Before ultimately posting the team’s 36th-place finish in the Grand-Am series’ Street Touring class, driver Gunnar Jeannette jumped into his Multimatic Motorsports’ Ford Focus ST-R just before the race’s halfway mark, taking control of the wheel from co-driver James Gué, who started the Focus ST-R on the inside of Row 4.

In the car barely 16 laps and settling into the car’s rhythm after a 4-lap caution period went green on Lap 35, Jeannette said he had just cleared one pack of cars and was focusing on reeling in another as he barreled along the 3.56-mile track’s backstretch.

“We’ve put so much work and effort into this car,” Jeannette said. “It really had begun to pay off, too.”

Approaching the chicane and preparing for its turn, things suddenly went awry.

“I got ahead of the pack and was braking for the backstretch chicane,” Jeannette said, “Then I got punted from the rear, and was turned right into the (backstretch outside) wall.”

“I’ve been in a lot of races and wrecked a lot of times but that was the hardest hit I’ve ever taken. Period.”

Checked after his run-in with the wall in Daytona International Speedway’s infield care center, Jeannette was released and said he felt fine, all things considered.

“It’s a testament to how Ford paid attention to occupant safety,” Gué said as he looked over the mangled remains of the once shiny new car. “It’s just such a shame to see it like this.”

Formerly a sporty, technologically advanced car built through the collaborative efforts of Ford engineers worldwide, the ST-R’s front end looked as though it had suffered from the jaws of a junkyard compactor loosed in anger.

“Seeing the ST-R now and knowing what it looked like before,” Gué said, “I at least know I’ll be protected inside the car, no matter what. This, hitting that backstretch wall, is one of those ‘immovable object’ type of things I learned when in school. And our ST-R really hit an immovable object, too.”

“To see Gunnar walk away from a car that looks like it does now, well, it’ll sure make all of us a lot more comfortable knowing the safety zone this car provides its passengers. And it’ll sure make my mom and dad happier.”

Quotes

Jamie Allison, Director of Ford Racing

“On-track incidents are things you don’t plan for, but are normal occurrences in racing. Unfortunately for the Focus ST-R, we got caught up in one today, but that does not tack away from the continued development we look forward to on the ST-R. We’ll have two Focus ST-R on track as we move forward, carrying the flag for the performance offering of Focus. Special thanks to Multimatic Motorsports, led by Larry Holt and Sean Mason as well as our drivers Gunnar and James, for a strong debut cut short by the on-track incident.”

Gunnar Jeannette

“For a first weekend, I’m pretty pleased. Obviously, it’s hard to say that after an incident that takes you out of the race and hurts the car as bad as it does. But we’ve got a lot of potential. We know the areas we need to work on. We’re going to go back, do some homework, probably spend a lot of time on this one and try to rebound with a win. Because nothing would make me feel better than to go from a race-ending wreck like this to its first victory.”

James Gue

“It was a pretty good weekend overall. Obviously, this isn’t the way we want to end it. All things considered, with a brand-new car, we’ve done a lot of testing with it. We’re making huge strides with the car. We still have a long way to go with it, but you know it’s obviously competitive right out of the box. We were seventh in qualifying, which is great. We ran in the top-five for the first hour of the race, but unfortunately we got tangled up. I’m pretty pleased with the weekend. You always want to do well and keep putting miles on the car and learn more about it.”

This press release was issued by Ford Racing at racing.ford.com on January 27th, 2012. It is reproduced here with the consent of Ford Racing.

Check out additional images of the Ford Focus ST-R at Daytona.

Having qualified in third position during Thursday’s qualifying session, the #55 Multimatic Motorsports-run car passed its rivals away from the green flag in treacherous conditions to lead a field of 81 cars on what was Aston Martin’s Grand-Am debut.

The second Vantage GT4 of Hollywood star Patrick Dempsey and Aston Martin’s chief engineer Chris Porritt – making a one-off guest appearance – similarly improved on its qualifying position in the early stages as Dempsey rose from 24th to 14th.

After two and a half hours of action-packed competition – during which the track dried and many yellow flag periods interrupted proceedings – the lead Vantage GT4 of Maxwell/Foster finished in 16th position, while Dempsey and Porritt finished 32nd in the Grand Sport category after both crews suffered punishing delays.

During the first stint on a drying track, a yellow flag period allowed both Multimatic cars to pit for slick tyres without losing ground. The #55 Vantage GT4 of Foster rejoined the action in eighth overall while Dempsey’s #71 car re-entered the fray in 12th.

Foster and Dempsey pitted to make way for Maxwell and Porritt respectively, but not before the #71 Vantage GT4 was hit from behind. The exhaust, which was damaged in the incident, soon began fouling a rear tyre, forcing a long pit stop during which the crew fell down the order as the leading cars completed six full laps. Porritt delivered consistently fast laps in the #71 car for the remainder of the race to climb to 32nd in class.

The lead Aston Martin suffered similar misfortune, meanwhile, when Maxwell was handed a 30 second stop-go penalty for a minor pit stop misdemeanor. Having also dropped down the race standings, Maxwell’s fight back was hampered by several late yellow flag interruptions – his eventual 16th place coming as poor reward for some great racing.

Quotes

Patrick Dempsey

Having completed the demanding Grand-Am race, Dempsey said: “It was a tremendous pleasure to be in an Aston Martin at Daytona. The Vantage GT4 handles and brakes really well and was awesome in the wet conditions at the start. Chris Porritt was a great partner – it would be nice if Aston Martin could bring him back for another Grand-Am race so we could complete our unfinished business from today.”

David King, Aston Martin’s Head of Motorsport

“To be so competitive first time out in Grand-Am Grand Sport is a tribute to the Multimatic team and to the inherent qualities of what is after all an almost standard car. The Vantage GT4s were a great attraction in the paddock with the fans today and with a little more development they will be challenging the podium positions in the remaining nine rounds of the 2012 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.”

Larry Holt, Vice President of Multimatic Engineering

“I’m disappointed with the result, but really pleased with the potential the cars showed. Without the incidents we would have had a top ten car today, but this is aggressive and highly competitive racing as we saw from the many full course yellow flags today, and a couple of little issues can cost many places.”

This press release was issued by Aston Martin at www.astonmartin.com/racing on January 27th, 2012. It is reproduced here with the consent of Aston Martin Racing.

The next round of championship will be held at Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama, on March 30-31.

Check out additional images of the Aston Martin Vantage V8 at Daytona.

Follow Multimatic Motorsports on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

Contact Info:

Sean Mason or Hao Wang
Multimatic Motorsports
+1 905-470-0025      
racepr@multimatic.com
www.multimaticmotorsports.com

Making a return to domestic competition in North America, Aston Martin Racing has joined forces with Toronto-based Multimatic Motorsports to enter a pair of Vantage GT4s in the Grand American Road Racing series.

Multimatic stalwarts and proven race-winners Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster will drive the lead car, while Hollywood movie star Patrick Dempsey, a talented racer in his own right, will drive the second car. Chris Porritt, Aston Martin’s Chief Engineer and vastly experienced Vantage GT4 driver, will compete alongside Dempsey in a one-off guest appearance.

The first round of the 2012 CTSCC will run in support of the 50^th anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona, running for two and a half hours with a mandatory driver change. The team will compete in the headlining Grand Sport category, which is contested by six- and eight-cylinder production-derived sports cars. The opening round of the championship follows a highly successful three-day test session earlier in the month, during which the newly delivered Vantage GT4 thoroughly impressed the Multimatic team having set encouraging lap times.

Multimatic has vast experience of the CTSCC having won the championship three times (2002, 2005 and 2008) since the series’ 2000 inauguration. The Vantage GT4, meanwhile, has numerous 24 Hour class victories to its credit, as well as the 2010 European GT4 Cup title and back-to-back championship victories in the Nürburgring-based VLN series in 2010 and 2011. Sharing the road-going Aston Martin V8 Vantage’s bonded aluminium chassis, 4.7-litre engine and suspension design, the Vantage GT4 also has established itself as Europe’s most successful GT4 car with an unsurpassed record for reliability. The Vantage GT4 cars for the CTSCC have been modified in key areas from standard GT4 specification by Aston Martin Racing to comply with Grand-Am regulations and to hone the chassis set-up specifically for the North American Series.

Quotes

David King, Aston Martin’s Head of Motorsport

“The first round of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Daytona will see Aston Martin realise a long-held desire to have the Vantage GT4 competing regularly in North America. Aston Martin Racing has built and sold nearly 100 Vantage GT4s since we raced the first one at the Nürburgring 24 Hour race in 2006, and it’s great to be present at last in such an important market with such a strong and experienced partner as Multimatic.”

Larry Holt, Vice President of Multimatic Engineering

“Multimatic is very proud to be appointed as the official team to run the Vantage GT4s in the Grand-Am series throughout 2012 for Aston Martin Racing and we’ve been hugely impressed by the build quality of the cars. Our drivers love the Vantage GT4 already and I’m sure they will be a big hit with the race fans, too.”

Multimatic will also take on the responsibility of supplying Grand-Am specification Vantage GT4s and providing spares and technical support to North American customer teams as Aston Martin Racing’s official Grand-Am representative.

The race gets underway at midday (1200hrs) local time after a qualifying session on Thursday, 26^th January. Aston Martin Racing updates can be found during the course of the race on Facebook at www.facebook.com/astonmartinracing and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/amr_official .

This press release was issued by Aston Martin at www.astonmartin.com/racing on January 24th, 2012. It is reproduced here with the consent of Aston Martin Racing.

Follow Multimatic Motorsports on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

Contact Info:

Sean Mason or Vesa Mikkola
Multimatic Motorsports
+1 905-470-0025      
racepr@multimatic.com
www.multimaticmotorsports.com

In this video from Ford Racing TV, Ford Racing Engineering Supervisor, Mark Wilson and Multimatic Motorsports Team Manager, Sean Mason take you through the process of developing the Focus ST-R.