Terry Borcheller - Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans preview

Watkins Glen 

 

Terry Borcheller believes the saying, "When one door closes, another opens."
When the Bell Motorsports/Feeds the Need team withdrew from this week's
Rolex Sports Car Series race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International,
Borcheller was out of a ride. But not for long. He was quickly invited to
drive the No. 15 CB Motorsports Pontiac-powered Riley Mk XI with Hugo
Guenette of Blainville, Qué., in the Sept. 24 race on the 3.4-mile grand
prix circuit.

 

"The Bell team was not capable of getting the car finished for Watkins Glen
because of the hurricane and all the body damage from the [Sept. 10] Phoenix
race. With the weather in Florida, body shops were closed and it was just
impossible to get the car finished," Borcheller said. "I'm excited to have
the opportunity to drive the Riley, and I'm looking forward to getting it up
to speed quickly."

 

Borcheller is also booked to test a Saleen S7R at Road Atlanta in Braselton,
Ga., this weekend, so he will commute between the two tracks. He'll start at
Road Atlanta on Friday, fly to New York for the Rolex Series warmup and race
on Saturday and return to Georgia to test on Sunday.

 

Petit Le Mans

 

Borcheller's race fortnight will continue with preparation for the Oct. 1
Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. He will have a short drive – just 10 miles –
from his home in Gainesville, Ga., to the track. Borcheller will drive a
Saleen S7R with Ralf Kelleners of Dusseldorf, Germany, and Johnny Mowlem of
London, England, in the 1000-mile or 10-hour event, the penultimate race in
the 2005 American Le Mans Series. The trio will benefit from a three-day
test on the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta road course this week. 

 

"The testing time is going to be great," Borcheller commented. "It should
give us a good setup for the race weekend. We haven't really had a great
opportunity to test since [race engineer] Jim Bell has come on board. It's
going to be nice to be able to really work on the car to get it where it's
fast."

 

close to victory

 

Borcheller and Mowlem came very close to winning the last ALMS race, a
two-hour 45-minute event at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville,
Ont. Borcheller believes faster pitstops and a rules change requiring a
smaller engine restrictor will help at the Petit Le Mans.

 

"This is a real important race for our team," he said. "Every race, we've
been running better and getting closer. At Mosport, we got the pole and led
the race for almost two hours. It was so close, we could taste it! I'm
really hoping to bring the team its first victory. That would be a huge
deal. Our pitstops should be faster than Mosport and fuel economy should be
better because the restrictor's going to be smaller, so both of those should
play to our benefit."

 

off-track

 

Borcheller will support two Motorsports Ministries programs during the Petit
Le Mans race week. He will speak at a Steve Deal Band concert in Gainesville
on Sept. 28 and will meet with teen fans from the Gainesville Three
Dimensional program during the race weekend.

 

"Three Dimensional is a ministry for teenagers," Borcheller explained. "They
take troubled teens, get them a high-school education, put them in a workout
program, get them ready for the workplace, get them off drugs and introduce
them to the Gospel. It's a really cool program. I enjoy what they're doing
and I'm very supportive of it."

 

details (ET)

 

The Rolex Sports Car Series race is set for Saturday, Sept. 24 from 3 pm to
5:45 pm on the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International grand prix road course in
Watkins Glen, N.Y. The race will air live on Speed Channel from 3 pm to 6
pm. Live timing/scoring and audio will be available at grandamerican.com .

 

The American Le Mans Series 1000-mile or 10-hour Petit Le Mans is scheduled
for Saturday, Oct. 1 from 11:20 am to 9:20 pm on the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta
road course in Braselton, Ga. The race will be telecast live on Speed
Channel from 11 am to 5 pm and from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Live timing/scoring
and ALMS Radio will be available at americanlemans.com .

 

online

 

tborcheller.com

 

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Sylvia Proudfoot
HYPERLINK "mailto:sylvia@spurcom.ca"sylvia@spurcom.ca
403 287 3945