ERIC CURRAN RACING

Daytona Beach, Fla.

Jan. 28, 2011

Fourteenth place wasn’t the result CKS Autosport teammates Eric Curran and Ashley McCalmont had wished for, based on their pre-season testing times two weeks earlier at Daytona International Speedway, but Curran was only 8.302 seconds behind the winners of the 2h30m race held on the world-famous 3.56-mile combination road course and high-banked oval track.

The CKS team entered a pair of 2011 Chevrolet Camaros, powered by 378 cu. in. engines, in the 2.5-hour race which opened the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season.

”Kirk Spencer, Mike Kuznicki and their crew at CKS put together a great Camaro for Ashley and me to drive, but because of a broken front sway bar 45 minutes into the race we didn’t get the results that we had hoped for. With the broken bar, I couldn’t turn the 108.771mph laps we did during Test Days. We decided to make a pit stop during the race and disconnect the rear sway bar to try and get back to a somewhat-balanced car,” Curran said. “But it was still a solid 14^th place finish and we gathered some points, which is all you can ask for.”

Ashley McCalmont qualified the Camaro 15^th quickest and started the race. The young Canadian standout “did a good job getting the car up to tenth place, but the broken sway bar situation slowed her early in the race,” Curran added.

“I tried to drive it with no front sway bar but the handling was terrible, so we solved the problem by pitting again and disconnecting the rear sway bar, which actually balanced the car enough to finish the race,” he said.

“Our next goal is a top three finish, and hopefully a win.  I see no reason why we won’t accomplish both goals this year. This is a solid, experienced team that I’ve been working with for five years now.”

The next race is March 4-5 at Homestead Miami Speedway.

Curran also raced in the feature event of the Daytona weekend, the annual Rolex 24 At Daytona round-the-clock endurance race, driving a Camaro, built by Leighton Reese’s Performance Group Racing team, in the GT class of the Rolex series.

Curran shared the Cool TV Camaro driving with General Motors factory driver Oliver Gavin, plus Gunter Schaldach and Bruce Ledoux II.

”Ollie qualified us in 20^th place in the GT class, which showed us we were a little bit off in the chassis setup,” Curran said.  “Leighton’s crew fixed all that and we were able to run our fastest laps of the weekend.

“The race just didn’t go so well, though. Nick Ham’s Mazda had a door-to-door hit with a BMW. That pushed Nick way to the right, just as I was passing him, and he broadsided me. The SPEED TV cameras did a good job of documenting it … unfortunately.

“We lost a half hour fixing the car but the crew actually made it run faster than it had all weekend. Then later, Gunter ran over some broken bodywork on the track, which got caught beneath the car and took out an axle and the driveshaft. We just parked it 16 hours into the race. There was nothing more to be gained.

“Between the Leighton Reese Performance crew, the Guardian Angels, KWL Trucking, EMC and Cool TV, we were able to field a competitive Camaro in the GT class. Leighton’s team has won GRAND-AM’s GT class championship before and they can win some races this year with the new Camaro,” Curran concluded.