2003 Mosport - Grand Am Cup

The 2003 Grand Am Cup season consisted of eleven race weekends. The championship kicked off in January at Daytona International Speedway, which was followed two months later by an event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Beginning in May, the teams crisscrossed the United States, making a visit to Phoenix, Arizona and then back to the east coast for a stop at Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama. The championship made their final west coast swing of the year to Fontana, California. Round six was held at Watkins Glen International, which was followed by the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Next on the schedule was a visit to Canada for races at Mosport International Raceway and Le Circuit Mont Tremblant. The penultimate race weekend was held at Virginia International Raceway with the finale taking place at Daytona.

Most races were 3-hours in length and were scheduled as a support event for the Rolex Sports Car series. Mosport was the only weekend when the Grand Am Cup series competed without the Rolex championship.

The cars racing in the series are relatively unchanged from their road-going versions – modifications are mandated mainly for safety – roll cages, window nets, etc. They also used spec DOT-approved tires produced by Hoosier. Based on performance potential, the cars were divided into one of four groups:

Grand Sport (GS I and GS II): Grand Sport is the quicker of the two groups - this division features the larger displacement engines as well as smaller four-cylinder motors with forced induction systems. The power-plants produce between 400 and 500-horsepower. Minimum weights range between 2,900 – 3,300-pounds which, are dependent on the motor configuration and displacement. The GS I category includes cars such as the Porsche 993 Turbo, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper and Saleen Mustang SR. The Acura NSX, Audi S4, BMW M3, Nissan 350Z and Pontiac Firebird are examples of vehicles competing in GS II.
Sport Touring (ST I and ST II): The smaller displacement cars compete in the ST category. Engines in this group typically produce between 220 and 280-horsepower. Popular vehicles found the ST I class are the Acura RSX, Audi A4, Lexus IS300, Porsche Boxster, BMW Z3 Coupe and Acura Integra Type R. The ST II group includes the Mazda MX-5, Honda Civic EX, Chevrolet Cavalier Z24, Acura Integra LS, Dodge Neon and Mazda Protege.

With the exception of Phoenix, Barber, Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen, these four classes competed on the track at the same time.

Round eight of the 2003 Grand Am Cup season was held at Mosport International Raceway. Teams would compete in the third annual Sunoco 94 3-Hour event around the 2.459-mile road course.

Robert Julien started on the outside of the front row in the Doncaster Racing Porsche GT3 Cup. The Doncaster team realized they couldn’t match the speed of the pole-winning Corvette and chose a fuel strategy for the race. When the Powell Corvette suffered braking issues, it was ‘clear sailing’ for Julien and his co-driver, Jean Francois Dumoulin. Despite a late-race charge by Doug Goad, they scored the victory.

Local favourite, Devon Powell grabbed the pole, shattering his own lap record by 1.595-seconds. Powell’s driving partner, Doug Goad went even quicker in the morning warm-up. The pair dominated the race early but an issue with the ABS system, while Goad was behind the wheel, took them out of contention. They dropped to eleventh place before resolving the issue and rallied back to secure a runner-up finish.

At Mosport International Speedway, the points leader, Bob Beede topped the ST II qualifying sheet driving the No. 27 Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura Integra LS. Beede’s usual driving partnered, Bill Fenton stepped aside, allowing Eric Curran to fill the vacant. This pairing proved to be successful and the duo captured Beede’s third victory of the season and increased his points margin over Will Nonnamaker and Howie Liebengood.

The Grand Sport I and overall podium for round eight at Mosport International Raceway. Standing in the center for the fourth time this season are the class points leader, Robert Julien and Jean Francois Dumoulin. On the left side of the rostrum are Powell Motorsports’, Devon Powell and Doug Goad. This was there second runner-up finish of 2003. Completing the podium are the Randy Pobst and Michael Levitas.

In GS II qualifying, championship contender, Forest Barber was second quickest. Sharing the Bell Motorsports BMW M3 with Barber was Terry Borcheller. After almost three hours of racing, there were two combatants vying for the top spot – Borcheller and Dean Martin in the Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang. On the final lap in the last corner, Borcheller slipped by Martin for the team’s third victory of the season.

Dean Martin and Larry Rehagen participated in the opening race at Daytona. They didn’t return to the series until round six at Watkins Glen International, where they finished sixteenth. The next event was at Mid-Ohio and the drivers of the No. 52 Ford Mustang SVT grabbed the runner-up spot in GS II. At Mosport, a slower Sport Touring car blocked Martin on the final lap and prevented him from capturing the team’s first win of 2003.

The Planet Earth Motorsports Porsche 911 attempts an aggressive pass in the last turn on the class winning Bell Motorsports BMW M3. Sharing the GS II Porsche were the father and son team of Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker. With three wins to their credit, they led the title chase entering Mosport. However, the Bell Motorsports victory and their third-place finish resulted in a tie at the top of the class standings.

The Grand Sport II podium for round eight at Mosport International Raceway. Occupying the center of the podium from Bell Motorsports are Forest Barber and Terry Borcheller. Their victory moved them into a tie for points lead with the Planet Earth Motorsports drivers. Standing on the left side of the rostrum are the runner-ups, Larry Rehagen and Dean Martin. Completing the podium are Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker.

Drivers of the TC Kline Racing prepared BMW Z4, Don Salama and Steve Pfeffer were on a roll and looking to complete the ‘hattrick’ at Mosport International Raceway. They won the Sport Touring category in the previous two rounds at Watkins Glen International and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Unfortunately, for the pair that did not occur as they captured their second runner-up finish of the season.

TPC Racing’s Michael Levitas and Randy Pobst were having a good season. To date, they had victories at Miami-Homestead, California Speedway and Watkins Glen International. Unfortunately, Pobst did not participate in round four at Barber Motorsports Park and Levitas finished ninth. At Mid-Ohio, the pair missed the rostrum by one position. At Mosport, a third-place finish gave them their fourth podium result of the year.

Transmission issues prevented the No. 43 HRPworld.com sponsored Acura Integra LS from participating in the qualifying session. Title contenders, Will Nonnamaker and Howie Liebengood, started from the rear of the grid. The pair charged through the field but fell short of the victory but approximately five seconds. Despite their best efforts, the championship leader, Bob Beede captured the win which increased the points gap.

The Sport Touring I podium for round eight at Mosport International Raceway. In the center are the winners, Mike Keravich and Owen Trinkler. Their victory provided some redemption for the Power Racing team as they lost two engines in last year’s event. Standing to their right and finishing second are the winners of the previous two rounds, Don Salama and Steve Pfeffer. In third place were, Pete Halsmer and John Schmitt.

The Sport Touring I points leaders were Peter Halsmer and John Schmitt. After six rounds, the Honda of America Racing Team had five podium finishes and their worst result was a fourth-place at California Speedway. The No. 00 Acura RSX-S was unable to match the speed of Team Lexus in qualifying but a consistent pace allowed them to finish third in the three-hour event. The performance extended their points lead.

The second HRPworld.com sponsored Acura Integra LS was driven by Belinda Endress and David Haskell. Previously, Endress had some success participating in the Women’s Global GT Series. Haskell was a member of the SpeedSource racing team but without a ride this week, he was available to share the Acura. They proved to be a good pairing – finishing third in their first outing. In fact, Endress recorded the fastest race lap.

The Sport Touring II podium for round eight at Mosport International Raceway. In the center are the class winners from Bill Fenton Motorsports, Eric Curran and the point’s leader, Bob Beede. To their left are the second-place finishers and other title contenders, Will Nonnamaker and Howie Liebengood. Rounding out the rostrum from HRPworld.com is Belinda Endress and guest driver, David Haskell.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	GS I	Julien / Dumoulin	Porsche GT3 Cup	Doncaster Racing	99
2	GS I	Powell / Goad	Chevrolet Corvette	Powell Motorsport	99
3	GS I	Levitas / Pobst	Porsche GT3 Cup	TPC Racing	99
4	GS I	Escalette / Plumb	Porsche GT3 Cup	Glenn Yee Motorsports	99
5	GS I	Littlechild / Adam	Porsche GT3 Cup	TPC Racing	99
6	GS I	Lacey / Wilkins	Porsche GT3 Cup	Doncaster Racing	99
7	GS I	Weinberg / Altenburg	Chevrolet Corvette	Powell Motorsport	98
8	GS II	Barber / Borcheller	BMW M3	Bell Motorsports	98
9	GS II	Rehagen / Martin	Mustang Cobra SVT	Rehagen Racing	98
10	GS II	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Porsche 911	Planet Earth Motorsport	98
11	GS II	Theetge / Wilden	Acura NSX	Theetge Motorsports	97
12	GS II	Thornton / Russell	BMW M3	Automatic Racing	97
13	GS II	Schuitemaker / Zacharias	Nissan 350Z	Schuitemaker Motorpsorts	97
14	GS I	Dyson / Law	Porsche GT3 Cup	G&W Motorsports	97
15	GS II	Lapcevich / Brown	Mustang Cobra R	Frederick Motorsports	97
16	GS II	Spencer / McCalmont	Porsche 996	Zoom Motorsports	97
17	ST I	Keravich / Trinkler	Acura Integra R	Power Racing Team	96
18	ST I	Pfeffer / Salama	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	96
19	GS II	Schlesinger / Shep	Porsche 911	SpeedSource	96
20	GS II	Cronin / Hayner	Nissan 350Z	Unitech Racing	96
21	GS II	Baughman / Del Vecchio	Pontiac Firebird	Baughman Racing	96
22	GS II	Hebert / Vincent	Chevrolet Camaro	89 Racing Team	95
23	ST I	Halsmer / Schmitt	Acura RSX-S	Honda of America Racing Team	95
24	ST I	Schlesinger / Tremblay	Porsche Boxster	SpeedSource	95
25	ST I	Buisson / Patch	BMW Z4	TC Kline Racing	95
26	ST I	Potter / Connolly	BMW Z3	Villaconn International	95
27	ST I	Guenette / Goldsborough	Lexus IS300	Team Lexus	95
28	ST I	Hamblin / Tetreault	BMW 328	Duane Neyer Motorsports	94
29	ST I	Gorriaran / Gaughran / Chenoweth	BMW 330i	CSL Racing	94
30	ST I	Himes / Moorcones	Acura Integra R	Craftsman Motorsports	93
31	ST I	Legg / Ellinger	Audi A4	LM Racing	93
32	ST II	Fenton / Beede / Curran	Acura Integra LS	Bill Fenton Motorsports	92
33	ST II	Liebengood / Nonnamaker	Acura Integra LS	HRPworld.com	92
34	ST II	Liebengood / Haskell / Endress	Acura Integra LS	HRPworld.com	92
35	GS II	MacAlpine / Mason	Pontiac Firebird	Baughman Racing	92
36	ST II	Fenton / Beede / Liehl	Acura Integra LS	Bill Fenton Motorsports	91
37	ST I	Richardson / Linder	Acura Integra R	Power Racing Team	90
38	ST I	Colletti / Linville	Acura Integra R	Colletti Motorsports	90
39	ST II	Ellis / Jacobs	Mazda Miata	Nuzzo Motorsports	89
40	ST II	Gates / Chan	Mazda Protege	Rotary Rocket Racing Team	89
41	ST I	Nuzzo / Lewis	Mini Cooper S	Nuzzo Motorsports	88
42	GS II	Assentato / Longhi	Mustang Cobra SVT	TF Racing	83
43	GS II	Istook / Thomson	Audi S4	Istook / Aines Motorsport	75
44	GS II	Seafuse / Seafuse	Mustang Cobra R	JBS Motorsports	70
45	ST II	Magner / Maehling	Chevrolet Cavalier Z-24	WTF Engineering	64
46	ST I	Bavaro / McGillycuddy / Lewis	Mini Cooper S	Nuzzo Motorsports	51
47	GS II	Trentini / Van Der Dys	Porsche 993	G&W Motorsports	50
48	ST I	James / Lally	Lexus IS300	Team Lexus	46
49	GS II	Yeakle / Ward	Pontiac Firebird	Baughman Racing	33
50	GS II	Beaver / Smith	Porsche 996	TPC Racing	8
51	GS I	Kohler / Smith	Saleen SR	TF Racing	4

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