RSR Racing Mazda Raceway Post-Race Report

RSR Racing drivers Chris Cumming and Bruno Junqueira knew that a victory was their destiny from the first practice session of the race weekend.  The RSR prepared Oreca FLM09 led every practice session at times and started the two hour 40 minute race from the pole

Vancouver, BC native Chris Cumming began the race in the #11 Automax ORECA FLM09 prototype from the pole and never looked back, leaving the field by a margin of ten seconds. Cumming worked his way through both the GTD and GTLM fields before taking advantage of the event's first yellow flag at 30 minutes for a fuel and tire stop.

In practice and qualifying Cumming had shown performance nearly equal to the class leading Gold and Platinum rated drivers.  Confident in Cumming's ability to post fast laps in line with the leaders; Race Engineer John Gentilozzi devised a novel strategy.  In order to save a possible green flag pit stop, RSR kept Cumming in the car for over one hour and 40 minutes of the two hour 40 minute event.  During this extended time in the car, Chris was able to prevent previous LMPC Champion Colin Braun from eroding the substantial lead acquired early in the race.

This off sequence strategy allowed the next stop for a driver change to Bruno Junquiera with 56 minutes remaining.  Junqueira quickly set the fastest race lap and established a dominant pace while still conserving fuel and being very measured in traffic.  At the checkered flag, the Brazilian crossed the line 39.487 seconds ahead of championship points leaders Colin Braun and Jon Bennett of CORE Autosport.

Team Principal Paul Gentilozzi reflected on a shining moment after winning the third round of the of the 2015 Tudor United Sportscar Championship season.

"I have had many days in racing when we knew clearly we had the car to beat, sometimes that makes the drama even more palpable as you are focused on no mistakes.  Chris and Bruno did everything we asked of them and the team executed their jobs in both race prep and pit stops."

Gentilozzi continued, "Now that we have broken the ice it will only make us hungrier to really push for victories through the rest of the Tudor United Sportscar Championship season."

Cumming was ecstatic over his first LMPC win in 2015: "When you execute under pressure the satisfaction of winning is much greater.  The team had confidence in me to set a new precedent for strategy.  We have worked together to improve my race craft and overall speed.  Turning the car over to Bruno knowing his Championship abilities was easy; I knew he could bring us to the top step of the podium."

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