Chevy Racing– CAMARO Z/28.R AT ROAD ATLANTA: Runner-Up Manufacturer Finish in GS for Chevrolet

CAMARO Z/28.R AT ROAD ATLANTA: Runner-Up Manufacturer Finish in GS for Chevrolet
Davis, Liddell third in GS Driver championship; No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro second among teams

· Five wins in debut season for Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R
· Curran, Liddell each led in Friday’s finale at Road Atlanta
· Second consecutive GS Manufacturer runner-up points finish for Chevrolet

BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 3, 2014) – The Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R ended this year’s Continental Sports Car Challenge with a second-place finish in the Grand Sport (GS) Manufacturer championship standings Friday following the season’s final race at Road Atlanta. It capped a year in which the Camaro Z/28.R won five races – more than any other car in class – and captured five pole positions.

It is the second consecutive year in which Chevrolet placed second in GS points. In addition, Stevenson Motorsports’ Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell finished third in the class Driver standings, and the No. 6 Stevenson Camaro Z/28.R placed second in the Team championship.

“It was a roller-coaster ride in this year’s GS championship, culminating with a runner-up finish for Chevrolet in Manufacturer points, third place for Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell in the Driver standings, and second in Team points for the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro,” said Lisa Talarico, Chevrolet Program Manager for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. “A big thank you goes to our partner teams at Stevenson Motorsports and CKS Autosport, GM Powertrain, Pratt & Miller and many others for their hard work during the first season of the Camaro Z/28.R. Today’s finish gives us motivation heading into the off-season and contend for next year’s championship.”

Davis and Liddell finished 10th in Friday’s race after Liddell and a fellow competitor made contact on the next-to-last turn while fighting for second place. Davis had qualified on pole, and Liddell led twice including with 30 minutes left.

The race began with three Camaro Z/28.Rs in the first four positions. Eric Curran in the No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro Z/28.R took the lead on the fourth lap and stayed there until the car’s gearshift lever broke 25 minutes into the race. Seven minutes and five laps later, the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro of Matt Bell pulled into pitlane with a loss of power in the engine.

Developed alongside its production counterpart, the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R incorporates the same performance elements that make the 2014 Camaro Z/28 the most track-capable Camaro ever. To enhance grip, for example, the Z/28.R’s body shares the same downforce-generating aero package as the production model including: the front splitter, rear spoiler with wickerbill, and hood extractor vent, among other items.

The Z/28.R is also powered by the same LS7 7.0L V-8 engine as the production Z/28 and employs the unique, helical-gear limited-slip rear differential found on the production model. It is standard in the Z/28, helping the driver put down more power to the pavement when exiting corners.

ANDREW DAVIS, NO. 6 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO Z/28.R: QUOTE AFTER HIS STINT – HE STARTED RACE: “It’s stable now as long as we don’t have any more rain; it dried up very quickly so you know although there was a lot of anxiety at the beginning of the race on what tires to go on. As soon as I got out on the grid, I knew I had made the right choice choosing slicks. I was a little too conservative on lap 1 especially corners 1 and 3 so I lost those spots to Scott and Eric but at that point in time I realized our car had pace; the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R is running well. Over the long run our cars okay, I feel like our car was reeling in on the guys in front and was right on the tail of Scott in the 15 Mustang at the end of my stint. So Robin’s got a good car. Obviously the BMW has caught up as well, as I knew they would. It’s going to be a very nerve wracking battle for the finish. But you know it’s been a great season and I just want to thank Stevenson Motorsports, Stevenson Auto, GM, Pratt & Miller, Chevy and everyone that’s helped us this year. We’ve had a phenomenal year and now I’m just a spectator for the last hour and a half of the season!”

ON PRE-RACE ANTICIPATION AND TENSION: “It’s so difficult, obviously this is my home and I know the track so well. That’s part of the reason why I was really looking forward to leading in front of my home fans but still glad that we were running up front. I knew the track was going to dry out but at the same time, I knew that first lap or two would be a lot easier on rain tires. But the real concern for me was that I just hadn’t spent enough time on these Continental rain tires on a drying track. If I knew a little bit better than I may have selected that tire. No doubt the slicks were the way to go and our car is working well in the dry. So we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

ROBIN LIDDELL, NO. 6 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO Z/28.R: ON THE RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP: “To be honest, and I have to be completely honest, I’m perfectly with my own performance. I knew I gave it everything I have. I decided that coming into this weekend, the only thing that mattered to me was maximizing our performance and our result. And now, we didn’t maximize our result as it turned out, probably the best result we could have done was third, and that wasn’t good enough anyway. So at that point in time, I was doing everything in my mind I could do to hang on to second place and hope that something happened, and that was going to be enough. I don’t feel in any way apologetic for how it ended up. I was still legitimately inside of the No. 8 car when we turned into turn 10-B. We had had a really hard battle, and made contact several times and he had obviously decided he was just going to turn down and that was the end of it. That is kind of the way he drives anyhow, because I have had contact with him in the past in exactly the same manner. However, in the end, it didn’t matter to us, because we had to try and hang on to second come what may, and Mike (Johnson, team manager) had given me that clear instruction on the radio. I knew at that point there was no way we could fight for the lead, the Mustang was too fast, and ultimately the Aston was too fast.

“I just really want to thank the team, my teammates and everybody involved in this program. It has been a huge amount of work for everybody since it came to be last October. The amount of work these guys have done has been just incredible. I really take my hat off to them. At the end of the day, the only think I can do is give my maximum performance and hopefully that goes some way to them to feel like all that work they have done was justified. It’s been a really good season. We’ve won some races; we could have won some others. We could have won the championship, but we came up a little short. But when you think back to where the program was in January, the fact that we are even in this position fighting for any championship win is super incredible. Overall I am super happy with the work the team has done on both cars. The whole program, Chevrolet, Pratt and Miller, GM Powertrain, Katech – everybody that has been involved in the program. It’s been fantastic from that point of view.”

MIKE JOHNSON, STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO Z/28.R TEAM MANAGER:
“Robin (Liddell)did great. He did everything he was supposed to do. He fought until the very, last lap. You have so much hope that things are going to go your way in these things. Trent (Hindman) drove right through the field and got right to the back of us. At that point you knew it was going to be a battle. We had track position on them the whole day. But we (No. 6 Camaro Z28.R) had to beat them by two (2) cars, and it wasn’t going to work if we were second and they were fourth. So Robin had to do everything he had to do. That is what you want your driver to do. That is what he did, and I am really proud of the team. On the stand we were saying either that car is going to come back in a pile, or we are going to win this thing. Just so proud of everybody and the effort they have put in all year. Brand new car. You can look at various races – Daytona or whatever…it was a double DNF. Then we went out and won Sebring. Then we had a DNF right after that, and you are so far back. Then we get on the Stevenson streak…it is win, win, win and we
get back in the mix. But we always have that big hole in the beginning and we can’t seem to dig ourselves out of it. We could have lost by one point today, and been happy with that. But now we probably lost by 20 and we can’t be unhappy about that.”