At the Tudor United SportsCar Championship‘s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on Saturday, the Prototype Challenge class was won by Starworks Motorsport drivers Mirco Schultis and Renger van der Zande in their #8 Martini ORECA FLM09.
“I’m not looking for good luck, I just don’t want any more bad luck like we’ve had in the last three races.” Those were the words of team owner Peter Baron before Saturday’s race. So far in 2015, Starworks have finished 6th, 5th and 6th at Daytona, Sebring and Laguna Seca respectively. Having won three races last year, the team went into the season hoping for much better results than they have had. Finally, four races into the Prototype Challenge season, they have scored their first class win.
“Bruno (Junqueira) slipped in Turn 1 when we were coming up on a GTD car, and I went around him on the outside and I passed him in Turn 2,” said Renger van der Zande. “Then I ran down (James) Vance, and from there on it was a matter of managing the race. We knew from Mazda Raceway that we were lighting fast, but we didn’t win that one. We were finally able to win here today, but it wasn’t that easy.”
Despite starting from pole, the #38 of Performance Tech Motorsports couldn’t take home the victory. They led the first 55 laps before van der Zande took the lead. The #38 was subsequently pushed back to third when Stephen Simpson‘s #85 JDC/Miller Motorsports car overtook him. James Vance held on to finish third in his #38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA.
The #54 of CORE Autosport had contact with the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car on the first lap, with the former losing four laps after pitting for repairs. Mike Guasch in the #52 could continue but the car was later damaged when co-driver Tom Kimber-Smith hit the spinning #11 RSR Racing ORECA of Bruno Junqueira.
By the end of the race, fourth place went to the #54 CORE Autosport car. Both the #11 and #52 retired.
In the championship, Jon Bennett and Colin Braun remain in the lead after their P4 finish. Five points behind them is Mike Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith’s #52. Winners Starworks Motorsport are now sixth in the standings.
The next race on the USCC calendar will be the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 28.
