ERIC CURRAN RACING

Curran  rockets from 3^rd to 1^st in final half-lap at Road America

Road America

Elkhart Lake, Wis.

June 25, 2011

Eric Curran and his Whelen Corvette C6 took the GT class lead - and moments later the race win -- in the final half-lap of the GRAND-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race on the world-famous, 4.048-mile Road America circuit.

When a Porsche and a Camaro, two cars he passed in that final charge, both went silent with empty gas tanks, you could imagine the Corvette factory technicians and GM engineers in Bowling Green, Ky., and Detroit rising en masse to cheer.

Credit it to Whelen Engineering's Sonny Whelen, and Marsh Racing Teddy Marsh - his crew prepares and builds the Corvette they race on weekends - for making the tactical call to bring Curran to the pits for his final refueling stop of the 44-lap race on lap 21.

Jordan Taylor and the Camaro GT-R, which had made its final gas stop on lap 15, was the first to falter - in Turn 5 of the long track which has an uphill climb from its final turn to the checkered flag.

That left Eric in second place behind Spencer Pumpelly, whose Porsche 911 GT-3 suddenly burped, allowing its driver an alternate view of the red-and-white Corvette that had been filling its mirrors all race long. Pumpelly had pitted one lap earlier than had Curran, a tactical decision which, in hindsight, cost them the win.

Curran and the Whelen Corvette howled beneath the checkered flag 0.559 seconds to the good.

Not until his crew screamed at him on his radio did he know that the Whelen/Marsh program had won their first Rolex Sports Car Series race.

The Marsh guys deserve this win," Curran said. "They've worked so hard to build a fast, reliable Corvette. They've done their part and the solid finish we had a couple weeks ago at Watkins Glen, and now this win, are their payback.  We've been so close so many times. The Marsh guys hard work really paid off. But Teddy Marsh and Buddy Fey called the pit strategy perfectly on the last fuel stop. We made it to the end. A lot of others didn't.

"I was so focused on wringing everything I could out of the Corvette and getting by the Porsche at the end, I really didn't know what position I was in on the last lap with guys running out of fuel," he said, "until the crew yelled at me on the radio. I thought I was fourth. I yelled back, 'Did you guys say first or fourth?'"

Heinricy, the retired Director of High Performance Vehicle Operations at GM, with four professional series championships and (now) 42 career pro racing wins, was asked to join the Whelen/Marsh team when regular co-driver Boris Said became occupied on the West Coast with a NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

Heinricy drove the race's first 11 laps, turning the car over to Curran in the midst of a 12-lap, 45-minute follow-the-safety car session after two other cars collided and tore out much of the track's safety barriers in the first turn, necessitating extensive repairs.

Curran's final refueling stop on lap 21 sealed the deal for the Whelen/Marsh team and Corvette enthusiasts around the world.

Eric's luck was not quite as good on Friday of the weekend.

Driving the CKS Autosport Chevrolet Camaro GS.R with Canadian Ashley McCalmont, Ashley pitted on lap 21 to turn the driving over to Eric, but he was later involved in a crash on lap 27, ending the team's day on a down-note.

"A good car, a good team, a good job by Ashley, and the potential for a good finish, but the car got hurt bad enough to not continue." he said.

That Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series race was taped by SPEED TV to air July 3 at 1pm ET.

The next races for both series are July 8-9 at Laguna Seca Raceway near Monterey, Calif.