Cameron, Curran Combine In Corvette DP To Win at Belle Isle

Dane Cameron passed Jordan Taylor during the final 30 minutes and held on to win Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers, giving the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP started by Eric Curran its first TUDOR United SportsCar Championship victory. They became the fifth different TUDOR Championship Prototype winner in five races in 2015.

Ozz Negri took second on the final lap in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2/Honda started by John Pew, denying Action Express Racing a 1-2 finish. Joao Barbosa spun in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP started from the pole by Christian Fittipaldi, but recovered to finish third.

Jordan Taylor, looking for his fourth consecutive victory in the event and third for Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP, was issued a drive-through penalty in the final 10 minutes for contact with Townsend Bell in No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia. Taylor, co-driving with his brother Ricky, came back to finish seventh.

The 100-minute race started under sunny skies but finished under increasing rain which began falling entering the final hour. Fittipaldi led comfortably until the first full-course caution at the 33-minute mark for an incident involving the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R of Ben Keating. Barbosa led following a full round of pit stops, followed by Richard Westbrook in the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP, Jordan Taylor, Cameron and Negri. Taylor took the lead on the restart, but Cameron worked his way through the field before taking the lead on Lap 41 and led the final 19 circuits.

Starworks Sheds Bad Luck, Posts First PC Victory Of 2015

“I’m not looking for good luck, I just don’t want any more bad luck like we’ve had in the last three races,” Starworks Motorsport owner Peter Baron said before Saturday’s debut of the Prototype Challenge (PC) class at Belle Isle.

He got his wish. Mirco Schultis and Renger van der Zande drove a flawless race to score their first victory of the season in the No. 8 Martini ORECA FLM09, while misfortune struck the top three contenders in the championship.

Schultis and van der Zande won three races in 2014, with van der Zande finishing second in the championship. Saturday’s victory enabled the pair to move up to sixth in the standings.

Starworks spoiled a strong showing by Performance Tech Motorsports, with James French winning his first TOTAL Pole Award in the No. 38 Ric-Man Detroit ORECA FLM09, and new co-driver James Vance leading the opening 55 laps before van der Zande took the lead. Five laps later, Stephen Simpson took second in the No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports UndergroundCellar.com/Young Marines ORECA. Vance held on for third.

PC points leader Jon Bennett had contact with runner-up Mike Guasch on the opening lap, with the No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box ORECA losing four laps for repairs. While Guasch was able to continue, his No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA was damaged midway through the event when co-driver Tom Kimber-Smith tagged the spinning No. 11 RSR Racing AutoMax USA ORECA of Bruno Junqueira, a car started by Chris Cumming. Colin Braun was able to take over for Bennett, eventually finishing fourth.

· The No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing team entered the event with a four-point lead in the Prototype standings, following a victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook ran in contention until the latter spun in the final half-hour, resulting in a fifth-place finish.

· Unofficially, defending Prototype champions Barbosa and Fittipaldi share the Prototype points lead with VisitFlorida.com Racing drivers Valiante and Westbrook at 156 points each. The victory moves Curran and Cameron to third with 148 points.

· Jon Bennett and Colin Braun’s fourth-place finish unofficially allows them to retain the lead in the PC standings, five points ahead of Mike Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith (128-123).

· The next event for the TUDOR Championship will be the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, June 28. All four classes will be in action in the race, which serves as the third round of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

Eric Curran, Driver – No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP

"What a day, this is amazing, to come away with a win at the Chevy classic – in a Chevy no less. Thanks to everyone who was able to get us in this position. For me, the car was the best it’s been all year. It’s amazing to me that we’re only halfway through the season, five races in, and we have a win. It’s the beginning of the future wins for Dane and I and this program. We’re really all meshing really well. If we’re going to have our first win, we do it in Detroit in front of all the Chevrolet guys.”

Dane Cameron, Driver – No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP

“It was nice to finally get some good luck today too. We’ve had some really fast cars this season, but really caught some strange luck in a few races. It’s great to get a win today in Detroit with everyone here from Chevrolet, and to get a win for Team Whelen. They worked really hard this weekend to get us an excellent car. It was tough, the rain was coming and going. Each lap, every corner was a bit different. You could get caught up and it was really slick, but the next time around it could be dry. It was really just the last lap when it was wet all the way around. It was a tough race, it really was."

Renger van der Zande, Driver – No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Flax-Box ORECA FLM09

“Bruno (Junqueira) slipped in Turn 1 when we were coming up on a GTD car, and I went around him on the outside and I passed him in Turn 2. Then I ran down (James) Vance, and from there on it was a matter of managing the race. We knew from Mazda Raceway that we were lighting fast, but we didn’t win that one. We were finally able to win here today, but it wasn’t that easy.”

Ozz Negri, Driver – No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Ligier JS P2/Honda

"Congratulations to the Whelen guys. They really deserved the win. The conditions were really interesting. Parts of the track were dryer than others. You just had to put your head down and go for it. Those are the conditions I like - the Brazilian blood kicks in. We had a lot of fun racing with Joey Hand. It’s great to be here. This is the second podium, now we need to get one more step up.”

Contact:

Nate Siebens

nsiebens@imsa.com

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