Detroit, Mich., – Stevenson Motorsport is on a roll with their new Pontiac GXP.R. Drivers Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell have posted impressive wins at Mexico City and Virginia International Raceway (VIR). The team will try to make it a hat-trick in round five of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 to be run at Laguna Seca Raceway May 17.
A disappointing start to the season had the team from North Carolina finishing ninth at the Rolex 24 in January. Crash damage relegated the red, white and blue GXP.R to the paddock sending them down 20 laps. In the second round at Homestead-Miami Speedway a power steering seal failed and the team once again suffered a disappointing 24th place finish.
Bouncing back on the strength of quality car preparation, fast driving and excellent strategy the well rounded Stevenson team is moving up the GT points standings. Once mired toward the bottom, Liddell and Davis are now third in the points.
“There was no magic formula really,” Liddell said. “I know it is cliche to say, but it really was a team effort. We had been quite competitive in the first couple of races, but you still need some luck to break through and the key factors in the last two races have been good strategy and pit work. That gives us the confidence to run to the strengths, which that strategy has brought us. By that I mean that in Mexico we knew that the fuel would be tight, but we didn’t panic. We just kept in close communication with the pits-Mike (Johnson, team manager), Kyle Milaly (team engineer) and Greg Jones (data analyst) and made sure that we conserved fuel and managed a gap to the second placed car. In the last ten laps we were pushing hard but by that time we were where we needed to be, we only had to keep it neat and tidy. In VIR it was a little different, but essentially the same, as we knew we had fuel to the end and during the last caution we took over the lead whilst others were in the pits for fuel and tires. My job was just to keep my tires underneath me and survive until the end, which we did.
Liddell provides his prediction for the remaining 10 race schedule.
I would like to think that we can continue to have more success such as that which we have enjoyed in the last two races, but realistically speaking I know how tough it is to win races, so I would predict that we will continue to challenge for race wins and try to finish on the podium at each race, and hopefully at the end of the season we will be where we want to be in terms of championship points.
Andrew Davis has qualified the Stevenson GXP.R on the front row at Homestead-Miami Speedway and at Virginia International Raceway.
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