Brumos Race Report

As Brumos Racing headed to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Round 2 of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season, they had many reasons to feel optimistic. Brumos has a long history of success at Homestead, including their last win there in 2009.  They returned with a proven set-up for the #59 from that season finale victory, and it was soon apparent that the team had a strong contender once again.  Darren Law topped the charts in the Friday afternoon practice session before breaking the previous track record and qualifying #59 on the pole.

No one would have predicted the race would progress to the closing minutes before the first yellow flag was dropped, but race strategy is formulated to take the unexpected into account.  As a result, the decision was made to leave starting driver Darren Law in the car until forced to pit under green for fuel.  Law drove a remarkable stint, leading for 71 laps and with a comfortable lead over the second place car. As he switched to reserve and radioed he was coming in for fuel and a driver change, a GT car caught fire and stopped at the pit road entrance. Unable to avoid the safety workers on the scene, Law was held up entering pit road, costing the #59 valuable time and the lead of the race.  Donohue went back on track following the driver change with two goals - he had to conserve enough fuel to make it to the end with no further stops while pushing hard enough to overtake the leader. The only full course caution of the race occurred with just over 20 minutes of racing left, and while it helped Donohue close the gap, time ran out with little opportunity to regain the lead.

Although a 2^nd place podium is always cause for celebration, it was a bit bittersweet for the team.  As Donohue explained, “Darren did a great job in the opening stint.  He was in his element, there’s no doubt about it.  The Brumos guys gave us a perfect car – we qualified on the pole and Darren led almost every lap while he was in the car.  I really wish I could have brought the win home for the guys, but it just wasn’t meant to be.  The track was very dark in spots and I couldn’t get back by the #01. Trying to make it to the end, I was on a fuel economy run, so the closing yellow helped us, but I just couldn’t regain the lead.  It’s great to be on the podium, although our team really deserved the win in this one, but we’ll be back strong for Barber and look for our win in the next round.”

Darren Law was proud of the team and the effort, saying, “The Brumos #59 had a great run for Homestead. The guys gave me a car that was very comfortable to drive all the way through and David gave it a great effort at the end.  It was just really bad luck for us to lose the time and our race lead in the pit stop like we did because of that car fire incident. We still had a strong finish, and we made up a lot of points. It felt really good to get the pole here again, and breaking the track record was an added bonus.   The only thing missing was the win, but all in all, it was another great result for Brumos and we will carry the momentum on to Barber.”

The Homestead-Miami 2^nd place finish boosted Brumos Racing from 11^th place to 3^rd place in Team Point standings. Preparations are already underway as the team looks ahead to Round 3 of the Rolex Series season, the Porsche 250. That race will be held on April 10^th at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL.