Despite constantly-changing weather conditions during the Montreal 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the Supercar Life Racing team fought their way to ninth position and posted the second-fastest lap time (01:33.269) in another tight Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series battle. With a no-mistakes-allowed configuration, Circuit Gilles Villenueve's deep history as Canada's premiere motorsports venue made Saturday's event one of the most hotly contested in Daytona Prototype racing.
"No matter the venue, the challenge is always the same: fight for every position while keeping the car in one piece," Tucker said. "From start to finish, this team found the right balance between aggressive and defensive driving in both wet and dry track conditions, allowing us to complete the race in another Top 10 finish."
Montreal's dreary skies delayed the 2:15 p.m. EST start. As cars took warm-up turns around the track before lining themselves on the grid, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Edwards crashed Doran Racing's No. 77 Aflac/iRacing/Australian Wines Ford Dallara in turn 11. The car was removed from the track; Edwards and teammate Marcos Ambrose stood by in disappointment.
The incident set the tone for the day. As the green flag dropped, pole-winner Jon Fogarty of the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing team led the Daytona Prototype class heading into turn one. Supercar Life Racing's Scott Tucker, having qualified with a time of 01:35.953, pushed the No. 55 Supercar Life BMW-Riley ahead from its seventh row starting position. David Donohue of the Brumos Porsche Racing team had been penalized after Friday's qualifying and was forced to move from his No. 4 starting position to the back of the field, allowing Tucker's No. 55 to advance one spot on the grid.
In the opening laps, Tucker quickly charged through the field to move into tenth position. Entering turn 10's hairpin on lap five, the No. 55 DP was knocked wide-t-boned by John Farano in the No. 51 Ford Riley. The collision punctured the No. 55's left rear tire, but, ever the tough competitor, Tucker's skillful handling kept the car on track; he headed into the pit and-after the crew switched the tires from wets to dry slicks-handed over the refueled car to teammate Christophe Bouchut.
By lap seven, Brumos Porsche's JC France had claimed the lead in his No. 59 Porsche Riley. His position was shortlived, however; Penske Racing's Romain Dumas took over one lap later.
Powering his way through the field, Bouchut quickly drove into the No. 10 spot. The Frenchman then set his sights on Beyer Racing's Mike Forest in ninth position. One lap later, Bouchut passed Forest, then slipped by Spirit of Daytona Racing's Buddy Rice in the No. 90 Porsche Coyote to take over eighth position.
Just getting started, Bouchut forced his way to the inside of Mark Wilkins' No. 61 Ford Riley and drove into seventh. Setting a fastest lap time of 01:34.599, Bouchut was running four seconds faster than leader Dumas. Six laps later, the Supercar Life Racing team moved into sixth position, just behind Donohue, who had flown up from his penalized, back-of-the-pack position in the No. 58 Porsche Riley.
On lap 25, it was a head-to-head fight at the front of the field as Fogarty again took the lead. Dumas moved into second with TELMEX's Scott Pruett in third. SunTrust Racing's Brian Frisselle and Donohue rounded out the Top Five.
As Wilkins was wrestling with Bouchut for sixth position, Dumas once again claimed the lead for the Penske Racing team as Fogarty turned into the pits for a driver change with teammate Alex Gurney. Bouchut, meanwhile, was putting on his own show, setting a fastest lap of 1:33.269 on lap 28; by lap 34, he had broken away from Wilkins' reach and cracked his way into fifth position.
Fogarty's absence gave Bouchut the opportunity to move the No. 55 car one step closer to a podium finish. Donohue moved into third; Bouchut followed close behind in fourth.
By lap 36, the Supercar Life Racing driver had set his next plan of attack into motion. It was perfect timing: Bouchut mastered his way into third position as now fifth-place Frisselle drove into the pits to give the No. 10 Ford Dallara over to co-driver Max Angelelli.
Just as the track had begun to dry, a light drizzle began to fall again. Many teams had cycled through the pits to change tires, rolling the dice in anticipation of the track conditions ahead.
One lap later Gurney who had been in fifth on dry-weather slicks, pushed past Bouchut and Donohue who were still on rain tires, landing his No. 99 DP in second. Following Gurney's gamble, CEO of Riley Technologies Bill Riley ordered Bouchut to the pits for yet another tire change; the No. 55 switched out its rain tires in favor of dry-weather slicks. Most of the field would do the same. On lap 41, Michael Shank Racing's No. 60 Ford Riley spun out in turn three, causing the first and only caution of the race. Bouchut, in an attempt to avoid a collision with the No. 60 DP, severely flat-spotted a tire and drove into the pits for a quick change. Four laps later, the field went green and Timo Bernhard, who had taken over for teammate Dumas, took the lead, with Bouchut charging hard in sixth place.
By lap 49 Bernhard's lead had evaporated as the Penske Racing team fell to fifth; Gurney took over first. Bouchut's strategic thinking gave the Supercar Life Racing team the leverage it needed to pull ahead and propel the No. 55 into second position. Bernhard reclaimed his lead one lap later, pushing Gurney to third. Gurney wasted no time closing in on the Frenchman and took over second, as Bouchut fell behind.
As the skies opened up again on lap 56, Bernhard drove into the pits for yet another change back to wet-weather tires. This allowed Suntrust Racing's Angelelli, who had been in third after passing Bouchut, to take over first-he had never changed out his wet-track tires. Michael Shank Racing's Michael Valiante followed in second.
The track's slick conditions proved to be too much for the Daytona Prototype cars, most of which had cycled through the pits continuously throughout the race to change their tires. Bouchut, along with other drivers, slipped back from the leaders. With one lap to go, Gurney, who was now in fourth, found himself taking a podium position as he powered by Beyer Racing's Ricky Taylor. The Supercar Life Racing team made a power play of its own on that last lap, passing Memo Rojas of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and locking in a ninth-position finish (01:33.269) when the checkered flag dropped. It was the seventh Top Ten Rolex finish for Supercar Life Racing so far this season.
Class leader Angelelli (01:34.108) led the SunTrust Racing team to its second victory of the 2009 season, winning by more than a minute over second-place Penske Racing's 01:33.676. The teams of GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing (01:32.795), Beyer Racing (01:35.992) and Brumos Porsche (01:34.128) rounded out the Top Five.
"This team fought hard today," Bouchut said. "The track's conditions made for a very difficult race. We were so close to getting another podium finish, and I am so impressed with how we came together to overcome many obstacles along the way. We took a gamble switching to slicks when the track started to dry out. In a race like this, those kind of decisions can go either way. The car was fast. We had the speed. I couldn't be more proud to be a part of the Supercar Life Racing team."
Traveling to Millville, N.J., the team will next compete at New Jersey Motorsports Park, as Tucker and the No. 55 Boardwalk Ferrari Supercar Life F430 take on races 11 and 12 of the Ferrari Challenge Series, September 19 and 20. Just 30 points behind Mark McKenzie (1605), Tucker (1575) is only one race away from taking over first in the Ferrari Challenge Series standings, and there's a good chance he'll do it in New Jersey: Last season at the Motorsports Park under extremly difficult driving conditions, Tucker took the field by storm, winning race one and taking second in race two.
The Supercar Life Racing team will again hit the pavement in the Rolex Series season finale October 10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla, where the team has also met with great success. In prepping for April's Bosch Engineering 250, Bouchut broke Homestead's unofficial Daytona Prototype track record, ripping a flyer of 01:12.421 in the No. 55 during the last day of testing.
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