ENCORE PODIUM FOR COMPETITION MOTORSPORTS IN RACE 2 AT WATKINS GLEN

Watkins Glen, N.Y. – As the sun began to set over the front straight of the historic circuit of Watkins Glen International, Competition Motorsports drivers Michael Lewis, David Calvert-Jones and Fred Poordad lined up for Race 2 around the track for the second race of the IMSA Porsche Cup USA by Yokohama weekend.

Two multi-lap caution periods essentially turned the 45-minute sprint race into two shorter 15-minute sprint races, but all three drivers capitalized on the short green runs with Lewis bringing home a fourth place finish in the Platinum Class followed by Calvert-Jones in eighth place, and Poordad finished in fifth place in the Gold Class with a third place Masters Class podium to top it all off.

Lewis began the race from seventh position in his No. 98 Competition Motorsports/Curb Agajanian Porsche focused on making the most out of the short sprints between yellow. Despite multiple incidents on track, Lewis was able to stay clear of any trouble and cleanly pick off positions to bring his Porsche home damage-free. His drive exemplified smart racing as he carefully gained positions without incident and simply ran out of time at the end despite showing strong race pace all the way to the checkered flag.

Calvert-Jones bounced back from a frustrating race one with a stout drive, starting the race from 10th positon in his No. 12 Wheels Up-Competition Motorsports Porsche and setting to work his way through the busy 35-car field.

In Gold Class competition Fred Poordad and his No. 02 Affinity Motorsports/TLI/Competition Motorsports Porsche found all of the yellows that seemed to go missing  in Race 1. After starting in 10th, he made the most of the start as he shot up to sixth position just as the first yellow was displayed one minute into the race. He again capitalized on the re-start, gaining ground while holding off the pressure from behind to close out the weekend with a strong result.

“It was a good day and a good weekend,” said team manager Bob Faieta. “Everyone did a really good job driving, especially considering none of them had ever been here before. So all in all, a very good weekend. It speaks to how hard our team works preparing our cars because the guys ran hard out there and they all finished with no incidents or mechanical problems or anything, so I am very pleased.”

With two podiums in two race and solid results all around, the Competition Motorsports remains a force to be reckoned with in the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Presented by Yokohama. After both rounds at Watkins Glen, Lewis is within striking distance of second place in the Platinum Class Championship while Poordad provisionally sits just points behind first place in the Gold Class Championship and maintains a commanding lead of the Gold Class Masters Class Championship. The team will be back racing again on July 10-13 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Competition Motorsports Race 2 Driver Quotes:

Fred Poordad – “Yeah today was a bit more fun! There were a couple of long yellows which I think actually worked to my disadvantage; I needed the yellows yesterday and didn’t really want them today. But I was able to make up a couple of positions and held my ground. There were a couple of hard-chargers coming from behind. Competition Motorsports and Bob Faieta put an awesome car under me and I think if we could have had a few more laps I could have gotten a better position. But overall compared to what happened yesterday I am very happy!”

David Calvert-Jones – “It was a fun race. I enjoyed it. There were a bunch of fast people around me and I was able to race with them and hold them off. It’s a shame we spent so much time under yellow, it would have been fun to get to race a bit more and I think I could have gotten more out of my Porsche but overall it was a good race.”

Michael Lewis – “That was like two mini sprint races in one race! We had two long yellow flags and basically it was just sprint races put together in two little 15-minute dashes. It was pretty fun because you had to make some tactical moves that normally wouldn’t happen during the race. I started in seventh and lost about two places on the start, but I was just trying to keep my nose clean in case we went green the whole time like yesterday. I was hoping it would be like that and then I could just pick cars off one at a time. But after I got going I picked off my teammate, thanks to Calvert-Jones for being a really cool teammate, and then I got Christina Nielsen so that was cool and I was clean there. Then the yellow came out. And on the last yellow flag I just put my head down and tried to get the drivers on the restarts because I was afraid that if I didn’t the first two guys would go away. I got a couple of spots and then I saw that I was in fifth and I saw that the leaders weren’t really going away so I was stoked thinking I might actually have a shot to get a podium. Then I slid into fourth and basically just ran out of time to really go any further. But the car was really fast. It was a really good effort here at Watkins Glen, it was my first time here. Thanks to the team for being great. Although sometimes we get heated on the track, they keep me calm. My mechanic Dee was on the radio keeping me calm and keeping me from making mistakes. I would like to get some more trophies for my team and I came up a little bit short this time, but enough said, great job by the whole team.”