2006 Trois-Rivieres - Grand Am Cup

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.

Trois-Rivieres was one of four race weekends where the Grand Sport and Street Tuner categories competed as stand-alone contests. The Street Tuner event was held Saturday afternoon on the ten-turn 1.521-mile street course.

Pacing the field of twenty-eight starters as they enter Trois-Rivieres’ final corner is the pole-sitter, Charles Espenlaub in the Davis Motorsports Acura RSX-S. Sharing the front row with Espenlaub is the No. 95 Turner Motorsport prepared BMW 330i, driven by Don Salama. Behind the leaders is Quebec resident, Benoit Theetge driving an Acura TSX and the SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of the David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay.

Sharing the No. 86 Powell Motorsport Chevrolet Cobalt was David Thilenius and hometown favourite, Marc-Antoine Camirand. Thilenius qualified ninth fastest and ran in the top-ten during his stint. The team executed the driver change during the second caution period. Camirand moved up the race order and on lap-48, he took the lead from Matt Plumb. Camirand controlled the race from there and captured the victory.

Finishing 3.127-seconds behind Marc-Antoine Camirand in the runner-up position was Matt Plumb. Plumb was sharing the Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX-S with his brother, Hugh. The brothers won their first race of the season in the previous round at Barber. At Trois-Rivieres, Hugh was sixth fastest in the qualifying session. In the race, they were ‘on-track’ for a second victory until Matt was passed by Marc-Antione Camirand.

Davis Motorsports entered three Acura RSX-S. The No. 144 Acura was driven by touring car veterans, Bob Endicott and Michael Galati. Endicott and Galati did not join the series until round two at Virginia, where they finished third. The paired scored their first victory of the year at Phoenix. Galati qualified the RSX and was eighth fastest. Endicott drove the last stint and captured the final spot on the podium.

One of the three Davis Motorsports Acura RSX-S at Trois-Rivieres was piloted by Charles Espenlaub and Jeff Altenberg. Anthony Serra was entered as an alternate driver. Espenlaub was fastest in qualifying and put the No. 142 RSX-S on the pole for the 150-mile event. He and his teammate, Altenberg, fell out of the top spot but maintained pace with the leaders and were in fourth place at the checkered flag.

Until the latest two rounds, Barber Motorsports Park and Trois-Rivieres, the point’s leaders, Jamie Holtom and Eric Curran were having a sensational season. To date, Holtom and Curran had ‘racked-up’ five podium finishes, four of which were victories. But a twenty-eighth place finish at Barber and an incident during the race at Trois-Rivieres, which resulted in an eighteenth place, saw them drop to third in the standings.

The Street Tuner podium for round eight at Trois-Rivieres. In the center, recording their first victory of the year, are David Thilenius and hometown hero, Marc-Antoine Camirand. On the right side of the rostrum and earning their fifth consecutive podium finish for 2006 are the brothers, Matt and Hugh Plumb. Completing the podium from Davis Motorsports are Michael Galati and Bob Endicott.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	ST	Thilenius / Camirand	Chevrolet Cobalt	Powell Motorsport	72
2	ST	Plumb / Plumb	Acura RSX-S	Bill Fenton Motorsports	72
3	ST	Endicott / Galati	Acura RSX-S	Davis Motorsports	72
4	ST	Serra / Espenlaub / Altenburg	Acura RSX-S	Davis Motorsports	72
5	ST	Turner / Salama	BMW 330i	Turner Motorsport	72
6	ST	Haskell / Tremblay	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	72
7	ST	Sahlen / Nonnamaker	Dodge SRT-4	Team Sahlen	72
8	ST	Potter / Tuaty	BMW Z4	Performance Motorsports	72
9	ST	Buisson / Johnson	BMW Z4	Performance Motorsports	72
10	ST	Schmitt / Roush / Lewis	Honda Accord	HART	71
11	ST	Walker / Povoledo	Acura RSX-S	Kensai Racing	71
12	ST	Holtom / Colembie	Chevrolet Cobalt	Georgian Bay Motorsports	71
13	ST	Bilodeau / Borgeat	Hyundai Tiburon	GT Racing	71
14	ST	Mardikian / Mirzayan	Chevrolet Cobalt	Team Cobalt California	71
15	ST	Sutherland / Schwartzott	Acura TSX	Schwartzott / Thornley Racing	70
16	ST	Abello / Thornton	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	70
17	ST	Moorcones / Legg	Acura Integra R	Radial Motorsports	70
18	ST	Curran / Holtom	Chevrolet Cobalt	Georgian Bay Motorsports	67
19	ST	Hebert / Hamelin / Gagnon	Honda Civic Si	89 Racing Team	60
20	ST	Lepper / Magner	Chevrolet Cobalt	WTF Engineering	58
21	ST	Theetge / Cunningham	Acura TSX	Theetge Motorsport	33
22	ST	Armengol / Dumoulin	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	29
23	ST	Leverone / Long / Serra	Acura RSX-S	Davis Motorsports	14
24	ST	Malgren / Roy	Chevrolet Cobalt	Powell Motorsport	14
25	ST	Thomson / Audette	Acura RSX-S	Kensai Racing	3
26	ST	Stoddart / Fonte / Cosmo	BMW 330ci	Fountain Motorsports	3
27	ST	Schlesinger / Dobson	Mazda RX-8	SpeedSource	3
28	ST	Scattolin / Dumoulin	Mini Cooper S	Nuzzo Motorsports	1
29	ST	Ortiz / Gonzalez Jr	Chevrolet Cobalt	Team Cobalt California	0

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