HOLTON AND KLEINUBING TAKE SECOND PLACE AT DAYTONA

Team’s new Ford Mustang GT350R-C strong in debut race

DAYTONA, FL — Compass Racing's newest addition proved to be a contender right out of the box, with Paul Holton and Pierre Kleinubing delivering a podium result in the team's debut of its new Ford Mustang GT350R-C.

The battle at the front of the GS class was a nail-biter from start to finish, with the three lead cars running nearly nose-to-tail for the entire race. In the end, the sister Ford fielded by Multimatic for Scott Maxwell and Billy Johnson took the win, with Compass Racing's Mustang immediately behind in second place. The new Cayman GT4 ClubSport of CJ Wilson's squad rounded out the podium.

"This is such a great result for us on the Mustang's first race with Compass," enthused Holton. "We hope to have a good shot at the championship and this is exactly the way to start it."

The day didn't go as well for the team's ST squad, comprised of the No.74 Audi S3 of Jim McGuire and Nico Rondet, and the No.75 of Roy Block and Kyle Gimple. The latter stopped on track on the out-lap with engine issues, and the former suffered a similar issue late in the race, with Rondet running strongly in the top ten.

"This is the first time we've run these S3's at Daytona, and be believe the stresses of running on the high banks here caused oiling issues," said Technical Director Ray Lee. "We'll head back to the shop and do a deeper analysis, but the fact is these engines have been incredibly reliable, so this is probably an issue here."

New team driver Roy Block was philosophical. "Hey, it's not really the way you want to get on television, but that's racing. The team did a great job all weekend, and I really love driving the Audi. Kyle's been a great coach and co-driver, and I'm already looking forward to Sebring."