GRAND-AM Celebrates Continental Tire Challenge Champs
Fall-Line Motorsports team owner Mark Boden (l) celebrates the Grand Sport team title with his driving champions, Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman.grandam_cel
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge closed the books on its 10th season of competition Saturday night at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., which hosted the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Awards Banquet Presented By SunTrust.
Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman in the Grand Sport class and Lawson Aschenbach and David Thilenius in the Street Tuner class hoisted their championship driving trophies during the evening, which featured the top three drivers and teams and top manufacturers in both classes.
Espenlaub and Putman never finished worse than ninth in the No. 48 Sparco/Fall-Line BMW M3, giving Fall-Line Motorsports its first victory at Watkins Glen International and the team its first championship.
Team owner Mark Boden was also on hand to accept the team championship trophy, while BMW of North America Motorsport Manager Martin Birkmann was present to accept the manufacturer trophy, BMW's second in four seasons.
Aschenbach and Thilenius made up a 19-point deficit in the final round of the season at Miller Motorsports Park to win the ST title on a tiebreaker, with the most third-place finishes, 1-0. They drove the No. 74 Skunk2/HPD Honda Civic Si.
Compass360 Racing team owner Karl Thomson accept the team's second consecutive title as well as the third-place trophy for the No. 75 Skunk2/JC Concrete Honda Civic Si, while Senior Engineer, Business Development of Honda Performance Development Lee Niffenegger accepted the second consecutive manufacturer title for Honda.
Continental Tire celebrated its first season as the title sponsor of the series, which fell under the GRAND-AM umbrella beginning with the 2001 campaign. The company, with North American headquarters not far from Charlotte in Fort Mill, S.C., announced BimmerWorld/GearWrench team owner and driver James Clay as the winner of the Continental Tire Fan Favorite, and also presented other contingency awards.
BGB Motorsports and APR Motorsport earned the SunTrust Improve Your Position awards in the respective GS and ST classes, while BimmerWorld driver Bill Heumann garnered the MESCO Building For The Future Rookie of the Year. Heumann and co-driver Seth Thomas were second in the ST championship.
Also accepting awards were:
- Will Turner, second in GS team points, and his drivers, Joey Hand and Michael Marsal, who drove the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 to second in the driver standings;
- Clay, whose No. 81 Performance Friction/Rays Engineering BMW 328i was second in the ST car standings;
- Brad Francis, team principal of the GS third-place No. 61 Roush Performance Products Ford Mustang GT that finished third in the team standings, and GS third-place drivers Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson; and
- Zach Lutz, who was third in the ST driver standings.
The event was emceed by SPEED pit announcer Chris Neville.
Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman in the Grand Sport class and Lawson Aschenbach and David Thilenius in the Street Tuner class hoisted their championship driving trophies during the evening, which featured the top three drivers and teams and top manufacturers in both classes.
Espenlaub and Putman never finished worse than ninth in the No. 48 Sparco/Fall-Line BMW M3, giving Fall-Line Motorsports its first victory at Watkins Glen International and the team its first championship.
Team owner Mark Boden was also on hand to accept the team championship trophy, while BMW of North America Motorsport Manager Martin Birkmann was present to accept the manufacturer trophy, BMW's second in four seasons.
Aschenbach and Thilenius made up a 19-point deficit in the final round of the season at Miller Motorsports Park to win the ST title on a tiebreaker, with the most third-place finishes, 1-0. They drove the No. 74 Skunk2/HPD Honda Civic Si.
Compass360 Racing team owner Karl Thomson accept the team's second consecutive title as well as the third-place trophy for the No. 75 Skunk2/JC Concrete Honda Civic Si, while Senior Engineer, Business Development of Honda Performance Development Lee Niffenegger accepted the second consecutive manufacturer title for Honda.
Continental Tire celebrated its first season as the title sponsor of the series, which fell under the GRAND-AM umbrella beginning with the 2001 campaign. The company, with North American headquarters not far from Charlotte in Fort Mill, S.C., announced BimmerWorld/GearWrench team owner and driver James Clay as the winner of the Continental Tire Fan Favorite, and also presented other contingency awards.
BGB Motorsports and APR Motorsport earned the SunTrust Improve Your Position awards in the respective GS and ST classes, while BimmerWorld driver Bill Heumann garnered the MESCO Building For The Future Rookie of the Year. Heumann and co-driver Seth Thomas were second in the ST championship.
Also accepting awards were:
- Will Turner, second in GS team points, and his drivers, Joey Hand and Michael Marsal, who drove the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 to second in the driver standings;
- Clay, whose No. 81 Performance Friction/Rays Engineering BMW 328i was second in the ST car standings;
- Brad Francis, team principal of the GS third-place No. 61 Roush Performance Products Ford Mustang GT that finished third in the team standings, and GS third-place drivers Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson; and
- Zach Lutz, who was third in the ST driver standings.
The event was emceed by SPEED pit announcer Chris Neville.