / Roach	Chevrolet Cobalt	Franklin American Mortgage	74
21	ST	Stewart / Plumb	Acura TSX	Stewart Motorsports	70
22	ST	Pickett / McQuillan	BMW Z3	Compass360/Racing	62
23	ST	Scott / Probert / Munson	BMW 330i	Anchor Racing	58
24	ST	Phillips / Diedrick	Nissan Sentra SE-R	DEI Racers Group	9

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