Hey everyone,

I had a great weekend in my first Grand Am Cup race at Mont Tremblant! I've attached our final press release for the weekend below. The other press releases we put out through the weekend can be seen at http://www.motorsport.com/news...NDCUP

There is also a video teaser up on the Grand-Am website at http://www.grandamerican.com/e....html I'm in the silver Audi on the right of the screen during the race start and I'm the first over the hill in the second half of the video.

The race will be broadcast on Speed TV this Sunday, May 30th, at 9:00am pacific.

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Photo courtesy of Grand-Am.com

<u>SHEEHAN SETS FASTEST LAP, NEW GS TRACK RECORD IN GRAND-AM CUP RACE DEBUT</u>

Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada -- Former U.S. Touring Car Championship driver and Grand-Am Cup newcomer Gary Sheehan drove the fastest lap of the race in the Mont-Tremblant 250 Saturday, posting a 1:47.569 on lap 8, one of 14 laps he led in the Istook-Aines Audi S4. That blistering lap was also the fastest of the weekend for the GS class, besting the pole time of 1:47.609 set in morning qualifying by teammate Anders Hainer. Sheehan's lap sets a new track record for the GS class at Mont-Tremblant.

Starting from the front row, Sheehan took the lead in lap 1, turn 5, when pole-sitter and teammate Hainer bobbled and lost momentum. Sheehan then extended his lead to a maximum of 7.5 seconds, until pitting for fuel under caution on lap 14. During the race, Sheehan twice brought the car up through the field to 4th position, the latter charge coming after a drive-through penalty (for a blend-line infraction in pit lane). Late in the race, after his 2½ hour stint in the car, (much of it without water), the 4th place Sheehan brought the car in for the final pit stop and a driver change, to co-driver Ray Bailey. In the last laps of the race Bailey experienced a spin, which saw them slip to their 11th place finish. The race was eventually won by Powell/Borcheller in the Cadillac CTS-V, with a best lap of 1:47.970.

"This is certainly the best weekend of my career so far", a tired-but-happy Sheehan said. "It's more than I could have hoped for. To have qualified on the front row and led the race early on, well, it's a very big thing for me, in my first race at this level." When told he set the fast lap and new track record, a surprised Sheehan said, "Wow. I'm in shock. That's like a dream come true. The car was so good, the Istook-Aines guys are amazing; they set the car set up so well". He adds, "We were out-braking people all day--thanks to Stoptech for the amazing brake setup!"

Commenting on the track and the Grand-Am Cup, Sheehan said, "I love this track, very challenging and fun. This series is so professionally run--things ran like clockwork all weekend".

Although this was Sheehan's first race in Grand-Am Cup, it was not his first time at Le Circuit de Mont-Tremblant. This is the track where Sheehan began his racing career by attending his first professional racing school back in 1992. For more on Gary, visit http://www.teamsmr.com

The all-wheel-drive, twin-turbo Audi S4 has consistently been a front running car in the series and is a great match for Sheehan: Gary has been competing and winning in a Subaru Impreza WRX in the U.S. Touring Car Championship over the past three years with great success, most recently finishing second in championship points in 2003. The two cars have similar AWD drive trains, use turbocharged engines, and are set-up with Stoptech brakes.

The Grand-Am Cup is the premier production car-based endurance racing series in North America. The field is made up of two classes: Sport Touring (ST) and Grand Sport (GS). GS is the more powerful class of the two and is filled with ultra-performance cars such as the BMW M3, Cadillac CTS-V, Nissan 350Z, Ford Mustang Cobra, Porsche 996 and Acura NSX.

 

Awesome!

 

Congratulations Gary!
Sounds like you've found a good package and your driving is still top notch.
Way to go!

 

Repost!! I saw this post on Audiworld. Congrats and great driving.

 

Congrats!!!

 

Very nice.

 

very impressive!

 

I was there as part of the civic club that roll during lunch time. Man you were running fast. I was around the last corner before the pits (hard right). We were amazed at yuor driving skills. Keep up the good work.

Here is a couple of pics that i took.







Modified by sebmour jdm at 9:47 AM 5/26/2004

 

Thanks for all the kind words!

Sebmour, thanks for posting those pics! So, you were watching up at turn 14 (Namerow) during the race? Man, that hill is so much steeper standing there watching the cars than when you are actually in the car. That's a great place to spectate. I was there for about an hour during the Rolex race the next day.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
http://www.teamSMR.com

 

good stuff man. Congrats.

 

Good stuff Gary. I'll have to set the VCR this weekend. So, does this mean you're no longer with the USTCC? They'll be running with us at Portland in two weeks. Wondering if you're making that trip.

 

Huge congratulations to you Gary!!! Wow, someday I'll be able to talk about racing with that guy at Summit Point once....

 

Congratulations Gary
Very well deserved, I don't know of anyone who has put as much effort in to his racing career and is more deserving of success! Things can only get better from now on.
Good job.

Kiwi

 

Good job Gary. Kick that Caddys butt. Looks like your got better on the starts. j/k

 

Another pic from my buddy.