CTSCC: Mosing, Foss take second Daytona Street Tuner triumph

Mosing Motorcars Porsche Cayman Wins At Daytona

The Street Tuner (ST) class featured a torrid three-car battle for the opening 90 minutes. Eric Foss then took over the lead on a round of pit stops, and raced to victory to give Murillo Racing its second Daytona victory in three years.

ST track record holder Jeff Mosing led three times for 23 of the opening 32 laps in the No. 56 Mosing Motorcars Porsche Cayman before turning the car over to Foss, who led the final 18 laps. Foss went on to the checkered flag 7.143 seconds ahead of defending race winner Spencer Pumpelly, who joined Nick Galante in the No. 17 RS1 Porsche Cayman.

“Every season I’ve competed professionally and won the first race of the season, I have won the championship,” said Foss, who backed up the 2014 Daytona triumph with the ST title. “This win means a lot to me because if you have the confidence going into a season, you will flourish as a driver. The Murillo Racing team has done a lot of testing and we knew we had to put our best foot forward coming to this track this week.” 

Completing the podium was Jorge Leroux in the No. 4 LRT Racing Roux Helmets Honda Civic Si started by his brother Juan Carlos. Jorge Leroux gave the Dominican Republic-based team its first podium in the series, beating Rebel Rock Porsche Cayman driver Robin Liddell at the line to take third.

“I’ve been dreaming about today for a long time,” said Juan Carlos Leroux, who started 29th at the back of the grid and made a brilliant charge to take fifth in only 16 laps. “Today, it came true.”

The lead battle in the opening 90 minutes included TOTAL Pole Award winner Elliott Skeer, who led twice for 13 laps in the No. 8 Rebel Rock Racing Borla Porsche Cayman, and James Clay, who ran up front twice for three laps in the No. 84 BimmerWorld Racing/OPTIMA Batteries BMW 328i.

NOTEBOOK

• - Defending ST champions Stevan McAleer and Chad McCumbee suffered a setback in the early laps when McAleer tangled with the No. 73 MINI USA MINI JCW of Derek Jones. Both cars continued, but McAleer lost right-front bodywork on the No. 25 Freedom Autosport SemperFiFund.org Mazda MX-5 that resulted in the second caution period of the event. 
  
  
• The event featured a number of firsts for the Continental Tire Challenge: first time qualifying in the rain, which went without an incident; the first race with new rules, allowing onboard air jacks and limiting the number of crew personnel over the wall during pit stops; and also the first Daytona race for the Audi S3 and MINI John Cooper Works.
  
  
• Jerry Kaufman, driver of the No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i, proposed to Ellie Bell on pit road prior to the race. She said yes.