Michael Cooper, of Syosset, N.Y. scored his second GTS win of the season in Round 11 of the StopTech Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course presented by MOMO. Dean Martin, of Westland, Mich. finished second, while Andrew Aquilante, of Chester Springs, Pa. finished third.
When the lights went out for the standing start, the No. 73 GTSport Racing/Umphrey’s McGee Porsche Cayman S of polesitter Jack Baldwin, of Marietta, Ga. suffered a broken rear axle and was unable to launch. Both Cooper, who started second, and Andy Lee, of Colorado Springs, Colo. in the No. 20 BestIT Racing Chevrolet Camaro, who had started third, moved to battle for the lead through the keyhole as a full course yellow ensued to remove Baldwin’s car from the front straight.
As the field came to the line for the lap 2 restart, Cooper led Lee, with Mark Wilkins, of Toronto, Ont., in the No. 38 PutOnTheBrakes.Org Kinetic Motorsports / Kia Racing Kia Optima in third, and Martin, in the No. 50 Rehagen Racing/Picture Cars East Ford Mustang Boss 302 in fourth. GTS drivers’ points leader coming into Mid-Ohio, Aquilante, in the No. 32 Calvert Dynamics/Phoenix Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302 had a great start from eighth on the grid to move up to 5th.
Of note, Kris Wilson, of Monument, Colo. in the No. 07 Royal Purple/Orion Energy/LaSalle Solutions/PassTime USA TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT4 moved into 7th after starting 12th on the grid. Wilson earned the Optima Batteries Best Standing Start Award for gaining five positions off the standing start.
Through lap 8, drivers held their positions with the battle for third heating up with Wilkins and Martin. By lap 10, Cooper and Lee had pulled a gap of close to a half a second over Wilkins, Martin and Aquilante. On lap 14, Wilson passed Aquilante earning the Invisible Clean Pass of the Race Award.
On lap 18, Martin would eventually pass Wilkins through the esses to take over third, the pass earned Martin the Cadillac ATS-V Move of the Race Award. Wilkins then lost momentum and Wilson passed Wilkins through Thunder Alley for fourth.
By lap 17, Cooper led Lee, with Martin, Wilson, Wilkins and Aquilante in pursuit. On lap 24, Martin and Wilson began closing the gap on Cooper and Lee, with Wilson passing Martin through the Keyhole working lap 25. Wilson then began to chase down Cooper and Lee and by the start of lap 29 the top three were nose to tail. Wilson then got a great run down the backstraight and went side by side with Lee with the Aston Martin and the Camaro banging doors through turn 4. Wilson went off narrowly avoiding the sand of China Beach. Martin was able to slide by both to gain second. With Lee’s Camaro wounded, Aquilante moved past as well, with Wilson able to continue and get back into the hunt for position.
At the checkers, Cooper crossed the line first, with Martin in second, Aquilante in third and Wilson in fourth. Aquilante’s teammate, Kurt Rezzetano, of Phoenixville, Pa., in the No. 37 Calvert Dynamics/Phoenix Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302, finished 5th.
Baldwin’s team was able to repair the No. 73 Porsche Cayman S and the veteran sportscar driver completed 18 laps to still score valuable championship points as well as set the fastest lap of the race at 1:28.410. Baldwin, while scoring seven points for the fastest lap and pole for Round 12 was however penalized two grid positions for bogging off the start and will start third for Saturday’s race.
Of note, Wilson secured the VP Racing Fuels Hard Charger Award for gaining eight positions during the race. The driver of the 07 car also won the Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race Award on lap 14 for his pass on Aquilante. Martin won the Cadillac ATS-V Move of the Race Award for his pass on Wilkins on lap 18.
“Luckily, I didn’t have to dodge Jack (Baldwin) at the start,” said Cooper. “Andy (Lee) had to go around Jack and I had the inside up to the Keyhole. I was able to grab the lead then and go down the back straight. I was in clean air which helped me. I noticed Andy was having to pull out a bit. Maybe his car was getting hot. But Andy was able to mount the challenge on me and I was able to hold him off. I really want to thank the Blackdog Speed Shop guys and Dave Caldwell at GM for putting this program together.”
“Mark (Wilkins) was quick early but then I was quicker and he was kind of holding us up a bit,” said Martin. “It was too early in the race to do anything desperate. I was looking for the right opportunity. I finally got a good run on him and I was able to put my car in the right spot. I was able to take the corner away later on. There was some great clean racing. Mark is a great guy and always a guy you can trust. Later on, Cooper was starting to fade and it got interesting with the top four. It’s tough to pass at Mid-Ohio. I knew Kris was faster later in the race and I thought he was to create some action with the leaders. It got a little crazy and I got a little lucky.”
“It seems to be my plan for the year and that’s to sit back and watch stuff happen,” said Aquilante. “Then pick my way through everything. The Kia (Wilkins) was holding up Dean (Martin) and Kris (Wilson) and I was able to get right in the mix too. If something happens, then we’ll take advantage of it. I think we extended the point lead a bit and we’ll look to score more in Saturday’s race. We’ll take third and work on the next race.”
Results are final. Aquilante maintains top spot in the Drivers’ Championship (1006 points) with teammate Rezzetano sitting in second with 978 points, Martin in third with 934 points and Cooper up into fourth with 907 points. GTS drivers next take to the Mid-Ohio road course on Saturday for Round 12 of the championship. Watch live streaming of the race at world-challengetv.com or torque.tv at 11:45 a.m. Eastern.
NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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