2010 Trois-Rivieres - Grand Sport - Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge

Last season was the final year of the Grand-Am Road Racing’s contract with KONI. In 2010, Grand-Am partnered with Continental Tire. The series was renamed the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Obviously, this new arrangement also meant that after ten-years, teams would no longer be competing on Hoosier spec DOT-approved tires.

The cars in the series are relatively unchanged from their road-going counterparts – modifications are mandated mainly for safety – roll cages, window nets, etc. They also used spec DOT-approved tires produced by Continental. Based on performance potential, the cars were divided into one of two groups:

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 2,900 – 3,300-pounds, which is dependent on the motor configuration and displacement. This class includes cars such as the BMW M3, Ford Mustang, Porsche 997 and Porsche Carrera.
Street Tuner (ST): The smaller displacement cars compete in this class in which engines typically produce between 170 and 240-horsepower. Popular vehicles found in this group are the Volkswagen GTI, Acura TSX, Mazda RX-8, Mazda MX-5, Honda Civic Si, BMW 328i, Chevrolet Cobalt SS and Mini Cooper S.

The 2010 season consisted of ten race weekends and started in January at Daytona International Speedway, which was followed by a second event in Florida at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In April, the series would visit Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama and then move on to Virginia International Raceway. Round five would be conducted at Lime Rock Park. This would be the first of two race weekends where the Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes competed separately. The teams traveled Watkins Glen International in June and after this event, race weekends took place at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and New Jersey Motorsports Park. In August, teams made the trip to Canada, where the action would take place on the streets of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. This would be the penultimate round and was the second weekend that the two classes had their own race. The finale was held at Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park.

The penultimate round of the 2010 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge was held at Trois-Rivieres. Twenty Grand Sports teams would race on the ten-turn 1.521-mile temporary street circuit.

The penultimate round of the 2010 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship for the Grand Sport competitors started Friday evening at 7:00 pm. In the absence of the pole-sitter, Scott Maxwell, the second-fastest qualifier, Jack Roush, Jr., charges to the front of the field. Behind Roush are the BMWs of Rum Bum Racing and Fall-Line Motorsports. Twenty-teams started the event that would finish at 9:00 pm.

Matt Plumb opened the season with a victory at Daytona International Speedway. Since that event, the Rum Bum Racing team had finished on the podium twice. At the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres, Plumb was joined by Nick Longhi. Longhi qualified the No. 13 BMW M3 third fastest. He started the race and pitted during the first caution for a driver change. Plumb led fifty-six-laps on the way to a victory.

Roush Performance drivers, Jack Roush, Jr. and Billy Johnson finished thirty-seventh in the season opener but bounced back with victories at Homestead and New Jersey. Roush qualified second fastest at Trois-Rivieres and assumed the pole when Scott Maxwell failed to make the start. He led the first thirty-three-laps before the driver change. Johnson chased the leader but finished second by a margin of 3.681-seconds.

Finishing third at Trois-Rivieres was the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GS.R piloted by Jeff Bucknum and Matt Bell. Bell qualified the Camaro and started ninth. While their teammates lost an engine early in the second hour, they made steady progress. In the end, the event became an economy run, with many teams running out of fuel. The duo held on a captured the last spot on the podium.

Multimatic Motorsports entered two Ford Mustang Boss 302 R. As expected, the quickest Mustang was the No. 15 shared by Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell. With many years of experience at Trois-Rivieres, Maxwell was able to earn the pole. Unfortunately, he crashed the car before the end of the session. There was extensive damage to the Mustang, which the team was unable to repair at the track – the car was withdrawn.

The Grand Sport podium for round nine of the 2010 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car championship at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres. In the center are the winners from Rum Bum Racing, Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi. On the left are the early race leaders and runner-ups, Jack Roush, Jr. and Bill Johnson. Completing the final position on the rostrum is Stephenson Motorsports’, Jeff Bucknum and Matt Bell.

FINISH	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	GS	Plumb / Longhi	Rum Bum Racing / BMW M3	89
2	GS	Johnson / Roush	Roush Performance / Ford Mustang GT	89
3	GS	Bucknum / Bell	Sevenson Motorsports / Chevrolet Camaro GS.R	89
4	GS	Borcheller / Hendricks	Fall-Line Motorsports / BMW M3	89
5	GS	Espenlaub / Putman	Fall-Line Motorsports / BMW M3	89
6	GS	Marsal / Hand	Turner Motorsport / BMW M3	89
7	GS	Jeannette / Montecalvo	Multimatic Motorsports / Ford Mustang Boss 302 R	89
8	GS	Potter / Keen	Magnus Racing / Porsche Cayman	89
9	GS	Findlay / Cameron	Fall-Line Motorsports / BMW M3	88
10	GS	Cosmo / Dumoulin	BGB Motorsports / Porsche Cayman	87
11	GS	Farano / Dumoulin	Automatic Racing / BMW M3	87
12	GS	Long / Carbonell	Automatic Racing / BMW M3	87
13	GS	DiLeo / Buford	Racers Edge Motorsports / Ford Mustang Boss 302 R	83
14	GS	Smith / Phillips	Freedom Autosport / Ford Mustang	78
15	GS	Plumb / Carter	Sevenson Motorsports / Chevrolet Camaro GS.R	51
16	GS	Spaude / Aquilante	Subaru Road Racing Team / Subaru WRX-STi	36
17	GS	Dalla Lana / Auberlen	Turner Motorsport / BMW M3	34
18	GS	Bertheau / Pumpelly	The Racer's Group / Porsche 997	22
19	GS	Anthony / Atterbury	Mitchum Motorsports / Chevrolet Camaro GS.R	15
20	GS	Ende / Carroll	BGB Motorsports / Porsche Cayman	0

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