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| Homestead Race Notes: Chris Gleason |
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Chris Gleason of Johnstown, Pa. and his co-driver, Bill Auberlen of Redondo Beach, Calif., lead the KONI Challenge Grand Sport driver point standings after finishing second on Sunday in the Miami 400k at
Homestead-Miami Speedway here.
Tom Nastasi and one of Gleason's former co-drivers, Ian James, won the race,
but their entry was penalized after a post-race technical inspection revealed their Mustang had too much front camber. Grand-Am officials allowed the team and drivers to keep the victory but docked them 15 points and all their prize money. Gleason and Auberlen's Turner Motorsport BMW M3 passed the inspection and, coupled with the points they earned with a third-place finish at the season opener at Daytona in January, they now lead the series' driver standings with 62 points each, nine more than the drivers in second place.
Auberlen competed in another race in California on Saturday, and flew all night to be at Homestead to race with Gleason in Sunday's 109-lap/two-and- a-half-hour race. Gleason qualified the car in sixth place and drove the first stint. Five different drivers went off course early but Gleason drove flawlessly and turned the car over to Auberlen in great shape under the second full-course caution 34 minutes into the event on Homestead's 2.3-mile road course.
Just 12 minutes later Auberlen reported back to the pits with the BMW's bumper dragging after an altercation, but repairs were made and an hour and
47
minutes into the event Auberlen was in third place. He got second two minutes later and stayed in a seesaw battle for the lead in the ensuing laps. He got the lead shortly after the 2-hour mark when Andy Lally pitted. He led for two laps, but then Auberlen had to pit for rain tires too, which gave the lead to James Gue.
The Turner Motorsport crew changed the tires quickly, and Auberlen was back in third about 18 minutes later when he passed Nick Ham entering NASCAR Turn
Four. James got the lead two minutes later, and then Gue went off course in the rapidly deteriorating conditions due to the rain. Auberlen mounted a challenge to James at the end but ran out of time when another BMW careened into a gravel trap and a Porsche stopped on the backstretch with two laps remaining to bring out another full-course caution.
Gleason's next race is April 20-22 at the brand-new Iowa Speedway in Newton,
Iowa.
Quotes follow:
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