FARANO, EMPRINGHAM AND BGB MOTORSPORTS TAKE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD WITH 4th PLACE FINISH AT MID-OHIO


2012 EMCO Gears Classic Broadcast on SpeedTV Sunday June 17th @ 12:00, EST or download now on Speed2.com @ http://www.speed2.com/racing-series/...-car-challenge


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 12, 2012 (Ormond Beach, FL) – John Farano, David Empringham and the #83 Tower Events Porsche finished a well-earned 4th among 62 competitors following Saturday’s 2.5 hour Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series race. Round 5 of the 10-race season opened up the 2012 Emco Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as new BGB teammates Freddie Baker and Mark Sandridge ran the team’s familiar green #38 Porsche in the top-15 all day, attempting to bring home a 14th place finish that was taken away when an over-zealous GS competitor ender their day and that of the #196 RSR Motorsports Mini-Cooper S running in the ST class, 40 minutes from the race’s end.

The 4th place finish and string of consistent finishes of no worse than 6th or 12th move John Farano and David Empringham into 1st place in the Driver’s Championship and the #83 BGB Motorsports Porsche into 1st place in the Team Championship. For the first time in seven years, Porsches occupy 1st and 2nd in the team championships and sit only 3-points behind defending 2011 winner BMW and only 3 points ahead of Ford, as they hold the 2nd spot in the Manufacturer’s Championship. The Ormond Beach team hasn’t led the team championship since the 3rd round of the 2008 season when they won the Daytona opener and finished 4th at Lime Rock Park.

Qualifying 13th for the early 11:00am race, John Farano drove the #83 Porsche 997 up inside the top-10 to hand the car over to codriver David Empringham on lap #25 just prior to the race’s 1-hour mark. Comfortable around the track having tested there last August, Farano found a rhythm and was making moves on the Aston Martin and dicing it up with the Camaros and other larger V8 cars. Empringham rejoined pit road in 14th and wasted zero time in moving up into the top-10 and then inside the top-5 before having to settle for 4th with too many caution laps at the end to mount a charge.

Newcomers to the BGB Motorsports paddock but veteran pilots of the tight and twisty hills of Mid-Ohio, Freddie Baker, Mark Sandridge and their #38 Grandma’s Original Recipes Porsche 997 started from the 23rd spot on the grid with the intentions of showing how experience helps avoid chaos to make it into the top-15 around a track as technical as Ohio. Prior to his stop to pit road for a service and driver swap, Baker found himself at the front of the field during a restart but gladly obliged a pit call to run down pit road for a stop-and-go that also let him get out of the way of an angry pack of GS competitors running on fresh tires with fresh drivers. Sandridge took over duties and held ground inside the top-10, allowing only a few competitors to pass. Staying strong in the top-15 with 40 minutes to go, his day was ended when a Mustang attempted to outbrake a Porsche; we all know that’s not possible and how that scenario ends.

While the team is elated to occupy the top spot in the championship, a series as competitive as this requires a big lead to feel comfortable. A single point lead is nothing when you have former Championship winners Fall-Line Motorsports 1 point behind, tied with a 2-time race winning Porsche from Rum Bum Racing. Less than 10 points back in 4th is yet another strong Fall-Line entry that sits less than 10 points ahead of a consistently strong factory supported Chevrolet Camaro effort and a Jack Roush Nextel Cup factory prepared Ford Mustang GT that over the last two years seems to have won every single race it wasn’t crashed out of or stricken by bad luck.

Round 6 is hosted by Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI on Friday June 22nd at 6:15pm under darkening northern skies; the team will pull the #38 Porsche from the Road America entry following the accident at Ohio.

Fans of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series may view this past weekend’s race on Speed TV on Sunday June 17th at 12:00pm, EST. Eligible cable customers anxious to view it now can download it from the link above.

BGB Motorsports is an ambitious, professional motorsports business. The team's facility is located less than 15 miles from Daytona International Speedway and the headquarters for the Grand American Road Racing Association. The team operates as a customer oriented business, running cars under the Grand American Road Racing, Sports Car Club of America and Porsche Club of America sanctioning bodies. For more information, visit www.teambgb.com

Photo courtesy of Margaret Gerard.

2009 Porsche Carrera 2 updated to 2012 3.8 GTS specs entering the famed “madness” at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

 

John

Great run for the #83.. congrats. As co-driver of the #195 (not 196) with Chris Puskar we paid the same price M. Sandridge and Fast Freddy did at the hands of an ill driven Mustang. That one move was very expensive for RSR and BGB.

Again, congrats on a strong weekend.

Mark

 

Congrats guys, well done!

-mike

 

Hey Mark,

I'm sorry I got the number wrong but I'm mostly sorry that your car got caught up in that. I figured I would go down and apologize to Mike for all of the times I've left the pit box to ginger snap on someone for hitting us for no good reason. I hope that it is repaired in time to not hiccup Road America.

Thanks again.

John

 

Doing the Porsche faithful proud, and without factory support, no less. I think that often gets overlooked. Porsche themselves doesn't really seem to care what happens down in Conti and the teams are left to largely fend for themselves. BGB does us proud with the program they've built and maintain.

 

Awesome job BGB...Congrats on the success John.

Best of luck for the remainder of the year. I'll be cheering for ya...