Craig Stanton Back On Top of Grand-Am Cup Victory Podium
ALTON, Vir., October 2, 2004 - Craig Stanton returned to his dominating ways in Grand-Am Cup competition with a win at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) today. The Long Beach, Calif.-resident joined with multi-series teammate David Murry (Cumming, Ga.) to control the Grand-Am Cup VIR 250 in their No. 43 TheRaceSite.com Porsche 996. The victory was Stanton's fifth in seven Grand-Am Cup races this season, Murry's second. When the No. 43 of Stanton, who entered today's race second in GS class points, fell behind due to pit stops, the pole-winning Porsche was always able to stalk and easily dispatch the No. 11 of point leader Terry Borcheller on the track. Despite several late-race cautions which tightened the field, Murry, who finished the last hour of the event, crossed the finish line nearly seven and a half seconds ahead of Borcheller. Stanton remains second in Grand-Am Cup points with two races remaining. However, the victory substantially closed the gap on Borcheller, who Stanton teamed with for the first three races of the season, but remains four points behind. Starting from the pole position, Stanton and Murry worked together in a style that is creating a new standard in teamwork. In fact, many consider the Stanton-Murry combination as the purest definition of teamwork in a sport that is often highlighted by its individual egos. The two have worked together in three different sportscar series this season earning podiums in each, including two Grand-Am Cup victories and the win in the Grand American Rolex Sportscar Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS) in February. Stanton will go after win number six next week at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. In the meantime, the popular Porsche-expert will drive his second race of the weekend at the 3.27-mile, 17-turn VIR road course in tomorrow's Rolex Series VIR 400 presented by SunTrust. Stanton will again go for another Porsche win driving the No. 86 G&W Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry in the SGS class of the two hour, 45-minute race. He will start 12th in class in that event, co-driving with Mae Van Wijk (Kingwood, Tex.). Sunday's Rolex Series VIR 400 presented by SunTrust can be seen live starting at noon (ET) on SPEED. Today's Grand-Am Cup 250 will be shown on SPEED at noon, Oct. 17th. Zippo Live Timing and Scoring of both events can be found at <http://www.grandamerican.com/> www.grandamerican.com . Quotes. Craig Stanton, (about the VIR 250): "I was really proud of the team today. They worked really hard all week. The Porsche was quick right off the trailer. David and I just made a few little adjustments. We had a really good qualifying run today. I am really proud of that. That was one of my better qualifying runs. We were able to lead most of my stint. The car was really good in and out of traffic and that allowed me to keep a really good mean average. The way the yellows went down we worked our way back from 14th to the front. I handed the No. 43 Porsche over to David in the lead and he had a great final stint. He and I like pretty much the same setup so he really loved the car too. On TV it is going to be really good theater for the fans to watch this race. David put a great pass on Terry towards the end and just pulled away. This point chase is getting very, very close. I am going to drive as hard as I can and do all that I can to make this a great race for the championship. I knew all year it would come down to the last laps at California." (about the Rolex VIR 400): "I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It has been a good process this week working with Mae and G&W. It has been great to help Mae try and realize some of her dreams and goals. This is the first time I've worked with G&W and I'm really having a great experience. They are a professional team and very, very organized. I am having a great time driving for them. Mae will start the race and I will jump in and finish it off. The SGS class is so competitive that it will be a tough race all day. I am really looking forward to it."