• Wet and cold weather conditions limited practice time and made Multimatic’s fall testing visit to Atlanta all the more important as the drivers spent more time sitting around waiting than pedaling their Aston Vantages. A wide range of set-ups were ultimately utilized with Maxwell and Buford making major changes all the way until Saturday morning when their work proved highly worthwhile as Maxwell dominated the last practice session in the #55. Buford and Mancuso had to start back in the pack while Farano and Marsal inherited the second row based on driver’s points. But it was Buford that put on the early race passing lesson as he carved his way to the front, followed closely by Mancuso in the #16. Marsal and Farano held their own with cars that were certainly not in the league of their teammates.
• Ultimately all of the early strategy calls were equalized by a lack of yellow at the very point it was needed and the field opted for green flag stops as the cars came into their finishing fuel windows.  he stops were led by the #16 of Mancuso as he had controlled the race to the mid-point with the benefit of not having made a previous visit to the box. The rest of the field then followed, streaming in to make their final visits to the lane which normalized the order for the final run to the finish. All of the Multimatic cars then started a convincing drive to the front, but a pair of caution periods halted the team’s impressive progress and with the race ending under yellow any hope of a first win for the Astons was destroyed. Although the top step of the podium was not realized, the team did tie up the majority of the top spots with third, fourth and fifth going to the #16, #55 and #71 respectively. David Empringham brought the #15 home a credible eleventh on a tough day for the Tower Events car.

Multimatic Motorsports Team Principal, Larry Holt, commented: “Once again, I am pretty disappointed that we did not grab our first win but third, fourth and fifth is a pretty good points hall on the day. I can’t say enough about the kids; Jade was unbelievable at the start, Nick dominated the middle stint of the race and Frankie was all over the leaders in the last half an hour. But Scotty did it again, recovered from a major setback to finish fourth. I got a call from both of them during the last yellow to say that if there was one last lap of green that they would win the race… same message within a few seconds of each other. I figure that if it had gone green then Tonis would have been on the podium and Sean and Jeff would have been fixing wrecked cars. So, I’m not so disappointed with the outcome.”

The fifth race of the season takes place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course June 14th-15th in Lexington, Ohio.

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Contact Info:

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

• All of the practice sessions prior to qualifying were either damp or totally wet, and so with race day predicted to be clear and sunny, the team’s two days of dry testing in mid-March ultimately proved invaluable. Farano didn’t actually make it to the track until Thursday evening and his first session on Friday morning was so wet that the team chose to sit the #15 out. This meant that his first laps were in qualifying and despite losing a good part of the session to a black flag he was able to grab 15th in an incredibly competitive field. Jade Buford’s pole streak was just slightly broken as he claimed Q2 with his final, faster, attempt balked by traffic. Mancuso in the #16 was equally impressive and looked to be locked into Q3 right up to the end of the session when he got slowed by the same traffic as Buford and was pushed back to Q5; still an outstanding result for only his second race in the Aston, having had to sit out in Austin due to technical issues with his car. Marsal put the #71 Q9 but was still coming to terms with a track that he is not very fond of; his times improving with every lap, a sign of good things to come in the race.
• Buford made another of his patented fast and safe starts, tucking in behind Charles Espenlaub in the pole sitting #48 BMW and holding off the aggressively charging #01 CKS Camaro. Mancuso initially dropped a spot to the hard charging, and extremely quick #14 Nissan which ultimately drove to the front of the pack, but then immediately grabbed a spot back, ultimately driving to P3 and then capitalizing on the #16’s single stop strategy to lead the race for a period of time after the first yellow. But it was Marsal who lit-up the tight Alabama track in his Aston right from the drop of the green flag. Asked how the car was working he replied: “Fantastic, just leave me alone to drive it!”; which he did to great effect, ultimately ending up running on the back of Mancuso in P4 before stopping under green to hand-off to Kasemets. Farano kept the #15 in the hunt and gained some spots before stopping under caution, on lap 27, for tires, fuel and to hand-off to Empringham. Buford took the same yellow with the #55 rejoining the fray with Maxwell at the wheel in P10 only to be rudely attacked by the #96 Turner BMW on the entry to turn 5, Auberlen’s car being launched into the air by the rear wheel of the Aston, crashing to the ground and out of the race. The Multimatic Aston was turned around facing the onslaught of traffic, somehow avoiding a direct hit but losing massive track position in the process. The team was immediately ready for a lengthy pit stop but Maxwell reported no apparent detrimental effect and set his fastest time of the race on the next green flag lap; almost amazing considering the severity of the accident and the fact that the M3 was fatally crippled.
• At lap 45 just outside of the green flag fuel finishing window the #16 made its single pit box visit with Mancuso handing off to Frankie Montecalvo in a quick full service stop that kept the “kids car” on the lead lap. Unfortunately, the lucky yellow didn’t happen, which would have cleverly cycled the #16 to the front, so Montecalvo had to battle it out on track with the rest of the field coming in under green a handful of laps later. #55 and #15 only took fuel and left side tires as the race entered its final hour and the blisteringly fast stops cycled the Canadian veterans to the front. But then the “Maxwell Magnet” kicked in and the #99 BMW lost control while the #55 was passing under brakes, turning hard right across the Aston’s nose and ending up hitting the barriers hard. Maxwell dropped to P7 but was again amazingly unscathed in the truly massive incident. Empringham and Kasemets both gained from Maxwell’s misfortune inheriting P3 and P4 respectively, but then a small mistake by Kasemets dropped him down the order to P11, illustrating the intensity of the competition. Maxwell once again charged back from the setback to take up station behind Empringham waiting to grab P2 if “The Champ” got it wrong in his advances on the Stevenson Camaro. Ultimately cool heads prevailed and P3 and P4 were deemed a good outcome on the day and Kasemets was able to battle back to P8 in the closing stages with Montecalvo holding station in P10.

Multimatic Motorsports Team Principal, Larry Holt, commented: “Four cars in the top ten is not a bad result on the weekend. Maxwell put in the biggest effort of the race having to come back from two major incidents, neither of them of his making. But I have to say that it was Michael that impressed me the most with his first stint, he just got the bit between his teeth and drove up through the field on a track that is notoriously difficult for passing. Of course it was Dave and John that did what won them last year’s championship, and just quietly drove themselves to a podium. I’m happy but won’t be satisfied until we bag our first win.”

The fourth race of the season takes place at Road Atlanta on Saturday, April 20th, 2013 at 12:30 PM ET in Braselton, Georgia.

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

Despite this major setback the team persevered and the remaining three entries were always near the top of the timesheets through to qualifying where Jade Buford made it two poles in a row for the Multimatic #55 Vantage. Although out dragged at the green by the mighty power of the #01 Camaro, Buford slotted in behind the Chevy and the two leaders proceeded to pull away from the field through the first phase of the race. Michael Marsal in the #71 and John Farano in the #15 immediately started a climb through the field, ultimately running nose to tail until the latter reported that he had lost power and was having to dive for the pits only a handful of laps into the race. The ensuing sequence of events resulted in his driving partner David Empringham falling off of the lead lap and finishing the race a distant 22nd in class. Marsal put in a stellar shift handing off to Tonis Kasemets at the first caution period, who then proceeded to drive an inspired race to finish 5th, the team’s best placing on a day when the competition was fierce and the #96 BMW of Bill Auberlen was untouchable, turning a race best lap a full second faster than the rest of the field. Scott Maxwell took the #55 from Buford at the first caution and battled in the top group throughout the remainder of the race, always in contention for the podium even as alternative strategies mixed-up the order in the middle hour. However, it all went wrong just a few laps from the end when the #9 Camaro of Matt Bell got sideways at the front of the tight 3rdthrough 7th group and Maxwell dove to the inside to take advantage only to meet with contact in the scrum. Grand-Am deemed the ensuing mayhem to be the Multimatic driver’s fault and a 60 second stop and go penalty dropped the #15 to a lowly 18that the end. Highlights of the weekend were as follows:

• With Montecalvo/Mancuso only able to watch from the sideline, qualifying transpired to be a fraught fifteen minutes as Grand-Am race control surprisingly initiated a stringent new standard for course cutting that resulted in no less than 20 top five lap times being excluded, including Buford’s first two fliers and all but one of Farano’s qualifying efforts. As there was no warning of the new criteria and no detailed explanation of the resulting infractions it was a testament to Buford that he drove the most conservative lap that he could and grabbed his second pole in a row for the #55 car just as the session ended. Marsal and Farano ended a frustrated 11thand 17th respectively with none of the Multimatic drivers really understanding what Grand-Am was penalizing them for.
• The race started well with all three Multimatic Aston’s showing good pace and Buford in the #55 stuck to the bumper of the leading CKS Camaro as they pulled away from the field to a comfortable eight second margin. However, it was only a half a dozen laps in that Farano reported that his engine had gone flat and was heading for the pit box. The team quickly reset the ECU and sent the #15 back into the fray but it was forced to run through the lane again due to a speeding infraction on the first visit at which point Farano fell back to just 15 seconds ahead of the two leaders. In anticipation of a yellow flag period the team chose to stop the car again just after the 30 minute mark for a full service and driver change to Empringham, counting on the wave-by when the leaders stopped under caution. The caution ultimately did come 20 minutes later but not all the leaders stopped and Empringham was caught a lap down, never able to recover; an illustration of how competitive the series has become, that even a small problem cannot be salvaged. Both the #55 and #71 took the first yellow with the majority of the field and changed drivers and fuel with the former also opting for four tires while the #71 did not. With the balance of the pack stopping under a second caution at lap 25, Maxwell and Kasemets cycled up the order to compete in the leading pack. With the race heading towards 55+ laps with most cars capable of 25 on a full fuel load it appeared that everybody would still need to take on fuel and the Multimatic engineers chose to stop the #55 and #71 just as they entered their finishing fuel window, under green with an hour to go. This coincided with the Auberlen BMW and #13 Rum Bum Porsche making identical moves.
• As the race wound down Auberlen started to pick-off the guys that had not stopped and ultimately pulled away from the field while a gaggle of six cars fought it out behind him. Maxwell tried every trick in the book to get past the rabid crowd but two more yellows slowed his progress and allowed the gamblers to be able to make it to the finish. Meanwhile the #71 of Kasemets closed in on the same battle having had to make up time after taking tires at the last stop. Just as he got to the battle a few laps from the end Maxwell and the #9 Camaro exited in a cloud of dust and Tonis found himself in fifth while his teammate was called to the sin bin for a full minute. A totally exciting on track squabble for the fans but not the outcome that the Multimatic team was looking for, although Kasemets’ and Marsal’s steady drive gave the #71 a solid top five finish.

Multimatic Motorsports Team Principal, Larry Holt, commented: “Not the best weekend we have had and a little stressful all round, between the politics of having to retire the #16 car, the surprising new course cutting standard during qualifying, the electronics problem with John and Dave’s car and Scotty’s incident filled final stint, I’m ready to get back to the factory to relax. I can’t say enough about Jade’s performance, the kid is a superstar and Mike and Tonis ultimately anchored our effort this weekend in the #71. I thought that having four cars running with eight competitive drivers would always give us the opportunity for a good result but this weekend we almost ran out of options… maybe we need more.”
 
The third race of the season is at Barber Motorsports Park. It will be held on Saturday, April 6th, 2013 at 4:00 PM ET at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

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Contact Info:

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

The opening race of the 2013 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, held on the high banks of the 3.56 mile Daytona road course configuration, was a typically intense affair with plenty of “rubbing” and enough caution periods to challenge the most experienced tactician. Multimatic took full advantage of its four car stable and ran alternative “pairs” strategies which covered all possible outcomes. The Multimatic Astons led large portions of the race with the #55 of Buford and #71 of Mike Marsal running nose to tail at the front of the field for a period after their two sister cars had made early stops. With the first rounds of pit stops completed it was David Empringham in the #15 Aston that was able to take control of the race up until the #61 Roush Mustang of Billy Johnson went steaming past on the backstretch on lap 34. But despite the straight line speed advantage of the Mustang, Johnson couldn’t make it stick in the infield road course section and the two traded the lead up until the second round of stops. With the race settling into its final 45 minutes, with all pit stops complete, the team suffered two setbacks in quick succession with the #71 of Tonis Kasemets picking up a drive through penalty for a pit lane speeding infraction and the #55 of Scott Maxwell being pushed into the tire wall at the bus stop with half an hour left in the race. Neither driver had a hope of recovering from these delays due to the highly competitive nature of the racing and so finished 11th and 12th respectively despite some outstanding driving from Maxwell that saw him consistently making three passes per lap. In the closing laps the racing got even more intense at the front between Johnson, Empringham and Matt Plumb in the Rum Bum Porsche. Ultimately the ballast weight on the Astons took its toll and superior braking, handling and driving couldn’t overcome the speed deficiency on the banking and the #15 crossed the line an excellent third with Nick Mancuso in the #16 right behind in fourth after holding off a late race charge by a couple of aggressive Camaros. Highlights of the weekend were as follows:

• The old friendship/rivalry of Empringham and Maxwell saw the #15 and #55 Astons trading times at the top of the sheets throughout all of the practice sessions leading up to qualifying. The #71 of Kasemets and Marsal was never far behind as the former tried different set-ups and the latter spent the time getting to grips with his new Aston ride. Frankie Montecalvo and Mancuso did double duty in practice as they came to terms with driving their Aston in vengeance after getting only a handful of laps in official testing, and then being tasked with working through all of the new car issues.
• Qualifying saw Buford in the #55, Marsal in the #71, John Farano in the #15 and Montecalvo in #16 all get caught out to different degrees by a red flag incident that ultimately reduced the session to a single flying lap. It was Buford who ultimately took maximum advantage of the situation and made his very first attempt count at a 1:56.512 which handed him the pole by over 0.3 seconds over the #61 Mustang of Jack Roush Jr. Although the data indicated that the other three Multimatic drivers were all on much faster laps than their first when the track went red these were not to count and Montecalvo ended 10th, Farano 12thand Marsal 14th.
• The race saw numerous procedural changes, made by the new for 2013 race director, causing a fair bit of confusion and mayhem; the most significant of which was the old standard of not passing before the start finish line at restarts being replaced by a “you’re racing when it goes green” approach. At least two serious wrecks were caused by some overzealous competitors trying to win the race at every green.  Through all of this the Aston drivers remained calm, and there was always a white Multimatic Vantage at or near the front. The performance was especially gratifying to the Canadian team as all four cars outperformed the new Aston Martin Racing North America entry of TRG throughout the weekend despite the outstanding European factory driver pairing of Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner being brought in to assure its success.
• Although not able to hold off the Mustang and Porsche on the banking, the Empringham/Farano entry ended on the podium which was a testament to the two Canadian drivers who were fast and kept out of trouble for the entire race. However, once again it was the #16 that was the story of the weekend as Mancuso held off some really aggressive charges at the final restart, putting in his best laps of the race in the final stages, in a car that had been 30,000 feet in the air just 72 hours earlier.

Multimatic Motorsports Team Principal, Larry Holt, commented: “I am very happy with our performance these last days; more from the standpoint of how the team executed than the outright result. This is the first time Sean Mason has had to deal with four cars in a single class but the engineers, mechanics and drivers just came together in a truly impressive way. The Astons were immaculately prepared, the race strategy was perfectly executed and other than one of the eight pit stops having a small jack problem, the team’s performance in the lane was flawless. John and Dave just did what they always do – drove fast and smart and ended on the podium – which is how they won the 2012 championship. I am really impressed with how Nick and Frankie performed and they totally earned that fourth place. The old boys suffered a couple of setbacks but that is all that kept them from the podium as both Tonis and Scotty displayed great pace. Finally, I can’t help but be proud of the fact that it was Multimatic, once again, upholding Aston Martin’s reputation at the front as Mücke and Turner were never a factor in the TRG entry.”

The second race of the season is the GRAND-AM of The Americas presented by GAINSCO and TOTAL. It will be held on Saturday, March 2nd, 2013 at 3:00 PM at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX.

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Contact Info:

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

2012 was a season of highs and lows for the Canadian racing organization. Highlights included a second place at Barber Motorsports Park only two races into the new Aston relationship, and a pair of thirds, at Laguna Seca and Lime Rock Park, in the last two races of the season when the team really started to sort the cars. The middle of the year proved difficult as North American specific performance issues forced unforeseen development during race weekends, which is never a good recipe for success. However, the highly competitive Astons were ultimately sorted for the unique requirements of CTSCC competition and the future looks bright for the attractive British sports car.

In preparation for the 2013 season the team has made a number of changes and already participated in three multi-day tests. With the addition of more drivers to the team’s line-up, three Aston Martin Vantage V8s were taken to Road Atlanta and then Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, which are two new additions to the 2013 CTSCC schedule. The most recent test and official season kick-off was held at Daytona International Speedway at the beginning of January, where the Multimatic Astons consistently posted top three times in almost every session. The #55 car set the fastest time in two of the six sessions and the #71 and #15 cars were never far behind. The major changes to the team for 2013 are:

• Multimatic’s lead driver Scott Maxwell will remain in the #55 Aston but now partners with young gun Jade Buford. Buford joined Multimatic at the Indianapolis test, midway through the 2012 season, after previously driving for both Roush Performance and Rebel Rock Racing. He ran with Kasemets for the final three races of last season, finishing in the top 15 all three times and on the podium at Laguna Seca, where he displayed an outstanding turn of speed towards the end of the race.
• The #71 Aston will remain in the hands of Tonis Kasemets but he will now be paired with Michael Marsal, new to the Multimatic team but highly experienced, with time at Turner Motorsports in both CTSCC GS and Rolex GT as well as in Le Mans prototypes with Dyson Racing in ALMS. Marsal has already proven to be a contender showing great pace at the Daytona test.
• Possibly the most exciting addition to the Multimatic roster for the 2013 season is the 2012 championship winning drivers, David Empringham and John Farano. The famous Multimatic #15 will be used on this new entry and the two ex-Porsche campaigners have already come to terms with the front engined machinery. It was the old friendship and rivalry of Canadian’s Maxwell and Empringham swapping fast times at the Daytona test. Empringham and Farano finished all but one race in the top 10 during their 2012 championship winning run.
• A fourth Vantage V8 has been added to the line-up since the Daytona test, carrying #16 and driven by the young duo of Frank Montecalvo and Nick Mancuso. Montecalvo previously drove a Mustang Boss 302R for Multimatic Motorsports in 2010; partnered with team stalwart Gunnar Jeannette he did an excellent job in his first attempt at large, rear wheel drive street cars. In 2012 he was brought in to drive the #16 Multimatic Ford Focus ST-R on a couple of occasions with Mancuso who led the charge in the ST class car for the full season. The two worked perfectly together and proved their capability to compete in the rough and tumble world of CTSCC racing, having both graduated from successful single seat careers. The two of them showed their stuff at the Daytona test and a last minute deal was put together for them to share a fourth team car for the season. That Aston will arrive in North America on the Tuesday before the race just in time to make Wednesday’s practice sessions.

Multimatic Motorsports Team Principal,Larry Holt, commented: “To have this level of talent in all four cars is unprecedented. We have four potential championship winning pairings with these guys. Maxwell, Empringham and Farano are all previous champions which combined with the experience and pace of Tonis and the four young guns, gives me high expectations for the season. We are still dragging a load of ballast around in the Vantage due to Grand-Am’s balance of performance decisions but were still quick at the test and obviously have some headroom if allowed to take a few pounds out. The #16 car deal came together late and having it land in Miami on the Tuesday before the race puts a little pressure on the team, but it is coming with a few of my top UK based technicians including Rob Taylor who has a wealth of engineering experience. Sean Mason will once again be overseeing the program but with guys like Rob, Charlie Cadieux, Brian Jones, Jeff Ripley and Will Kerley running the cars he has some pretty stout help. Last year’s ST and GS teams have been combined and with that level of talent on hand I will be able to watch from the hospitality suites.”

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Contact Info:

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

Click here to read Grand-Am’s report of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge practice sessions at Daytona.