2006 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

2006 was the sixth 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 GT, Nissan 350Z, Porsche 996 and 997 models.
Street Tuner (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, Acura TSX, Mazda RX-8, BMW Z4, 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 2006 season consists of ten race weekends and starts in January at Daytona International Speedway. Teams do not compete again until April for the first of two events at Virginia International Raceway. In early May, the series competes at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and stays on the West Coast for races at Phoenix International Raceway. Then the series returns to the eastern United States for weekends at Lime Rock Park, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Barber Motorsports Park. On the first weekend of August, the championship heads north of the border to compete at the Le Circuit Trois-Rivieres. The penultimate round takes place at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, with the finale being contested at Virginia International Raceway.

Separate races for the Grand Sport and Street Tuner categories will be held at Phoenix, Lime Rock Park, Trois-Rivieres and the second race weekend at Virginia International Raceway.

Round six of the 2006 Grand Am Cup championship was held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Seventy-five Grand Sport and Street Tuner teams would compete on the thirteen-turn 2.258-mile road course.

Seventy-five Grand Am Cup driver’s line-up on Mid-Ohio’s front straight ready to roll-off for the start of the race on the backstretch. On the pole for his first time in Grand Am Cup competition is Jeff Segal. Segal is driving the No. 90 Automatic Racing prepared BMW M3. Beside Segal is the Porsche 996 of the second-fastest qualifier, Dwain Dement. Behind the second row are the BMWs of Anders Hainer and Emil Assentato.

The first lap through the ‘Carousel’ for round six at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Leading the field is the BMW M3 of the pole-sitter, Jeff Segal. Immediately, behind Segal is the Bernheim Law Offices sponsored Porsche 996 of the second-fastest qualifier, Dwain Dement. Trailing the front runners and up from the sixth starting position is BGB Motorsports Porsche 966, shared by Mark Plummer and Craig Stanton.

Posting the tenth fastest time in the Grand Sport qualifying session was Chris Gleason driving the No 96 BMW M3. Gleason and his co-driver scored a victory in the previous round at Lime Rock Park. Another great effort saw Auberlen pass the race leader, Craig Stanton, with just fifteen laps remaining in the event. Three circuits later, ‘the deal was sealed’ for the Gleason and Auberlen when the contest ended with a full-course caution.

Capturing the Street Tuner pole position at Mid-Ohio was the class points leader, Jamie Holtom. Holtom and his co-driver, Eric Curran, had three victories in five races and led the standings. Curran drove the final stint of the event and inherited the lead from Holtom during the driver change. He came under pressure from Sylvain Tremblay, but the race ended under caution, allowing Holtom and Curran to secure the victory.

With their Daytona disqualification behind them, Mark Plummer and Cort Wagner entered round six with three top-ten finishes. Co-driving the No. 38 Porsche Carrera, they started in the sixth grid position. Plummer moved into contention on the first lap. Wagner was leading with fifteen laps remaining when he was passed by a hard-charging Bill Auberlen. A race-ending caution resulted in a second-place finish.

Last year’s Street Tuner champion’s, David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay started second in class. It has been a difficult season thus far for the drivers of the No. 70 Mazda RX-8. They are yet to find the podium. The two drivers were in contention during the race. Tremblay drove the final stint and challenged the leader, Eric Curran. The contest ended with a full course caution leaving the Mazda drivers in second place.

Co-driving the No. 90 Engine Studios / Land Air BMW M3 for Automatic Racing were Jeff Segal and Joao Barbosa. To date, their best result was a third-place finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Segal handled the qualifying and scored his first Grand Am Cup pole position. Unfortunately, the glory was shorted lived. Segal was the race’s second retiree, completing only six-laps and was classified thirty-seventh in Grand Sport.

Automatic Racing entered three BMW M3s at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In addition to the Segal/Barbosa BMW, there was the No. 91 driven by fourth-place starters, Emil Assentato and Nick Longhi. Sharing the No. 09 M3 was David Russell and Kris Wilson, who qualified ninth fastest. A great pit-strategy and a steady performance netted the pair their best result of the season – a third-place finish.

The Plumb brothers, Hugh and Matt had three podium finishes (Daytona International Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Lime Rock Park) to date driving the No. 27 Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX-S. They started eighth in the Street Tuner category for the Grand Am Cup 200 at Mid-Ohio. During the contest, the brothers moved up the race order. At the checkered flag, they were third place in class.

After a one-year absence, Brent Martini returned to Grand Am competition. Martini entered the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but his main focus in 2006 was the Grand Am Cup series. He shared the No. 81 Synergy Racing prepared Porsche 997 with factory driver, Pat Long. They were gridded a disappointing twenty-fourth for the start of the contest. The pair maneuvered their way through the field and managed to finish fourth overall.

Qualifying third overall and in the Grand Sport category was Anders Hainer. This weekend, Joey Hand was filling in the Hainer’s regular co-driver, Boris Said, who was competing in a NASCAR event at Sonoma. Unfortunately, Hand went for a wild ride during Saturday’s EMCO Gears Classic and was replaced by Nic Jonsson. Hainer and Jonsson finished fourth overall, which moved Hainer into the Grand Sport points lead.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	GS	Gleason / Auberlen	BMW M3	Turner Motorsport	77
2	GS	Plummer / Stanton	Porsche 996	BGB Motorsports	77
3	GS	Russell / Wilson	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	77
4	GS	Martini / Long	Porsche 997	Synergy Racing	77
5	GS	Hainer / Jonsson	BMW M3	Turner Motorsport	77
6	ST	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	77
7	GS	Goodbody / Krueger / Vong	Porsche 997	Group 88 Motorsports	77
8	GS	Traver / Miller	Porsche 996	BGB Motorsports	77
9	GS	Pumpelly / Lally	Porsche 997	Marcus Motorsports	77
10	GS	Bavaro / Price	Porsche 997	Bodymotion Racing	77
11	GS	Camirand / Goad	Pontiac GTO	Spirit of Daytona Racing	77
12	GS	Mason / Martin	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing	77
13	GS	Martinelli / McMillen	BMW M3	Martinelli Motorsports	77
14	GS	Olson / Lacy	Mustang GT	Champion Motorsports	77
15	GS	Wellon / Ellis	Porsche 996	Knobel Racing	77
16	GS	Grand / Brown	Porsche 996	Grand Motorsport Racing	77
17	GS	Grigsby Jr / Heath	Porsche 997	International Auto Sport	77
18	GS	Seafuse / Seafuse / Sterenberg	Mustang GT	JBS Motorsports	77
19	GS	Assentato / Longhi	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	77
20	GS	Zavodsky / Rehagen	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing	77
21	GS	Rossi / Sabol	Porsche 996	Knobel Racing	77
22	ST	Curran / Holtom	Chevrolet Cobalt	Georgian Bay Motorsports	77
23	ST	Haskell / Tremblay	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	77
24	ST	Plumb / Plumb	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	77
25	ST	Turner / Salama	BMW 330i	Turner Motorsport	77
26	ST	Thomson / Povoledo	Acura RSX-S	Kensai Racing	77
27	GS	Constantine / Borkowski	Nissan 350Z	Playboy Racing	76
28	GS	Buckler / Valentine	BMW M3	Fall-Line Motorsports	76
29	ST	Endicott / Galati	Acura RSX-S	Davis Motorsports	76
30	ST	Potter / Tuaty	BMW Z4	Performance Motorsports	76
31	ST	Stoddart / Buisson / Schultz	BMW 330ci	Fountain Motorsports	76
32	ST	Skavnes / Rosenblum	Subaru Legacy	ICY Phoenix	76
33	ST	Malgren / Lepper	Chevrolet Cobalt	Powell Motorsport	76
34	ST	Holtom / Colembie	Chevrolet Cobalt	Georgian Bay Motorsports	76
35	ST	Theetge / Cunningham	Acura TSX	Theetge Motorsport	76
36	ST	Bonaccorsi / Mirzayan	Chevrolet Cobalt	Team Cobalt California	76
37	ST	Schlesinger / Dobson	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	76
38	ST	Thilenius / Lamb	Chevrolet Cobalt	Powell Motorsport	75
39	GS	Bambach/ Brent / Brent	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	75
40	GS	Baker / Frost	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	75
41	ST	Thornley / Schwartzott	Acura TSX	Schwartzott / Thornley Racing	75
42	ST	Schmitt / Roush	Honda Accord	HART	75
43	ST	Bocchino / Foo	Acura TSX	i-MOTO Racing	75
44	ST	Speck / O'Toole	Dodge SRT-4	Team Sahlen	75
45	ST	Serra / Adamski	Acura RSX-S	Davis Motorsports	75
46	ST	Lock / Lock / Sheehan	Subura Legacy	GOTO Racing	75
47	ST	Mitchell III / Robinson	Mazda RX-8	Play Therapy Racing	75
48	ST	Leverone / Long / Cussigh	Acura RSX-S	Davis Motorsports	75
49	ST	Bilodeau / Borgeat	Hyundai Tiburon	GT Racing	74
50	ST	Pattee / Toussaint	Mini Cooper S	Nuzzo Motorsports	74
51	ST	Gilio / Niffenegger	Acura TSX	i-MOTO Racing	74
52	ST	Addison / Piper	BMW 330i	Craftsman Motorsport	74
53	ST	Stoddart / Fonte / Schultz	BMW 330ci	Fountain Motorsports	74
54	ST	Roach / Magner	Chevrolet Cobalt	WTF Engineering	73
55	GS	Kohler / Smith / Snyder	Mustang GT	TF Racing	73
56	GS	Boden / Ham / Jenkins	BMW M3	Fall-Line Motorsports	73
57	GS	Weinberg / Camp	Pontiac GTO	Spirit of Daytona Racing	73
58	ST	Himes / Briody	BMW 330i	Craftsman Motorsport	73
59	ST	Ellis / Colletti	Acura RSX-S	Colletti Motorsports	73
60	GS	Seafuse / Seafuse / Gue	Mustang GT	JBS Motorsports	70
61	ST	Nuzzo / Hopwood	Mini Cooper S	Nuzzo Motorsports	68
62	GS	Hayner / Miller / Halsmer	Mustang GT	Stealth Racing	63
63	ST	Walker / Harvey	Acura RSX-S	Kensai Racing	46
64	GS	Nastasi / James	Mustang GT	Blackforest Motorsport	46
65	ST	Liebl / Beede	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	45
66	ST	Hebert / Hamelin	Honda Civic Si	89 Racing Team	44
67	GS	Sahlen / Nonnamaker	Porsche 996	Team Sahlen	33
68	ST	Johnson / Brumbaugh	Mazda RX-8	Roar Racing	26
69	GS	Limoges / Cosmo	Mustang GT	Blackforest Motorsports	21
70	ST	Ortiz / Gonzalez Jr	Chevrolet Cobalt	Team Cobalt California	18
71	GS	Law / Borcheller	Mustang GT	Blackforest Motorsport	13
72	GS	Scattolin / Workman	Mustang GT	Blackforest Motorsports	12
73	GS	Finlay / McDowell	Mustang GT	Playboy Racing	8
74	GS	Segal / Barbosa	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	6
75	GS	Bernheim / Dement	Porsche 996	Bernheim Racing	5

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