Racer Bob Michaelean, who has also promoted Long Beach’s upcoming annual motorsports extravaganza for decades, finally got to experience the spray of champagne from atop the podium as he and co-driver Dean Martin captured a Grand Sport class Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge victory at Barber Motorsports Park last weekend.
Driving the No. 52 Rehagan Racing Products/bizrate.com Ford Mustang GT, the duo bested Jack Roush Jr. and Bill Johnson, who scored second place with the No. 61 Roush Performance Mustang.
The Mustang monopoly was only broken by the BMW M3 of Michael Marsal and Joey Hand as the two took their second consecutive third place finish after 2.5 hours of hard racing in round three of the Sports Car Challenge.
The Street Tuner class race was no less dramatic as Tom Long and Derek Whitis returned to victory lane after Long made a decisive race-winning pass late in the day.
The event featured races from the IZOD IndyCar Series, IndyLights, and the Rolex Sports Car Series. Held in the heat of the afternoon, the conditions were tough, but the field of more than 60 racers made the most of the grip provided by Continental Extreme Contact DR tires, according to the competitors.
“I was just trying to keep the car in one piece and turn it over to Dean,” says Michaelean. “He did a great job. He got it out in front and kept it there. I appreciate all the help from Rehagen Racing. It was set up perfectly.”
The race saw the field slowed seven times for cautions, and proved to play a dramatic role in the final outcome as drivers sought to make the most of every chance when the green flag flew.
“It all came down to that first restart, where I got by James Gue, Billy Johnson and Guy Cosmo, all in that first half a lap before the caution came back out,” says Martin, celebrating his fifth career win in the category. “I just put my head down and went to the front, focused, and held on.”
“It was an intense battle while I was out there, and Billy followed up with a great job,” says Roush, who fell just short of picking up yet another win for his famous father. “We’re always trying to win, but today, I’ll take second.”
Looking at the results, it was clearly a good day to be driving a Ford Mustang as the nameplate led every lap of the race with three different drivers sharing the point. But a strong run from the BMW M3 of Hand and Marsal kept it from being an all-Blue-Oval podium.
“We didn’t have anything for the Mustangs all weekend,” says Hand. “It was a tough one. I got most of it on brakes. I could go in quick, and that’s how I could catch up. In the gear department, this is not the track that suits us the best. I just did what we normally do, try to make a miracle out of it. I think a podium here is spectacular, and the Turner guys will just keep on trucking. It was a great day for us.”
Several of the race cautions emerged from the intense battles in the ST class as the competition in the class calls for getting the most out of every lap all race long if the drivers want any shot at victory. Former series champion Holtom found himself on the wrong end of a very determined charge by Long, who made it two in a row for Freedom Autosport and the Mazda 3.
“I always get the easy part, starting, and as long as I don’t mess it up you can put guys like Tom Long to come in and clean up,” says Whitis. “Freedom Autosport gave us a great car. The Continental tires were strong, it was a great race.”
“It seemed like Tom Long had me everywhere, I was pushing so hard. I was trying to capitalize on the one spot where I seemed to be faster, but the Mazda was just too fast for us,” says Holtom. “We had awesome strategy. They got us in the lead, it was ours to hold, but unfortunately he got us near the end.”
While it was a Mustang day, it is currently a BMW championship as the top three driver combinations are all BMW M3 drivers: Terry Borcheller and Andrew Hendricks will take a two-point margin over Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman to the next round, with Joey Hand third in the standings. In ST, Lawson Aschenbach and David Thilenius grew their championship advantage to ten points over the Bimmerworld combination of Bill Heumann and Seth Thomas.
The Barber 200 will be broadcast on the Speed Channel at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 17.
For more information, visit www.continentaltire.com and www.grand-am.com.
