Mitchum Motorsports Daytona Post-Race Report

Altamonte Springs–For the fourth straight season the Sunoco 200 Challenge winner was hosted by Mitchum Motorsports in their #6.2 Sunoco liveried Chevrolet Camaro GS.R on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway this past weekend.  This years’ winner, Swedish driver Oskar Krüger, shared the Sunoco Camaro with team driver Dylan Murcott.  The weekend had its ups and downs, but in the end was a success.

Krüger would start the car from the 15th grid position and show great early form during the first race of the 2015 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series season.  About midway through his stint, the serpentine belt would break apart due to debris on track, which the team quickly addressed and returned to the fray some eight laps adrift from the front runners in the field.  Oskar ran very strong lap times upon the return to the field before turning the car over to his teammate.  Murcott jumped in and was immediately up to pace with the race leaders, however it became apparent that when the belt came apart earlier, it also damaged the differential cooler hose, creating a slow leak which ultimately ended the teams day earlier than anticipated, but still with a solid 17th place finish in the competitive Grand Sport (GS) class.Murcott states: “It was great to have Sunoco on board this past weekend at Daytona.  The weekend didn’t start as planned with losing a transmission during the first practice, but the team rebounded and gave us a good car for the race.  Oskar did a great job in the beginning part of the race keeping the car clean and running mid-pack.  Unfortunately we had the serpentine belt break which caused us to lose eight laps.  The car was an absolute rocket ship this weekend though, and it’s a shame we didn’t get the Top-10 finish we were aiming for.  It was great running with Oskar, and looking forward to doing it again in the future.”Of the opportunity, Krüger mentions; “Of course I feel badly that we couldn’t finish the race because of the mechanical failure, but I am still very pleased overall with the experience that I’ve been provided.   It has been an amazing journey, I’ve had a really good time and it has been a great experience for me in my career.  I am very grateful to Sunoco for giving me the opportunity, thank you!" The event was also a success for Sunoco as Anders Hildebrand of the Anglo American Oil Company explains: “It is again proven that to win the Sunoco 200 Challenge you need to possess a lot of speed and talent. Oskar adapted quickly to the Daytona banking, the Sunoco Camaro, the race format, a new team on another continent.  He was consistent, listened to advice from the Mitchum Motorsports team, was just tenths off his more experienced team mate, but most importantly impressed everyone with how quickly he adapted.  The build up to the race and the race was not smooth as it was marred with technical gremlins reducing Oskar's seat time but despite that he was in a good spirit - a future star!”The Sunoco 200 Challenge puts hundreds of European racing drivers, from various Sunoco-fueled championships, against one another using a unique points system. The winner of the Sunoco 200 Challenge is awarded a seat in a Mitchum Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GS.R for the 200 mile Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge (CTSC) endurance race at Daytona.