Brumos Race Report

Brumos Racing: NJMP Race Report

Having now completed the ninth race of 2010’s twelve race schedule, the GRAND-AM Rolex Series is heading into the home stretch. With only three races remaining, Rolex Series teams are aware that each competition could make or break their chances in the championship race. Brumos Racing traveled to New Jersey Motorsports Park hoping for a good result and a return to the top three in team standings. It looked as if the #59 Brumos Porsche Riley was on track for a third consecutive 4^th place finish at NJMP, a result that would have earned them 3^rd place in team standings. However, contact from another DP car in the closing laps of the race cut the #59’s tire, forcing an unscheduled pit stop and costing Brumos what had seemed a sure top five finish as they fell back to end the race in 9^th place.

Pre-race practice sessions reflected ongoing struggles with set-up of the car that continued into qualifying. Darren Law qualified, ending the session with the Brumos #59 in 7th place for the start of the race. He gave credit to the crew for their hard work in the extreme heat of the weekend, saying, “Our guys did a great job, as always. While we may not have had a perfect car this weekend, the finish doesn’t reflect the true picture and how well we actually were running. We were easily on our way to a top five, so we had that going for us, but it’s really unfortunate that David got hit.. It was disappointing for the whole team, but I guess that’s racing. We have three more to go and we’ll definitely give it our best shot to see if we can get to the podium before the end of the year.”

David Donohue drove a strong closing stint, keeping the #59 in striking distance and working hard to gain position. “This was just not the result Brumos was looking for,” he said. “We were still working on the car because it just wasn’t handling the way it should. We may not have had much for the top three - those cars were in a different class from us in terms of their competitiveness. But we were running 5^th and on our way to 4^th in the closing laps.  I got a run on the #6 car and was ahead of him going into Turn 1 on the outside. He tried to do a come-from-behind, braking right along the inside on the curb, and he hit me.  We spun off together and I got a flat tire, so that took us pretty much out of a reasonable result. It was a difficult weekend, especially for our guys. They put in a lot of effort under some tough conditions with the heat. Darren and I agree that 9^th place doesn’t reflect the effort that went into this weekend, so we are even more determined to do all we can to get the #59 on the podium and give the team some reward for all their hard work this season.”

Round 10 of the Rolex Series season will bring the competition to back to Watkins Glen for the second time in 2010. The Crown Royal 200 at the Glen will be held on Saturday, August 7^th, with the green flag set to drop at 6:00 PM ET. This race will be held on the short 2.45 mile/11 turn Glen course, subject to a two hour time limit. The race is scheduled for live broadcast on SPEED TV.