BIRMINGHAM, AL (Saturday, 10th April, 2010) - The Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302R squad took everything but the major prize in round three of the GRAND-AM Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge at Barber Motorsports Park - pole position, fastest lap and most laps lead - but misfortune with yellow flag periods again denied the team a chance of victory."Front Row Joe" Foster started from pole position aboard the #15 Mustang and charged into the lead off the start. Foster lead a race-high 44 laps before handing over to teammate Scott Maxwell.
With track position at a premium at the tight and twisty Barber Motorsports Park, the team strategy called for a single pit stop for fuel and tires to minimize the amount of time spent in pit lane.
While many of their rivals elected to pit at the first yellow flag after one hour, both Foster and Frankie Montecalvo aboard the Bayshore Recycling #16 Mustang stayed on track - both cars eight laps short of their projected pit window.
A further yellow several laps later gave Foster the opportunity to hand over to Maxwell while Montecalvo took his turn in the race lead.
Gunnar Jeannette climbed aboard the #16 with a little under an hour to go but both he and Maxwell were unable to make major inroads through the traffic after a series of yellow flag periods enabled many of their opponents to still complete the race with one stop, despite pitting several laps earlier than the Multimatic duo.
Any chance of climbing back into podium contention was eliminated in a late race re-start when Maxwell was delayed after several cars clashed and spun in front of him and Jeannette was penalized with a stop-go penalty for jumping the start after he also took avoiding action - pulling out of line and accidentally passing cars before the start-finish line.
The final yellow-flag period brought the race to a conclusion with Maxwell crossing the line in eighth place and Jeannette in 15th.
In the charge to the finish, Jeannette actually set the fastest lap of the race at 1 minute, 38.250 seconds - nearly 2/10ths of a second faster than the opposition. Although disappointed with 15th place, the result was a positive step forward for the Jeannette/Montecalvo duo who had suffered mechanical problems and failed to finish the first two races of the season.
The Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302R will now set its sights on turning that speed into outright success at Virginia International Raceway on April 24. The venue is a happy hunting ground for Foster and Maxwell - the duo clinching the 2008 championship at the Virginian track and Maxwell also concluding his 2005 title win at the same venue.
Multimatic Motorsports Quoteboard:
Joe Foster, #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"We had parts of the day that were very good and parts that were very frustrating. Everything we had control over, we did really well.
"The pit strategy gods didn't smile on us which was disappointing after leading from the pole in the Mustang Boss 302R. I had led most of the race and we had a great strategy that enabled us to run to the finish on only one stop.
"We were looking for a lot more green flag running towards the end of the race. But the yellows came out too often and were too long.
"I'm still pleased because the new car is developing really well and it ran very reliably so we are very happy."
Scott Maxwell, #15 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"The series is just so close and competitive and there are 20 cars that can win on any given day. You have to take chances if you want to win. We didn't take any chances at Homestead and we only rolled the dice a little today.
"You have to do what everyone else is doing - they are gambling big. Once in a while it will pay off to be conservative but there are too many good cars and you can't get back to the front if you are back in the pack.
"In the last two races we've been trying to fight back after our pitstop and you just can't do it.
"If you are going to find yourself in the back, you have to do it earlier because there just isn't time to work your way back."
Frankie Montecalvo, #16 Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"We're very happy to finish and get to the end of our first race of the season. We didn't have any major problems with the car so I think we are coming along well.
"Hopefully next race we can have a lot better luck with the caution periods and that they will work in our favor.
"It was great to run at the front and get some laps in the lead as well. I had to work hard to hold off some guys for a while when I was on old tires.
"It was a lot of fun. The Multimatic and Ford guys are great to work with and hopefully we can keep moving forward to run at the front."
Gunnar Jeannette, #16 Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R
"It's great to get to finish for the first time with the Boss 302R Mustang. It's not the way we wanted to finish but our strategy didn't work out so well and then I got a penalty while trying to avoid somebody else's drama on a restart and got a stop-go.
"It is nice to get the monkey off our back and get a finish under our belts.
"Frankie did a fantastic job with the guys he was racing with. He was unlucky in qualifying with traffic pushing him back to 10th but he raced really well.
"We'll learn a lot of lessons from today, put our heads down and move forward."
Release Prepared By Multimatic Motorsports
Hao Wang or Sean Mason
Multimatic Motorsports
Phone:905-470-0025
Email: racepr@multimatic.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/multimaticrace
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