CAMARO Z/28.R IN CANADA: Davis Leads Camaro Z/28.R Contingent in Qualifying
No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R to start fourth in Grand Sport
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (July 10, 2015) – Stevenson Motorsports’ Andrew Davis led Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R drivers in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge qualifying Friday with a fourth-place effort at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Davis set a best lap of 1:27.785 (100.842 mph) in the No. 6 Camaro Z/28.R that he drives with Robin Liddell to line up on the second row of Saturday’s grid.
Davis and Liddell enter Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on a three-race win streak and lead the Grand Sport (GS) Driver’s championship. Chevrolet also leads in GS Manufacturer points. Stevenson Motorsports and Chevrolet were winners last year at the 2.459-mile, 10-turn track with Saturday’s race set for 1:25 p.m. ET (IMSA.com).
Matt Bell, part of the winning effort at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2014, qualified sixth in Stevenson Motorsports’ No. 9 Camaro Z/28.R that he drives with Lawson Aschenbach. Bell’s best lap was 1:27.810 (100.813 mph).
Mantella Autosport’s two Camaro Z/28.Rs qualified eighth and ninth with Martin Barkey leading the team with a 1:29.054 (99.405 mph) lap in the No. 80 MBRP Camaro Z/28.R. He was just ahead of team owner Anthony Mantella in the No. 8 Gulf Camaro Z/28.R with a 1:30.102 (98.249 mph). Mantella crashed in the first practice at the exit of Turn Three, but the team repaired the car just in time for qualifying.
The Camaro Z/28.R won five times during its 2014 debut season. It is based on the road-going Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, and the two share considerable traits:
Engine and displacement (7.0-liter V-8, 427 cubic inches)
Front splitter and rear spoiler with wickerbill
Hood extractor vent
Rockers, wheel-house extension and front tire deflectors
Belly pan
The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is set for 1:25 p.m. ET on Saturday with live coverage on IMSA.com. Television coverage on FOX Sports 1 is scheduled for noon ET on Sunday, July 19.
ANDREW DAVIS, STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS NO. 6 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28.R – QUALIFIED FOURTH: “As always, the guys at Stevenson Motorsports have worked really hard. This track is good and bad for us. I think we’ve worked really hard on our Camaro Z/28.R to get the balance through all the sweeping corners, and I was pretty happy with that. We made some changes overnight that we kept in for qualifying. I think we optimized our performance and our position. Up front on the second row is good for us here. There are lots of fast cars in this series. It will be a battle and a fight. We’ve won three straight races in different ways, so we’ll have to find a fourth way if we want to continue that.”
ANTHONY MANTELLA, MANTELLA AUTOSPORT NO. 8 GULF CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28.R – QUALIFIED NINTH: “Not enough can be said about the team because of the incident this morning. My foot slipped off the pedal and by the time I got back on the pedal, it was too late. I crashed the car and put it up on its side. But strength of the Camaro Z/28.R made it feel like nothing. The whole front end and radiator were damaged. The guys really busted their tails to get this Camaro back together. They drove 40 minutes to get parts and got back to get me out for qualifying. So all in all, a great day.”