Fall-Line Motorsports team strategists proved themselves to be excellent weathermen with a late-race call for wet-weather tires, in a step to secure the team’s second Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge victory of the year for the No. 46 BMW M3 of John Edwards and Trent Hindman, in today’s 2.5-hour race at Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas. The win puts Hindman into the lead in Grand Sport Driver points, and places BMW firmly at the top of Grand Sport Manufacturer standings.
The crucial call came with 40 minutes remaining in the race, and it brought John Edwards into the pits from the race lead for a change to “wets” – one of the only cars to make the change in the intermittent rain conditions that plagued the race. He rejoined the race more than a minute behind the new race leader, Tom Kimber-Smith in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3. With 10 minutes remaining, Edwards retook the lead, and ultimately finished 7.982 seconds in front of Kimber-Smith. Edwards and Kimber-Smith joined starting drivers Trent Hindman (No. 46) and Michael Marsal (No. 97) on the podium to celebrate the BMW 1-2 finish.
In the Street Tuner class, the best result for BMW drivers was a fourth-place finish by the No. 22 Burton Racing BMW 128i of Conner Bloum and Jeff Westphal.
“A 1-2 BMW M3 finish puts us in very good position for the Grand Sport championship,” said Gordon McDonnell, BMW NA Motorsport Manager. “Congratulations to both Fall-Line Motorsports and Turner Motorsport. In Street Tuner we did not match our results of the last two races, but a solid fourth-place finish by Burton Racing keeps us within reach. As usual, another exciting CTSCC season will be decided at the last race.”
The race will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1 at 12:00 p.m. ET Sunday, September 28th. The final round of the 2014 CTSCC will be held at Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Georgia, on October 3rd.