DETROIT, Mich. (June 1, 2014) — The performance has been there for TRG-AMR North America in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in 2014, but the results haven’t followed. Until today.
Al Carter and James Davison teamed to drive a heady and sensational race in the No. 007 Jetset/B-Positive Foundation Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, taking it to a season-best fourth-place finish in the GT Daytona class of the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. The 007 has been a pacesetter this year, leading at Daytona and Sebring, but had not finished better than 13th in a race. Today’s near-podium showing has spirits boosted throughout the TRG-AMR camp.
“It was a hard-fought P4 finish, but it was such a long time coming and after all this work, it feels like a victory,” exclaimed team owner/CEO Kevin Buckler. “Al did a great job on the opening stint and the crew guys delivered the goods this weekend. Great setup on the car, good, tight pit stops, no mistakes, no mechanicals and then James just drove the wheels off the thing at the end. It was a good weekend for TRG-AMR and I’m really proud of everybody. We’re really looking forward to the next race and hopefully we can move up a step or three in the finishing order next time. Looking forward to getting our strong Trio back together in the car with David rejoining us for the 2 remaining endurance races.”
Starting fifth, Carter drove solid and steady in the opening stint, keeping the team in striking distance by pitting for the driver change still in sight of the leaders. Davison took over and muscled the car up to fourth place with well-executed passing and avoiding mishaps in front of him. The Australian was pressing hard to pass for third place, but ran out of time with the 100-minute race limit that ended the GTD event after 56 laps around the 2.36-mile temporary street course.
“P4 was was pretty respectable, but this car was good and James drove his ass off,” said Carter. “He needed a couple more laps and he would have gotten us up to the podium. The crew did great because the car was the story of the weekend. The Aston Martin was really hooked up and we could do a lot. Good run for TRG, we needed a solid finish and it was our first top five this year. This will really give us some momentum as we go on.”
Davison was happy but drained from the demanding drive to the checkered flag. The fourth-place result will also bring a welcome boost to the TRG-AMR duo’s season points total and standing heading to the next event on the GTD schedule, the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen, June 27-29 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International where they will be re-joined with teammate David Block.
“That was the most intense racing I’ve ever done, on so many levels,” Davison said. “Just so many good drivers, different cars, bumpy street circuit, hot and greasy conditions. A fourth-place finish is certainly good, but a little disappointed we didn’t quite get the podium. It was such a street fight on those restarts. I made a good one but then someone got sideways in front of me and I got checked up and three guys went by me. It just took forever to cleanly get back by them. In the end, I drove with a level head, I bided my time and progressively picked them off. At the end, I was all over third place but we ran out of laps.”
“I’m really pleased for the whole TRG-AMR team,” Davison added. “We’ve had a rough start to the season on the the results side. We’ve had the performance and certainly today we got a result, but not quite the result that we’re looking to eventually achieve this season. We’re looking forward to the next race at Watkins Glen, a track that I love, and look forward to working with Al and David for the next round of the NAEC.”