| David Empringham and Gunnar Jeannette take win at Mosport |
Article and Image Source: Grand American Communications
Not many drivers have run more laps at Mosport International Raceway than David Empringham, and the Toronto native used all of that experience to his advantage in Saturday's Grand-Am Cup Series Mosport 200 as he charged into the lead on Lap 49 of the 82-lap race and never looked back en route to his second victory of the season.
 Start of the 2005 Mosport 200
However, the driver combinations for each of the No. 05 machine's victories have been different. Jeannette--who filled-in for Empringham's regular co-driver, Scott Maxwell, this weekend at Mosport--scored the car's first victory with co-driver James Gue in Round 3 at California Speedway, while Empringham and Maxwell triumphed in Round 4 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
"We were pretty confident coming into this race because this our home track and where we did all of the development work on the car," Jeannette said. "We knew that this would be the kind of track that would almost be an equal ground between us and the BMWs so we were a little bit concerned but we knew throughout the weekend that we were strong. I just have to say that I had an absolute blast racing with Justin (Marks). He raced me clean the whole time and we went through traffic and we were both doing the same stuff. It was really fun and I was just kind of doing what I needed to do to keep it out front and get it to Dave in first place which we did and he did a fantastic job."
 #05 Mustang of Jeannette and Empringham
"We are fortunate that this is where we have done most of our testing," Empringham said. "It is our home track and the track that I have the most miles on. Everything fits in for this track and the strength of the Mustang is obviously the power. With an uphill long straight like that we were very optimistic coming into here. The passing zones were where we had the strength. It was a good weekend. We are clearly looking at the points, and trying not to make mistakes and get every point we can. At the end of the day Multimatic and Ford had a great day and we need these points because there are going to be tracks like Phoenix and Trois-Rivieres where we are really going to struggle."
Although they never led, Said and co-driver Anders Hainer stayed within striking distance of the front of the field virtually throughout the race. Hainer drove the first shift and held the fastest lap in the race for most of the event before David Murry turned in a flyer with three laps remaining in the No. 13 Unitech Racing Nissan 350Z. Ironically, it was a Unitech Racing Nissan that Hainer and Said drove to their most recent podium result as co-drivers, a victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway last September.
 Third place finisher #55 Mustang
"It was a fun race," Said commented. "Anders did a great job, this is a new team that just started this year and it is getting better and better every week. David Empringham is an unbelievable driver here. We have raced so many times together here over the years in 24-hour races and we have had a blast. Today the Mustang just had too much for us up the straightaway. We were way better on half the track and they were way better on the other half. It is just the way it falls some times."
"I had the fastest race lap up to a point, but I just got stuck in traffic," Hainer said. "That is just racing. I kept a good pace behind the top-two cars and I thought Boris could get in and finish the job but I just didn't realize how strong the Mustang would be with Empringham in it. He drove a phenomenal race. Boris did a great job and we didn't have a chance to change tires so he was driving on old tires which didn't help."
 Third place finisher #55 Mustang
Gue led two laps prior to his pit stop and Marks led seven before handing over to Borcheller, who brought the No. 96 BMW home in fourth. Murry and co-driver Blake Rosser rounded out the top five with a fifth-place performance.
 Jeannette and Empringham on the podium |
