BMW’s best finishes in the 2 ½-hour Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race on May 2 were a sixth in the Grand Sport class for Fall-Line M3 racers Trent Hindman and Ashley Freiberg and a sixth in Street Tuner for BimmerWorld F30 328i racers Tyler Cooke and Andrie Hartanto.
The overall and Grand Sport wins went to Stevenson Camaro racers Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis. They finished ahead of Scott Maxwell and Billy Johnson in a Boss 302 Mustang and BJ Zacharias and Brad Jaeger in a Nissan 370Z. While Freiberg and Hindman moved up in the race from their eleventh grid position, running as high as fourth, the #46 M3 was never a contender for the win. The team’s second M3, the #48 car driven by Fall-Line team principal Mark Boden and Tonis Kasemetz finished eleventh.
BMW struggled in the Street Tuner class as well; Cooke and Hartanto were sixth, and the next BMW across the line was the twelfth place Team TGM 328i driven by Ted Giovanis and David Murry. The duo came into the race second in ST drivers’ points, with podium finishes at both Daytona and Sebring. The #37 Mini JCW driven by Zach Meyer and Remo Ruscitti finished tenth.
Mazda owned the Street Tuner class, sweeping the podium. The class win went to Andrew Carbonell and Liam Dwyer. It was the second win for Staff Sgt. Dwyer, an Afghanistan veteran who races with one prosthetic leg; he and Carbonell had won at Lime Rock last season. Dwyer’s fellow marine Sgt. Aaron Denning, who had rescued Dwyer in Afghanistan, came to Mazda Raceway to see Dwyer race for the first time, and served as grand marshal for the event. Their story appears here.
The Mazda Raceway CTSCC race was the series’ first since Sebring in March. Now the series takes another long break, with competition resuming on June 25-27 at Watkins Glen.—Brian S. Morgan
