Stevenson Motorsports wasn’t overly confident ahead of this past weekend’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race at Virginia International Raceway. Their two Camaro Z/28.Rs were starting from fifth and seventh on the grid, however after going off-strategy from the rest of the field, the team was able to land both cars on the podium.
Matt Bell and Lawson Aschenbach started from fifth position in their No. 9 Z/28.R and stayed mid-pack until race strategies began to play out. After two early caution periods, they pitted early and took fresh tires much and gas earlier than their competitors. This strategy ended up working for the team, as two of the race’s leaders dropped out in the closing laps after running out of fuel.
“Today’s race was an example of excellent execution and strategy by our Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R teams,” said Chevy Program Manager for the Camaro Z/28.R, Jim Lutz. “Congratulations to Stevenson Motorsports on a double-podium finish for Matt Bell and Lawson Aschenbach, and Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis.”
In addition to Stevenson Motorsports’ 2-3 finish, Mantella Autosport also managed a strong fifth place finish, putting all three Camaro Z/28.Rs that were entered in Saturday’s race in the top five. Unfortunately, none of the Camaros had anything for race winners Hugh and Matt Plumb, who took the win after the leading Nissan and Aston Martin ran out of gas with just one lap to go.
The IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series won’t race again until Friday, September 18th, when the TUDOR Series heads to Circuit of The Americas for the Lonestar Le Mans weekend. Davis and Lidell currently lead Hugh and Matt Plumb in the driver’s standings by 15 points.
No Comments yet