Homestead, Fla. (March 8, 2010) - Following a tough debut at Daytona in January, the Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302R team came back with a strong performance in Round 2 of the 2010 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Homestead-Miami Speedway. However, although both cars were extremely competitive, not everything went the team's way as #15 posted a sixth place finish after dominating large sections of the race, while #16 failed to see the checkered flag due to a brake problem after an extremely strong run in the first half of the event.
Joe Foster once again proved that his nickname, "Front Row Joe", is well deserved by putting the #15 Multimatic entry on the pole, while newcomer Frankie Montecalvo continued impressing the team with his speed, qualifying the #16 on the outside of the second row. However, despite Maxwell and Foster starting from the front, leading the most race laps (40) and registering the fastest race lap the experienced duo were unable 15 car pit stop to capitalize on the car's speed due to a two stop strategy that ultimately resulted in a sixth place finish. The all new 5.0 litre V8 in the Boss 302R requires more fuel than its competition at this early stage of its development and was therefore disadvantaged by not being able to complete the race on a single stop like the top finishers.
Motorsports Director Larry Holt commented: "We made the call not to make a stop under yellow at the 45 lap point of the race because we were only halfway through a fuel run and there would still have been 50 green flag laps left to the end. As we are only good for 43 laps on a tank this would have required a third stop had there been no more yellows. Unfortunately some of the other teams gambled on more yellow and made the stop and then got a break when it happened at lap 81. Our second pit stop occurred under green and the guys who only came in once made it to the end and Scott just didn't have enough time to get to the front despite having half a second a lap on everybody in the late stages."
Gunnar Jeannette and Montecalvo ran an alternative strategy in the #16 car choosing not to change drivers at the 20 lap first yellow flag period like their teammates, which allowed them to spend most of the first half of the race in the top five with Jeannette in contention for the lead until the brake pedal began going to the floor at every application, finally ending his race on lap 51 with a rear caliper seal failure.
Although Multimatic would have liked to finish a little higher up the order after showing such good pace and leading so much of the race, the team is encouraged by this weekend's performance and is now looking forward to its next Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race which takes place April 9 - 10, 2010 at Barber Motorsports Park.
Multimatic Motorsports Quoteboard:
Joe Foster, #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"Everything we had control over as a team, we did very well. The Mustang ran well, pit stops were great, the pit strategy was correct. The Multimatic guys did a super job with the pit stops as a strategy. But in the end it just didn't go our way because we needed it to stay green and there was a yellow flag near the end so some cars in front were able to avoid pitting for fuel. We got a good start, I had a handy lead and Scott had a handy lead during his stint, we just didn't get the break we needed. It's a little disappointing after having such a good race to not finish higher but in the end it was still a good day."
Scott Maxwell, #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"The car was fast and we were definitely more competitive and it was good to get a finish but I think we're all a little disappointed because we led the most laps, got the fastest lap and ended up sixth so it doesn't really make a lot of sense. We just got hit with bad timing with the yellows and that cost us track position that we couldn't make up at the end. If we had run 10th all day and ended up sixth we would have been sort of happy but when you lead and at some points have a 10 second lead, the car was really strong, you sort of have better hopes than sixth. I was hoping we would sneak out a podium, I don't think we had the speed to win, but we're getting closer."
Frankie Montecalvo, #16 Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"The race went pretty good up until our brake problem. I didn't have a great start which is how I lost a couple of positions, but after settling in I got into a rhythm and put in consistent laps, we stayed out when some of the others pitted and moved up to second. It's too bad that we had that problem because everything was going really well up until then. It was a really encouraging race for us especially after the issues we faced in Daytona. We know we have a really good car and we can't wait until the next race."
Gunnar Jeannette, #16 Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"Unfortunately we didn't have a very good finish but overall it was a great weekend. I think we made a lot of progress with the car. The track suited the car pretty well. Frankie did a fantastic job. He had his first ever top five starting position which is great for him and the whole team and he ran really well in the top-five for most of his stint and as high as second before coming in and handing it over to me. With a lot of people pitting before us I went back out and was fairly deep in the GS field but the car was awesome. I was able to make up a lot of positions really quickly. But then I started having a long brake pedal. We got to the other caution and the brake pedal was going to the floor which we originally thought was the brake fluid boiling but it turned out we had a problem with the left rear caliper. We tried to go back out but it was dangerous, I drove off the track a couple times. It was a completely different problem from Daytona but it was a brake problem nonetheless, unfortunately. That said it's nice to see Scott and Joe do so well so it's very encouraging for the whole team."
From Karina Redmond // Multimatic Motorsports PR
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