Powell Enters VIR Weekend With Narrow Points Lead

Powell Enters VIR Weekend With Narrow Points Lead

ALTON, Va. (June 28, 2002) - Following last week's second-place finish at Watkins Glen International, Powell Motorsports enters this weekend's Grand-Am Cup three-hour race at Virginia International Raceway with a slim five-point lead in the Grand Sport I class.  In the Grand Sport II and Sport Touring I classes, the points leaders picked up their second-straight class wins at The Glen, improving Max Q Motorsports and Villaconn International's advantages in their respective classes. Bill Fenton Motorsports also enters this weekend's race with a stronger lead in the Sports Touring II class after a win last weekend. 

After the exciting conclusion to the Grand Sport 250 last Saturday, where Doncaster Racing's #76 Porsche passed Powell Motorsports' #11 Corvette for the win in the final laps of the race, the margin between the two teams has shrunk to only five points in both the GS I team and driver standings. This weekend's race at VIR could tighten the points even more or cause a change in the lead. Powell drivers Doug Goad and Devon Powell are tied for the lead in the driver points with Doncaster's Scott Maxwell and David Empringham nipping at their heels. 

Max Q Motorsports drivers Emil Assentato and Nick Longhi travel to VIR this weekend with a comfortable 15-point lead in the GS II driver standings over SpeedSource drivers Sylvain Tremblay and John Sturm. In the team standings, Max Q leads SpeedSource by 13 points and Shreiner Racing by 16 points. 

Beau Buisson and Ken Dobson, drivers of Villaconn International's #34 BMW Z3, are tied with a seven-point lead over Team Lexus driver Jean-Francois Dumoulin in the ST I driver standings. Team Lexus scored the world's first IS300 professional victory at VIR last year and hopes to repeat its success this weekend. The Team Lexus #2 IS300 trails Villaconn's #34 BMW by 11 points in the team standings. 

Grand-Am Cup's tightest points race continues to be the Sport Touring II class. Only three points previously separated the top-three teams and it remains close with only six points now between the top three. Bill Fenton Motorsports increased its lead from one point to five in the team points after its ST I win at The Glen last weekend. HRPWorld.com moved up to the second position, with DTM Engineering one point back in third place. Fenton's drivers Bob Beede and Bill Fenton are tied atop the ST II driver points, but brothers Wayne and Will Nonnamaker are only four points behind. 

While the team and driver point standings are important to teams, just as important to the Grand-Am Cup teams are the manufacturer standings. Porsche and Chevrolet have been battling it out for supremacy in the GS I class all season. After Porsche's victory last weekend, Chevy's lead has been cut to only two points. Ford continues to dominate the GS II class with a 22-point lead over BMW. However, BMW is at the front of the ST I class, while Lexus and Acura are tied nine points back in second place. Acura holds a 12-point lead over Mazda in the ST II standings. 

Grand-Am Cup will hold practice sessions at Virginia International Raceway this afternoon, 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. After a warm-up session on Saturday morning, the teams will qualify at 10:25 a.m. The Grand-Am Cup three-hour race will begin at 3 p.m. on Saturday. For additional information on the Grand-Am Cup Street Stock Series on the internet go to www.grandamcup.com