CAMARO Z/28.R AT SEBRING: One-Two Finish for Stevenson Motorsports
Davis, Liddell repeat at Sebring as three Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.Rs finish in top-four

· Bell, Aschenbach take second in No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z28.R

· Stevenson Motorsports with four podiums in opening two races of 2015 season

· Barkey, Marcelli fourth for in No. 80 Mantella Autosport Camaro Z/28.R

SEBRING, Fla. (March 20, 2015) – The Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R won again at Sebring International Raceway in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (CTSCC) with Stevenson Motorsports posting a 1-2 finish Friday in the Microsoft Visual Studios 150. For the second straight year, Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell drove to a Grand Sport (GS) victory in their Stevenson Motorsports No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R.

Liddell won by 0.968 seconds over Lawson Aschenbach in the No. 9 Camaro Z/28.R from Stevenson Motorsports that he shared with Matt Bell. It was the first 1-2 finish for the Camaro Z/28.R since Road America in 2014.

“What an exciting 1-2 finish for the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R teams today at Sebring,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “The drivers were fast in qualifying and had strong race pace. Congratulations to Robin and Andrew on their win, and Lawson and Matt on their second-place finish. It was a total team effort to qualify top-two and finish top-two in class.”

Liddell and Davis won for the fourth time in two seasons, and this one was a team effort in the truest sense. After a one-hour, 40-minute stint from Davis, the No. 6 Stevenson crew turned in a solid pit stop with Davis handing over to Liddell for the finish. The stop plus Liddell’s out-lap was enough to move the No. 6 ahead of the sister car when Bell pitted a lap later. Liddell also posted the fastest GS race time on his first full lap after the final pit stop.

“I knew very well that the out-lap was going to count and that was going to be the chance to get around those guys,” Liddell said. “I pushed like crazy on the out-lap and fortunately I came around to Turn One and I saw them leaving the pits; I had a run into Turn One and got ahead. So that is essentially what won us the race was the combination of the pit stop by the guys and my out-lap that got us around.

Bell, the pole-sitter in GS, led the entirety of his stint before handing off to Aschenbach. The pairing, in their second race together, followed a third-place finish at Daytona with Friday’s runner-up finish.

Three Camaro Z/28.Rs finished the top-four as Mantella Autosport’s No. 80 MBRP Camaro Z/28.R of Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli placed fourth with the No. 8 Gulf/Spyder/MBRP Camaro Z/28.R of Anthony Mantella and Mark Wilkins eighth.

“What a great result for Team Chevy and our Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R,” said Lisa Talarico, Chevrolet Program Manager for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. “Both Stevenson Motorsports Camaros ran strong throughout the weekend, and the strategy was just as key to today’s results. Having both Stevenson Motorsports’ Camaro Z/28.Rs and the No. 80 Mantella Autosport Camaro Z/28.R in the top-four is a great achievement at Sebring.”

The third round of the 2015 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge is set for 1 p.m. PT on Friday, May 2 from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Live coverage will be available at IMSA.com with TV coverage set for 9 a.m. ET Sunday, April 5 on FOX Sports 1.

ANDREW DAVIS, STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS NO. 6 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28.R – RACE WINNER
“The guys on the crew have fought really hard, and just thanks to Team Chevy and everyone at Stevenson Motorsports and Stevenson Automotive who are working so hard to make these Z28.Rs the best out there.
Robin is very tenacious in and out of the car. That is the guy you want in there at the end.

“We worked really hard on this car, and developed it all through last year. This was our maiden win last year. It was a bit of a surprise but it gave us the confidence moving forward and we catapulted it from there to some more victories and fighting for the championship. Coming in this year, we had lots of confidence. Stevenson Motorsports knows how to get it done. They have for years and years. Robin and I have been teammates for a long time in the squad. So we have a lot of faith in their ability to help us in the pits and in general. As a team, we work really well all across the board.

“This track lends itself to some of the things the Camaro does well. … We capitalized on having a great car. It is a shame if you have a good car and aren’t able to capitalize on it.

“The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is so competitive. From track-to-track, as you saw at Daytona, a different car is going to be fast. At Daytona where we typically aren’t that good, we were still able to come away with a second and now we have our first win of the season. I’m just really proud of the guys. Robin drove well as always, and our Chevy Camaro Z28.R was flawless the whole race.”

ROBIN LIDDELL, STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS NO. 6 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28.R – RACE WINNER
WERE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR TEAMMATE BEING SO CLOSE AT THE END? “Well there was concern that he was ahead of us the whole race. Andrew did a super job because he had no cool suit; the helmet blower was failing and blowing hot air, so he was super hot in the car and he was really struggling with that, but he did a super job having to fight with the Mustang getting around him. We lost some time on the first stop because we were trying to fix the cool suit. I got lucky in that respect because I only had to do the last 50 minutes. I did the easy share today.

“I knew we had been a little bit easier on the fuel and we could pit one lap before, so we came in one lap before the No. 9 car (Aschenbach and Bell). I knew very well that the out-lap was going to count and that was going to be the chance to get around those guys. I pushed like crazy on the out-lap and fortunately I came around to Turn One and I saw them leaving the pits; I had a run into Turn One and got ahead. So that is essentially what won us the race was the combination of the pit stop by the guys and my out-lap that got us around. It was a super job by Andrew. Echoing his comments… This is the best team finish for Stevenson Motorsports ever finishing on the pole to begin with and the 1-2 finish. It is a fantastic result for Stevensons, for Team Chevy and the Z28.R. I couldn’t be happier coming out of here with a win and a good start to the season.”

LAWSON ASCHENBACH, STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS NO. 9 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28.R – FINISHED SECOND
“I think Matt proved at the beginning of the race that we had the car to beat. Matt drove a great two stints. Unfortunately the strategy didn’t work out for us. The 6 car came in a lap earlier and got that new tire run. It’s a bit frustrating but I have to be happy for everyone at Stevenson Motorsports on a 1-2 finish. I want to thank everyone at the team and Team Chevy. We had great Camaros. The Camaro Z/28.R was fast all week.”

MATT BELL, STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS NO. 9 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28.R – FINISHED SECOND
“We did some testing here. We spent as much time on the track during the test day and practice day this weekend here. We got extremely lucky finding the window. You can spend a whole week trying to figure out where the car needs to go to be fast. We found the window and we found it early enough that we could make a car that is extremely efficient over a long run and very fast over two laps if we needed to with just a couple of turns of a knob. A big shout out to Stevenson Motorsports and Team Chevy. They did an awesome job giving me the car that I needed today. I told them earlier in qualifying that my job is pretty easy if they give me a good car. This is the best this car has ever been right here.”

MIKE JOHNSON, TEAM MANAGER, STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS
“It’s our first 1-2 finish in GS. I feel bad for the 9 car guys because they had the faster car all weekend. Matt did a great job; Lawson was awesome. The whole team was great. We were 1-2 every session. During the pit stop with about 55 minutes to go, Andrew was really hot and we wanted to pit the cars off sequence so they didn’t hit each other coming down pit lane. We brought Andrew in first because he was so hot in the car. When Robin got in the car, he was out on sticker tires while Matt was on old rubber. So that was a three-second delta that Robin was able to gain. When Matt came in, there was about a two-second problem with the pit stop. We agreed once we got where we were after the stops was where we were going to go. I feel bad for the 9 car guys but more importantly I feel great for the whole team and for John and Susan Stevenson for a great 1-2 finish.”

KYLE MARCELLI, MANTELLA AUTOSPORT NO. 80 MBPR CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28.R – FINISHED FOURTH
“It sure would have been nice to have a Team 1-2-3. A 1-2-4 is I guess second-best. I’m very pleased with Mantella Autosport. I’m very pleased with our Camaro Z28.R. We’ve done a lot of testing here, and we’ve done a lot of testing on an old tire and a new tire, so we were really, really confident going into this race. Providing everything went well, I thought we were going to have a shot at a result. And it kind of worked out that way. I got in the car I think P9 or P10 and our strategy worked out actually quite well and I had fresher tires than everyone in front of me. So I had to take advantage of that. When the race went green we were really aggressive and made five spots on the first two laps. That got us to about P4 and then we just kind of held that position”

MARK WILKINS, MANTELLA AUTOSPORT NO. 8 GULF/MBRP CHEVROLET CAMARO Z/28.R – FINISHED EIGHTH
“Anthony (Mantella) had a great stint. He did an awesome job. He ran right up near the front and had great pace and just hats off to him. When I went out we gambled a little on tires. We took two instead of four to try to get some track position back. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the call we needed but that was the call Andrew and I made together. We thought it would get us to where we needed to be and we thought maybe we could hold them off. But it’s a hot day and we ran out of tires and we just tried to hang on best we could to get good points.”