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Team Cobalt Earns Grand-Am Cup Points Leads
Cobalt Teams Place Five Cars in VIR Race’s Top 10
ALTON, Va., April 22, 2006 – Eric Curran put the Georgian Bay
Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged into the Grand-Am Cup
series Street Tuner class lead with three laps remaining and held on to
win the VIRginia International Raceway event, putting Chevrolet atop the
Manufacturers’ Championship chart.
Curran and his co-driver, 18-year old Canadian sensation Jamie Holtom,
also top the Drivers’ Championship points after two of 10 races in the
season. To get there, they defeated 33 cars from eight other
manufacturers in the popular Street Tuner class. Three Cobalts finished
in the top five, and all five Cobalt entries finished in the top 10, besting
the 2005 series champion Mazda, the 2004 champion Acura, and the 2006
Daytona-winning Honda.
“We’re just starting our second season racing the Cobalt SS
Supercharged, and to lead the Manufacturer and Driver points is not only
a thrill, but a testament to the ongoing development of their cars done by
the three independent teams racing them,” said GM Performance Division’
s Ken Wasmer, whose engineering team provides technical support for all
Cobalt entrants.
“Since the season started at Daytona two months ago, our teams have
continued to develop the suspensions in their Cobalts, especially in the
area of shock absorber valving,” Wasmer said. “The race today validated
some of this work, but it was much more evident during the practice
sessions. That was the only time all weekend we had a fully-dry track to
work on. The rest of the weekend, frankly, was pretty ugly weather-wise,
and undoubtedly affected the race’s outcome for a lot of teams.”
The win was Curran’s fifth in the class, and ironically, his fourth win at
VIR. It was the third career Grand-Am Cup win for Jamie Holtom, who also
saw his father, Jim, finish fifth in the second Georgian Bay Motorsports
entry, which he shared with Daniel Colembie.
Finishing fourth was the series rookie duo of V. J. Mirzayan and Jack
Mardikian, driving one of the Team Cobalt California entries. That team’s
second Cobalt, driven by Tom Lepper and series newcomer John
Trefethen, finished ninth. It was the first time Trefethen, Mirzayan and
Mardikian raced at VIR. The fifth Cobalt, from Phil Malgren’s Collision
Craft team, driven by Ed Magner and Dave Thilenius, was eighth.
Mother Nature, for the second straight year, affected the outcome of the
VIR race, showering the track in a potpourri of overcast skies and Spring-
like temperatures, heavy and light rains.
“At least we had sunshine for Friday’s practice,” Wasmer noted. “Jamie
and Eric’s car was the competitive in both sessions, and with lap times
that told us the development their team had done was working. It was the
same for all five of our cars. But in cooler, rainy race conditions, you
simply make tactical decisions and live with them.”
“Qualifying was rained out so the starting grid was based on the Daytona
results,” Wasmer added. “We thought the race would contain much more
dry running, but that wasn’t to be. It rained, stopped, rained, stopped
again, then finally stopped for good near the end.
“Because of accidents, the Safety Car came out before the first lap was
done, and we basically had one lap of green flag racing over the next one-
hour, fifty minutes. We went ‘green’ for four laps, then another incident,
and finally we went green for good with six laps to go. Eric took the lead
for the last time with three laps remaining. He faced some tough BMWs,
Hondas and Acuras, but was able to get some clear track with no Grand
Sports cars ahead, stretched it out and made all of us winners.”
Cars from four manufacturers – Chevrolet Cobalt, Mazda RX-8, BMW 330i
and Honda Accord – have won the four most recent races spanning the
2005 and 2006 seasons, as the Street Tuner class becomes one of the
most competitive showcases for manufacturers of small, performance-
oriented cars.
The VIR race will air on Speed TV, Saturday, April 29 at 1 p.m. ET.
The GM Performance Division offers all Cobalt SS Supercharged entrants
a contingency program along with the engineering technical support
currently provided at every Grand-Am Cup race. The program awards
contingency money for every Top Five finish: $5,000 to win, $3,000 for
second, $2,000 for third, $1,000 for fourth and $500 for fifth place.
Engineered by GM Performance Division, the Cobalt SS Supercharged is
the most powerful and agile of the model line, with a suspension
developed on Germany’s famed Nurburgring race track and a 2.0-liter
ECOTEC Supercharged engine named among the industry’s 10-Best
Engines for 2006 by the editors of Ward’s Communications.
GM Performance Division develops compelling, low volume, high-
performance production and specialty vehicles, including the 205 hp
Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged, 395 hp Chevy Trailblazer SS and
400hp Chevy SSR; the 400 hp CTS-V, 469 hp STS-V and 443 hp XLR-V
from the Cadillac V-Series; and the 205 hp Saturn ION Red Line.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has
been the global industry sales leader for 75 years. Founded in 1908, GM
today employs about 327,000 people around the world. With global
headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33
countries. In 2005, 9.17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally
under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo,
Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. GM operates
one of the world’s leading finance companies, GMAC Financial Services,
which offers automotive, residential and commercial financing and
insurance. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety,
security and information services. More information on GM can be found
at www.gm.com.
Cobalt Teams Place Five Cars in VIR Race’s Top 10
ALTON, Va., April 22, 2006 – Eric Curran put the Georgian Bay
Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged into the Grand-Am Cup
series Street Tuner class lead with three laps remaining and held on to
win the VIRginia International Raceway event, putting Chevrolet atop the
Manufacturers’ Championship chart.
Curran and his co-driver, 18-year old Canadian sensation Jamie Holtom,
also top the Drivers’ Championship points after two of 10 races in the
season. To get there, they defeated 33 cars from eight other
manufacturers in the popular Street Tuner class. Three Cobalts finished
in the top five, and all five Cobalt entries finished in the top 10, besting
the 2005 series champion Mazda, the 2004 champion Acura, and the 2006
Daytona-winning Honda.
“We’re just starting our second season racing the Cobalt SS
Supercharged, and to lead the Manufacturer and Driver points is not only
a thrill, but a testament to the ongoing development of their cars done by
the three independent teams racing them,” said GM Performance Division’
s Ken Wasmer, whose engineering team provides technical support for all
Cobalt entrants.
“Since the season started at Daytona two months ago, our teams have
continued to develop the suspensions in their Cobalts, especially in the
area of shock absorber valving,” Wasmer said. “The race today validated
some of this work, but it was much more evident during the practice
sessions. That was the only time all weekend we had a fully-dry track to
work on. The rest of the weekend, frankly, was pretty ugly weather-wise,
and undoubtedly affected the race’s outcome for a lot of teams.”
The win was Curran’s fifth in the class, and ironically, his fourth win at
VIR. It was the third career Grand-Am Cup win for Jamie Holtom, who also
saw his father, Jim, finish fifth in the second Georgian Bay Motorsports
entry, which he shared with Daniel Colembie.
Finishing fourth was the series rookie duo of V. J. Mirzayan and Jack
Mardikian, driving one of the Team Cobalt California entries. That team’s
second Cobalt, driven by Tom Lepper and series newcomer John
Trefethen, finished ninth. It was the first time Trefethen, Mirzayan and
Mardikian raced at VIR. The fifth Cobalt, from Phil Malgren’s Collision
Craft team, driven by Ed Magner and Dave Thilenius, was eighth.
Mother Nature, for the second straight year, affected the outcome of the
VIR race, showering the track in a potpourri of overcast skies and Spring-
like temperatures, heavy and light rains.
“At least we had sunshine for Friday’s practice,” Wasmer noted. “Jamie
and Eric’s car was the competitive in both sessions, and with lap times
that told us the development their team had done was working. It was the
same for all five of our cars. But in cooler, rainy race conditions, you
simply make tactical decisions and live with them.”
“Qualifying was rained out so the starting grid was based on the Daytona
results,” Wasmer added. “We thought the race would contain much more
dry running, but that wasn’t to be. It rained, stopped, rained, stopped
again, then finally stopped for good near the end.
“Because of accidents, the Safety Car came out before the first lap was
done, and we basically had one lap of green flag racing over the next one-
hour, fifty minutes. We went ‘green’ for four laps, then another incident,
and finally we went green for good with six laps to go. Eric took the lead
for the last time with three laps remaining. He faced some tough BMWs,
Hondas and Acuras, but was able to get some clear track with no Grand
Sports cars ahead, stretched it out and made all of us winners.”
Cars from four manufacturers – Chevrolet Cobalt, Mazda RX-8, BMW 330i
and Honda Accord – have won the four most recent races spanning the
2005 and 2006 seasons, as the Street Tuner class becomes one of the
most competitive showcases for manufacturers of small, performance-
oriented cars.
The VIR race will air on Speed TV, Saturday, April 29 at 1 p.m. ET.
The GM Performance Division offers all Cobalt SS Supercharged entrants
a contingency program along with the engineering technical support
currently provided at every Grand-Am Cup race. The program awards
contingency money for every Top Five finish: $5,000 to win, $3,000 for
second, $2,000 for third, $1,000 for fourth and $500 for fifth place.
Engineered by GM Performance Division, the Cobalt SS Supercharged is
the most powerful and agile of the model line, with a suspension
developed on Germany’s famed Nurburgring race track and a 2.0-liter
ECOTEC Supercharged engine named among the industry’s 10-Best
Engines for 2006 by the editors of Ward’s Communications.
GM Performance Division develops compelling, low volume, high-
performance production and specialty vehicles, including the 205 hp
Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged, 395 hp Chevy Trailblazer SS and
400hp Chevy SSR; the 400 hp CTS-V, 469 hp STS-V and 443 hp XLR-V
from the Cadillac V-Series; and the 205 hp Saturn ION Red Line.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has
been the global industry sales leader for 75 years. Founded in 1908, GM
today employs about 327,000 people around the world. With global
headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33
countries. In 2005, 9.17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally
under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo,
Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. GM operates
one of the world’s leading finance companies, GMAC Financial Services,
which offers automotive, residential and commercial financing and
insurance. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety,
security and information services. More information on GM can be found
at www.gm.com.
