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| Curran Takes Wet-To-Dry SPEED GT Win at Mosport |
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Eric Curran leading Michael Galati (23) and Lawson Aschenbach at Mosport International Raceway -Mark Weber/SCCA Image
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CANADA (Aug. 25, 2007) - Eric Curran, of East Hampton, Mass., captured his fourth SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship win of 2007 at Mosport International Raceway, part of the Mobil 1 Presents the Grand Prix of Mosport weekend. Lawson Aschenbach, of W. Palm Beach, Fla., and Michael Galati, of Olmsted, Ohio, completed the top three.
After heavy rain soaked the track, the field made its standing start under clearing skies. Potential disaster was averted as neither polesitter Aschenbach's No. 1 XM/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose Cadillac CTS-V nor second-starting Randy Pobst's No. 22 K-PAX Racing/Jim Haughey Porsche 911 GT3 moved as the lights went out. Aschenbach quickly re-fired the Cadillac, but Pobst sat stationary and was grazed by fourth-starting Ron Fellows' No. 16 XM/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose Cadillac CTS-V, forcing both to the pits for repairs.
Galati started third in his No. 23 K-PAX Racing/Jim Haughey Porsche 911 GT3 and safely made it past Aschenbach to take the lead. Curran who started sixth in the No. 30 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette, was quickly to third, pressuring the two leaders as they broke away from the field.
"The race was pretty wild at the start," Curran said. "[Randy] Pobst stalled right in front of us and everybody was trying to figure out what direction to go and not hit each other. I fell back a little bit at the start and these guys got away."
Curranwas by Aschenbach's No. 1 XM/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose Cadillac CTS-V on lap seven, and made the B&M Oil Coolers Coolest Move of the Race a lap later as he passed Galati for the lead in Turn Three.
From there, Curran battled high engine temperatures and a drying track that took its toll on everyone's Toyo Proxes RA-1 rain tires en route to a 6.165-second win, averaging 97.555 mph in a race that went green the whole way.
"I pushed real hard in the beginning," Curran said. "We went with a half wet, half dry set up. We basically left the car as stiff as we would run it in the dry and put the wet tires on. I didn't know what to expect, but as things were changing temperature wise, we figured that it was going to dry up and we better have something as close to dry as we could. I think it was a pretty good choice, because the car was great. The Whelen Engineering and Marsh Racing guys have been working so hard at this. It's very exciting to have a fourth win in a single season.
"We were having some water temperature issues, because we had put some tape on the radiator area. Teddy [Marsh] kept wanting me to come in, but I didn't want to! I just kept watching the temp and it was rising, but luckily it stabilized. Then, I would get behind someone and the temperature would keep going up and going up, so I really wanted to get by these guys fast and get some clear air. Once I got in some clean air the temperature would drop. The car just kept running strong and Hunter Engineering did a great job putting together an engine that can run in some high temps like that."
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