Rainy Conditions Work For Scots Liddell, McAleer In Continental Tire 150 At Watkins Glen International

Please see attached press release, below is a text-only version.

Rainy Conditions Work For Scots Liddell, McAleer

In Continental Tire 150 At Watkins Glen International

· Liddell, Davis Score Third Straight In Stevenson Camaro, Pad GS Lead

· McAleer, McCumbee Win ST Class For CJ Wilson Racing In Mazda

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 27, 2015) – After winning Saturday’s Continental Tire 150 at Watkins Glen International for the second consecutive year in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class, Scotland’s Robin Liddell characterized the conditions as, “Typical Scottish weather.”

His countryman, Stevan McAleer, who took the victory in the Street Tuner (ST) class, agreed, as the two-hour and 30-minute race was held in steady rain on Saturday at Watkins Glen International.

It was the third consecutive GS victory for Liddell and co-driver Andrew Davis in the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R. Liddell took the lead with one hour remaining, moments before a caution waved for a spin.

From that point, only one lap was run under the green flag, while deteriorating conditions resulted in a 17-minute red-flag stoppage. The field ran three laps under the yellow flag over the final 13 minutes, but conditions did not allow for a final restart.
“I’m not happy to have it finish under the yellow, but of course I’m happy with the result,” said Liddell, who joined Davis in scoring their sixth career Continental Tire Challenge victory – all over the past two seasons. “From my perspective, I really had to think carefully during the red. It’s easy to switch off, but I felt it was dangerous for myself mentally, so I kept thinking this is going to go green, we’re going to get running. I kept thinking this is going to be a 2-3 lap battle to keep focused.”
“Even though our Camaro ran well in the rain, the track was treacherous,” Davis said. “It was really some great racing out there today under these conditions.”
Brothers Hugh and Matt Plumb led three times for 26 of the opening 33 laps in the No. 13 Billfish Foundation/Rum Bum Studios Porsche 911. Matt Plumb bobbled exiting the chicane on the 41st circuit, giving Liddell the opportunity to make a run that allowed him to take the lead exiting Turn 7 of the 3.34-mile circuit.
Moments later, David Russell went off course in the No. 99 Invisible Glass Aston Martin Vantage, bringing out the caution. There was a final restart with 37 minutes remaining, but Corey Lewis went off on the next lap in Turn 1 in the No. 36 Strategic Wealth Designers Porsche Cayman for another caution.
Trent Hindman and Ashley Freiberg finished second in the No. 46 IHG Rewards Club/Trim-Tex BMW M3 – a reversal of fortunes from 2014, when Hindman scored his worst finish of the season en route to winning the Grand Sport (GS) championship.
BJ Zacharias and Brad Jaeger scored their second-consecutive third-place finish in the No. 14 Nismo GT Academy Nissan 370 ZXT, followed by Austin Cindric and Jade Buford in the debut of the No. 158 Ford Racing/Multimatic Ford Shelby GT350R-C.
Scott Maxwell started on the pole and led six laps in the No. 15 Ford Racing/Multimatic Ford Shelby GT350R-C, but was penalized for jumping a restart and finished seventh with co-driver Billy Johnson.
The victory extended the lead of Davis and Liddell in the GS standings to 19 points over the sixth-place finishing Plumb brothers, 137-118.

McCumbee Wins First, McAleer Returns CJ Wilson Racing Mazda To Victory Lane

Chad McCumbee passed TOTAL Pole Award winner Justin Piscitell for the lead on the sixth circuit and joined McAleer in dominating the remainder of the event in taking Street Tuner (ST) class honors in the No. 5 CJ Wilson Racing ModSpace Mazda MX-5.

It was the first career victory for McCumbee and third for McAleer, who gave the team owned by Los Angeles Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson its first victory since winning at Watkins Glen in 2013.

“There’s a lot of background of wet-weather driving in Scotland,” McAleer said. “My dad taught me how to find the racing line and understand how the tires work under these conditions. It’s funny to see Robin up here – double winners [from Scotland]. I’m sure the weather helped. Today Chad made the pass for the lead, and I basically paced myself after I took over. We had a little bit left in the bag today.”

“I was content to just ride there in second, but to be honest, it’s a lot easier to see when you’re out in front,” McCumbee said. “When the opportunity came to take the lead, I took it. That’s a big confidence booster for me, to take the lead and then give it to Stevan. I knew he was going to keep it out front.”

Piscitell and Christian Szymczak finished second in the No. 34 Alara Racing Mazda MX-5, followed by Chad Gilsinger and Keven Boehm in the No. 93 HART Honda Civic Si.

USMC Staff Sgt. Liam Dwyer and Andrew Carbonell unofficially took over the lead in the ST championship with a fourth-place finish. Seeking the team’s second-consecutive victory in the No. 26 SemperFiFund.org Mazda MX-5, the team was assessed a drive-through penalty for having too many crewmen over the wall on a pit stop. That put Carbonell near the back of the 30-car ST field, but the Miami driver worked his way back to finish fourth.

It was a tough day for the championship leaders who entered the race tied for the ST lead. Eric Zimmermann – who co-drove the No. 83 Next Level European/Red Line Oil Porsche Cayman with Greg Liefooghe – spun in Turn 1 on the second lap to bring out the first caution. The Sebring-winning team lost a lap and finished 18th.

Moments after Carbonell served his penalty, co-leader David Murry was hit from behind shortly after relieving Ted Giovanis in the No. 64 Team TGM BMW 328i and tagged the tire barrier in Turn 6 – forcing the team to take the car behind the wall for repairs.

Carbonell and Dwyer hold an unofficial two-point lead over Piscitell, McCumbee and McAleer, 106-104.

Next up for the Continental Tire Challenge will be at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Saturday, July 11.

Contact:
Nate Siebens
Senior Manager, IMSA Communications
(386) 310-6568
nsiebens

imsa-ctsc-conti150-race.pdf