Cinderella Finish for Autohaus’ Camaro GT.R At Rolex GT

For his inaugural race in the GT class of Grand AM’s Bosch Engineering 250 race at Virginia International Raceway, Bill Lester likely didn’t appreciate the rain that had at least one car spinning off before the race even started. Lester’s teammate in the #88 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT.R, Jordan Taylor, took pole position last year at VIR and had been fastest in GT-class practice, giving Taylor confidence in the car.

“Charlie gave us a good car right off the truck,” Taylor said. “We only used one set of tires in the whole morning session. We’ve been focused on long runs instead of lap times.”

Lester would start the race from P3 in weather that quickly resulted in a fullcourse caution, as one of the Daytona Prototype cars went into the tire barrier in turn 1. With poor visibility and standing water on the track, the safety car remained out for 53 minutes until conditions were sufficiently improved to start racing again.

Before handing the Camaro over to Taylor, Lester had moved into second place when Tremblay pitted his #70 Mazda. Following a second full course yellow, Taylor was in P2, behind the #57 Camaro of Stevenson Motorsports, with Jan Magnussen driving.

After Magnussen turned the car over to Oliver Gavin, he climbed back up to second, while struggling with oversteer problems. The car’s hood had been removed early in the race to restore windshiled wiper function.

Conditions contrived against Gavin who lost several seconds in a rare course departure. Having a sufficient lead over the third place BMW of Bill Auberlin, Gavin brought the Camaro home for the second podium spot, behind Taylor.

“To be fair to Jordan,” Gavin explained, “he didn’t make any mistakes even though I was pushing him hard, but I can only think about what might have happened if I hadn’t gone wide. We survived a lot of mud, debris and general carnage, however, and I’m pleased for Team Chevy that they got a 1-2.

For both Autohaus drivers, the victory will remain a memorable one. Not only did each celebrate their first career wins in the Rolex series, but, they also delivered Autohaus Motorsports’ first Grand Am GT victory.

The next event in the Grand-Am Road Racing series for both Rolex Sports Car Series is scheduled for May 27-30, 2011 at Lime Rock Park, in Lakeville, CT.