SCC: Daytona: Multimatic Motorsports race report

Strong pace but tough season debut for Multimatic Motorsports in Daytona; Foster/Maxwell and Jeannette/Monteclavo duos encounter gremlins

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 29, 2010) - The Multimatic Motorsports squad's hopes of debut success with the Ford Mustang Boss 302R at the Fresh from Florida 200 came up short today after the Canadian team dealt with 'new-car' gremlins at the Daytona round of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

Despite showing encouraging speed, the #15 car of Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell had issues with the power steering of their Ford Mustang Boss 302R and Frankie Montecalvo and Gunnar Jeannette's #16 Bayshore Recycling machine retired late in the race on account of mechanical and electrical issues.

Things looked good early for Multimatic Motorsports - immediately turning competitive times on the opening day of practice. Starting second aboard the #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R, Foster maintained his position in the lead pack throughout his stint despite slight engine issues. By the time the team made a driver change and put Maxwell behind the wheel, the #15 car was sitting in fourth.

Meanwhile, aboard the team's second car was Frankie Montecalvo. The teenager, who drives beyond his years, put in a good run in his debut with Multimatic Motorsports. Having qualified the car 12th yesterday, Montecalvo immediately improved his position to ninth on the first lap. The team's newcomer consistently made his way through the field, getting as high as fifth. Unluckily, due to some engine problems, the American had fallen to seventh before entering pit lane to hand driving duties to teammate Gunnar Jeannette.

16 car on track Daytona Race With the first round of pit stops of the season completed flawlessly by the crew, things were looking up for the team which enjoys a championship winning pedigree in this class. Half way through the race the #15 car was sitting third with the #16 car right behind in fourth. Sadly for the crew things started dwindling in the second half of the two and half hour event.

While the 16 car piloted by Jeannette continued its run in the top five, the #15 Multimatic machine driven by "Mustang Master" Scott Maxwell encountered problems with the power steering. After losing nine laps to the leaders while making repairs, Canadian Maxwell returned to competition with about 40 minutes to go.

By the time the Canadian driver returned to the track, his teammate Jeannette had fallen to 14th in the #16 car having faced problems of his own. Electrical gremlins had caused the car to stop on track, thus getting his Mustang rear-ended by another competitor. After having lost time restarting the car, Jeannette continued to push hard and had made his way back up to eighth before once again losing some positions. While trying to make another attempt through the field with about 15 minutes to go, Jeannette suffered a brake issue that put an end to his day.

As for Maxwell, he also retired before the checkered flag fell due to recurring problems.

Next up for the Multimatic Motorsports squad will be the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race at Homestead-Miami Speedway March 5 and 6, 2010.

26th - Frankie Montecalvo, #16 Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R

"I had a pretty good start and everything was going great. I had a good run on one of the BMWs at the start and got by him. After that I had to work a little behind a few cars. I went through my stint the best I could, finding a rhythm and trying to keep the car in good shape for Gunnar. Unfortunately I started having some issues and the problem was getting worse as my stint went on so I ended up pitting a little early. Things didn't get any better for Gunnar and things went downhill later on. Even with these problems, I think we have a really competitive car and I'm confident that the issues we faced will be sorted by our next race."

26th - Gunnar Jeannette, #16 Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R

"It was a tough race. We had several mechanical and electrical issues that haunted us today. The engine would miss and then it would get better but then the problems kept coming back and getting worse, to the point the car shut itself off on me. That caused us to get rear-ended. Once I got the car started again I was picking up time but then we had the brake failure. There have been better days but as they say, there is no better testing than during a race. On the bright side, we learned a lot and we were competitive despite the problems we faced."

30th - Joe Foster, #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R

"Things went well at the start of the race. But then we had an engine problem and then the power steering problem occurred. They're what you call new car development problems but the car ran great and in the top two or three for about an hour and everything was going according to plan until those gremlins snuck in but those things happen sometimes. The BMWs were really hard to catch up to but all in all it was a very encouraging weekend."

30th - Scott Maxwell, #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R

"We already had an engine issue when I got in but we still remained in third and fourth for a while. Unfortunately the engine was not getting any better and then I started having problems with the power steering and our day sort of ended there once we had to go behind the wall to fix the problem. It wasn't what we were looking for, but I think if we look at it as a brand new car it was an encouraging debut. We qualified well and we were in the top two in practice. We need to take the good from the weekend and build on that. There's still work to do but everyone at Multimatic Motorsports is up for it."


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SCC: Turner Motorsport announces driver lineup

Turner Motorsport Announces 2010 Continental Tire Driver Line Up
Two-car GS effort targets return to victory lane for BMW

26 January 2010--When the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge season takes the green flag this Friday afternoon, Turner Motorsport will look to start the ten-race championship on the right foot with a successful defense of the team's race-winning effort from last year as the iconic blue and yellow BMW M3 machines take to the high banks of Daytona International Speedway for the Fresh From Florida 200.

Turner Motorsport, which recently announced a maiden campaign in the Rolex Sports Car Series GT Class with a BMW M6 entry, will once again post a full season two-car Grand Sports (GS) Class campaign in the newly-renamed Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge championship. The two GS machines are expected to be joined by the Turner Motorsport Street Tuner (ST) class 328i in select outings as well.

The team has a long history of attracting both championship-caliber drivers and up-and-comers in the sport to their driving roster, and the Turner Motorsport 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge driver line up reflects that trend once again.

The No. 96 H&R Springs/ Stop Tech Brakes BMW M3 will see Bill Auberlen return to Turner Motorsport for his ninth season of competition as the BMW factory ace and multi-time champion has been signed to share the driving duties with Paul Dalla Lana. The Canadian businessman joined the team in 2009, racing a select schedule but still taking three top-ten finishes including his debut podium result in the final race of the season with his run to second place at Virginia International Raceway.

The sister No. 97 Borla exhaust / Motul lubricants BMW M3 will also boast speed as well as youth, as fellow BMW factory pilot Joey Hand is joined by Turner Motorsport driver Michael Marsal, 21. A Texas native, Marsal is moving to full-time Continental Tire Challenge competition after building his experience in the PCA ranks. An avid enthusiast of the BMW brand, Marsal made his GRAND-AM debut at Trois Rivieres in an ST-class 330i and joins Turner Motortsport for his rookie season as he moves directly into the GS-class ranks.

"If you want to get the best results, you have to be with the best team, so I'm very happy to be joining Turner Motorsports and getting the chance to co-drive with a guy like Joey," said Marsal between classes as he pursues a degree in finance. "He is the man when it comes to getting the most out of a BMW. This is my first year in pro racing and there are going to be several tracks that are new to me and I'm going to have a lot to learn, but I'm in exactly the right environment to do that. The test went very well and I have an E46 M3 street car, so I was feeling very familiar with the car right away. Hopefully we can start things off for the year with a good result this weekend."

In the same way that the team has youth and experience in the driver line-up, the Fresh From Florida car line up carries the same theme, as the No. 96 of Auberlen and Dalla Lana is the E92-iteration, with Hand and Marsal utilizing the same E46-series machinery that proved victorious for the team at Daytona in 2009. 2009 saw Turner Motorsport add yet another chapter to its BMW legacy with the team's breakthrough ST-Class win for the BMW E90 328i at Laguna Seca, and will target a new breakthrough this year as the E92 M3 looks to make a debut in victory lane.

"We are ready to go this week, and feel like we have everything in place to have a strong run in the championship this season," said team owner Will Turner, who will also make a select run of driving appearances through the 2010 season. "Last year was a good season with so many wins, and so many pole positions, but we didn't end up on top of the championship, so we want to make up for that this year. We are very excited to have Michael (Marsal) joining us, and Paul (Dalla Lana) has continued to make amazing progress with us. This should be one of the most competitive seasons yet in GRAND-AM, but we are really looking forward to it and hopefully we can start the season off the way we did last year."

Turner Motorsport will not only benefit from long-running relationships with top talents like Hand and Auberlen, but TMS will also once again enjoy partnership support from a long-held group of sponsors, including H&R Springs, Stoptech Brakes, Motul Lubricants, Borla Performance Industries, Pagid Brake Pads, and Piloti Shoes.


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