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Created on Friday, 20 March 2015 11:02

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• From green to checkered, Stevenson Motorsports took the field to school at Sebring finishing 1, 2.

Sebring, FL – March 20, 2015.  The Stevenson Motorsports team dominated Grand Sport (GS) practice, qualifying and the race at Sebring International Raceway. Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis captured their second consecutive victory at the historic track in Friday’s Microsoft Visual Studio 150 in the No. 6 Camaro Z/28.R. Liddell held off hard-charging teammate, Lawson Aschenbach in the No. 9 Camaro by a mere .393 seconds to take the checkered flag. The Stevenson teammates were the class of the field all weekend and look to continue their streak of podium finishes at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca May 2.

Teams bring the heat to the ST battle The No. 83 Porsche Cayman piloted by Greg Liefooghe and Eric Zimmerman drove to the Street Tuner (ST) win with relative ease even with scorching temperatures on-track and in the cars. Meanwhile, the battle for second place was one to watch. The No. 5 CJ Wilson Racing Modspace Mazda MX-5, with Stevan McAleer behind the wheel, challenged the No. 64 Team TGM BMW 328i driven by, David Murry, lap after lap but couldn’t quite make the pass. Murray and co-driver, Ted Giovanis, posted their second podium finish of the year while McAleer and Chad McCumbee saw the podium for the first time in 2015 finishing third.

NOTEABLE

• The ST class has seen first-time winners at both Daytona and Sebring.
• Two new car models debuted in the ST class at Sebring. The Audi S3 and the brand-new MINI hit the track for the first time.
• Part of Stevenson Motorsports domination was Matt Bell’s TOTAL pole award in the GS class in the No. 9 Camaro. The quick time marked Bell’s 10th pole in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge moving him to second on the all-time list. Devon Powell remains the all-time leader with 11 poles.

QUOTEABLE

Robin Liddell (No. 5 Stevenson Camaro; finished P1 in GS) One, two finish, pole, it was a great effort by the entire team all weekend. We had a test here and the car was strong but when it comes to these races, you never really know what’s going to happen. You could be out front and then one yellow and you’re done. Just trying to keep the tires in good condition and the car under us and just waiting for something bad to happen but it never did. From our point of view we were a little bit light on fuel so we stopped a lap before and I knew what I had to do to get around the No. 9. Very happy with the tires, Continental, great job. Obviously great job for Team Chevy and the Z28.

It’s been hot like this all week so we knew it was going to be tough but you just can’t abuse the tire. You’re driving just slightly on the edge to keep the tires underneath you knowing that with 10 laps to go it could turn into a battle.

Greg Liefooghe (No. 83 Porsche Cayman; finished P1 in ST) It was very, very hot. The end was very humid. The temperature of the track was very hot too so we were definitely struggling at the end. The main thing for us was saving fuel. Our car was awesome at the start of the race and after that we hit traffic so when I got to that, it was just about conserving.

Chad McCumbee (No. 5 CJ Wilson Mazda; finished P3 in ST) We didn’t unload where we wanted to. We were so good here last year and we expected to come back and be amazing right off the truck but we had to work for it. These guys did more work this week than I’ve ever seen. We changed engines, shocks, spring, sway bars, everything you can think of and that thing was amazing. We ran into a few of the same issues we did last year including brake fade but that’s just a product of this track and how hard we have to drive these cars. Our ModSpace Mazda was awesome.

The track conditions were perfect conditions for a race car driver. It was slick and the Continental tires did a great job and our Mazda is super easy on them so tire wear wasn’t an issue. The hotter it got, the slicker it got, the better we were. It was hot inside the car, I can tell you that.

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