Race Report:  Virginia International Raceway
Monday, April 27, 2009

Brumos Racing headed to Virginia International Raceway for Round two of the Grand-Am Rolex Series fully aware that our Rolex 24 victory and dual podium finish would be a tough act to duplicate, even before the post-Daytona rule change by Grand-Am that affected Porsche engines. Determined to overcome all those obstacles, our team delivered again, as our #58 car scored their second consecutive podium.  Their third place finish was enough to boost them to the top spot in Grand-Am’s team points.  Mechanical problems late in the race affected #59’s performance, but their eighth place finish also earned valuable points, securing them third place in the Championship standings.

In a change from last season’s strategy, Darren Law qualified #58, putting it in 5th place on the starting grid.  He had moved up to second place before bringing the car in to hand it off to David Donohue.  The crew did a quick job getting the car back on track and Donohue was able to regain position as the race leaders pitted.  He had moved up to 4th place during the closing minutes of the race when a full course caution allowed him to close the gap for the restart.  As the green flag was dropped, less than five minutes of racing remained.  Following contact with the #01 car, Donohue managed to avoid a subsequent incident between the #01 and #10 SunTrust car which took both off the track. Donohue moved into third place, holding off all challenges to take the checkered flag for a return trip to the podium.

Qualifying in 14th and starting the race for our #59 car was J.C. France. Staying on track during an early yellow flag, France had moved up quickly through the field when he had contact with the #6 car. France was assessed a drive through penalty for the incident, dropping #59 back in the field.  A subsequent yellow worked well for driver change strategy to turn the car over to Joao Barbosa for the finish. Turning some impressive lap times, Barbosa worked hard to gain ground before a power steering problem forced him back to the pits twice for repairs.  The late race caution and restart incidents enabled Barbosa to move back into the top ten as he brought the car in for the finish in eighth place. 

Barbosa said, “I think it was a good result considering the problems we had. We added some points and held onto third place in the championship.  The new rules have made it a lot tougher, but the Brumos team is adapting to those changes and keeping us in the competition”.

Following a podium celebration, most of our crew remained in Virginia to work on preparing our cars for back-to-back race weekends.  Our next race will be held at Thunderbolt Raceway in Millville, NJ, with race action beginning Sunday, May 3rd. The race is scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM ET, and will be broadcast live on Speed TV.

Posted on 04/27 at 02:56 PM