GTWC America Acura NSX GT3 Evo
- Matt McMurry
- Rodrigo Sales
- Michael Di Meo
- Ashton Harrison
- Mario Farnbacher
Bowmanville, ON – 2007 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Champions Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood finished a fighting fifth in the #74 Fischer Skis/Compass360 Racing Acura TSX at Mosport International Raceway on Saturday after Grand-Am officials made a rules change midway through the opening caution period which set the duo too far back in the field to make a return to the Mosport podium.
Burrows opened the race from eighth on the grid, and was quickly up to third in the ST Class order early in the two and a half hour race as the champs were hoping to go one better than their second place finish from the 2007 Mosport event as he gave chase to a remarkably fleet 01 entry from Georgian Bay Motorsports.
“The Cobalt’s were so fast in a straight line that it just didn’t make any sense to use up the car to try to fight with them, so I just settled into a good pace and kept the gap behind me growing to turn the car over to Trevor in good shape,” said Burrows. “The car was great, and even though the track was getting pretty greasy, I was able to just keep a good pace before that yellow came out.”
The race got off to a clean and green race start, running nearly an hour before a full-course caution slowed the field. After initially ruling the pits to be closed, officials allowed several competitor cars to pit and then subsequently decided that the penalties would not be enforced.
The rules change saw Burrows forced to wait an extra lap before turning the car over to Hopwood, who returned to the field back in tenth after some quick pit work from the Compass360 squad. But showing the same smart speed that he did at Lime Rock Park, Hopwood was able to move up to take fifth at the finish and improve the duo’s championship points tally in advance of round four next weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“The car was really good and it was just too bad that we had to make up so much ground after the pit stop ruling,” said Hopwood. “But the car was really fast right to the finish, and even though we were not as good on the restarts as we could have been, we were able to make some of that ground we lost back up. This is a solid finish and while we obviously could have been further up front had the pit stop decision gone our way, there was no way we’d have had anything for those Chevy’s. They are really fast in a straight line.”
Burrows and Hopwood will return to race action next weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as the Mansfield facility hosts an ST Class-only event on Sunday, June 22.