Race Report:  New Jersey Motorsports Park
Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Brumos Racing traveled to New Jersey Motorsport Park’s Thunderbolt Raceway for round three of the Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series with our #58 car leading the championship by the narrowest of margins - one point.  In a departure from our previous two races of 2009, the weekend proved particularly challenging for both Brumos cars.  The weather played a key role as nonstop rain fell on the day of the race. Both cars had fared poorly in practice, struggling to find the right setup for the track and conditions, and both cars placed uncharacteristically low on the starting grid. Darren Law qualified #58 in 11th with J.C. France in 14th place for #59.  The positions on the back of the grid were especially daunting, as the track configuration made passing difficult.  The steady rains may have actually worked in our favor, as a first lap accident and resulting full course caution allowed both Brumos cars to gain ground quickly. 

Darren Law started the race in #58 and took advantage of the opportunities with perfect timing, avoiding the early incidents and gaining position despite the hazardous conditions.  Keeping #58 within striking distance, he turned the car over to David Donohue to finish the race. Donohue had moved the car into 3rd position in the closing minutes of the race, holding off persistent challenges from the #12 Penske Porsche, and appeared headed for his third consecutive podium when he was caught in traffic, enabling the #12 car to pass him.  Unable to regain his position in the closing minutes, he took the checkered flag in 4th, increasing Brumos’ lead in the championship in the process.

Donohue said, “We seem to struggle every time we come to this track, which is frustrating, but our whole Brumos Racing team has a lot to be proud of today. We raced hard for it this time, and considering how far back we ran in practice, coming in 4th here is like a personal victory for us.  We need to come back here and fine tune things, and maybe do some testing here to be able to get a good setup and race from the front next time.  But today is a great result for Brumos Racing.”

Things were looking positive for our #59 car in the early part of the race. Despite starting from the back of the grid, J.C. France drove one of his most impressive stints in the extreme conditions, taking full advantage of the yellows and moving up as high as 3rd before bringing the car in to hand it off to Joao Barbosa.  Shortly after getting in, Barbosa reported that the windshield wiper had stopped working. He stayed on track as long as possible before pitting under a yellow for repairs. As he attempted to get back on track, a clutch failure made it impossible to drive the car.  It went back to the garage for evaluation, then was forced to retire as repairs could not be made in time to re-enter the race. Fortunately, Barbosa had been in the car for the required 30 minutes and was able to earn points. Despite the results, our #59 car is still in strong contention in the championship, now in 5th place in the standings.

Although understandably disappointed, Barbosa remained positive, saying, “We had a really difficult weekend. We didn’t start well and then finished worse, but that’s racing - sometimes that happens.  J. C. drove a really good first stint. He kept the pace and kept up with the leaders. Hopefully, we can have better luck next time, and we still have a lot of races to go.”

Our team gets only a short break to regroup before heading west to Monterey’s Laguna Seca Raceway for round four of the Grand-Am season.  That race will be held on Sunday, May 17th. The green flag is set to drop at 4:00 ET, with live coverage on Speed TV.

Posted on 05/05 at 04:29 PM