Catchfence

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 27, 2012) – The No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R, driven by Matt Bell and John Edwards, got caught up in a last-lap incident and lost a number of positions, but still paced all Chevrolets in the season-opening Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge BMW Performance 200 at Daytona International Speedway.

“Unfortunately there was an altercation in front of me in the bus stop in the final corner of the final lap,” Edwards said following a 17th-place finish. “All those cars came spinning back across the track, so to avoid I had to bail left and go across the grass over some cones and that just ruined my run to the start/finish line. I actually inherited about three or four positions but then lost six or seven, or maybe even 10, coming to the line just because I had such a bad run coming out of the bus stop after getting pushed in the grass.”

The Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R ran near the front of the field for most of the afternoon after Bell qualified fifth on Thursday.

“I know the Camaro is going to come on strong again, just like it did last year,” Edwards said. “Bad races are going to happen to everybody. Just hope [other teams] have some bad luck like we did today and we’ll be right back in the hunt.”

The No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R, driven by Eric Curran and Lawson Aschenbach, qualified fourth, led 11 laps and was running in the top 10 before it, too, was involved in that last-lap, multi-car incident, dropping to a 22nd-place finish.

The second CKS Autosport entry, the No. 00 Camaro GS.R finished 36th in class, completing 29 laps before being sidelined because of a lack of oil pressure.

“We had a really good start in our Camaro GS.R,” co-driver Ashley McCalmont said. “I had to start last because we didn’t make qualifying. I was able to make it up to 10th before I handed it over to my co-driver, Brett. Unfortunately he was in a little skirmish and the alignment got bent out of shape a little bit, and then we lost oil pressure, so we had to unfortunately end it on that note. But, the car was really strong from the beginning. The Camaros are showing really well here. So, overall we are kind of happy.”

Both Mitchum Motorsports entries experienced early clutch-related problems. The No. 62 Camaro GS.R, driven by Gunter Schaldach and Joey Atterbury, completed just nine laps and ended its day with a 39th-place-in-class finish. The No. 6 Camaro GS.R was sidelined after 15 laps en route to a 38th-place showing.

“Unfortunately we had equal problems on both cars,” owner Chris Mitchum said. “One was hydraulic, one was disc.

“It’s a heartbreaker because the drivers were up to the task; Gunter (Schaldach) was doing great. Our cars were up front. We had an engine change on the No. 6 Camaro GS.R, he had to start from the back but Aaron (Steele) was equal pace to the leaders in the rain and working his way up. I think we had good cars underneath them. They were handling well even dealing with the mixed conditions. It is just really disappointing for the drivers and the crews when something this simple takes you out. Nothing they could have done differently.”

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Source: Team Chevy, Press Release