MACHAVERN TOP AMATEUR; FINISHES SECOND TO LEWIS, POVOLEDO WHO SWEEP VIRGINIA WEEKEND
DANVILLE, Va. (Aug. 24, 2014) – Corey Lewis and Aaron Povoledo pulled off a dominant victory to sweep the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America event weekend while Kevin Conway clinched his second consecutive championship Sunday, Aug. 24 at Viriginia International Raceway.
Conway, from Concord, North Carolina, needed to exit this weekend with a lead of 31 points or more to clinch the Drivers Championship. He is 52 points ahead of second-place John Farano after finishing second and third, respectively, in Rounds 9 and 10 at VIR in the No. 29 entry fielded by Change Racing and representing Lamborghini Carolinas.
“Excited, all in all, for Lamborghini Carolinas to lock up our Drivers Championship and continue in our lead with the Team Championship,” Conway said. “I just want to thank Robby Benton and Eddie Littlefield. All of our guys worked really hard. We were looking for a better result (in the races), but we’ll take this, and it adds a lot of fuel to the fire heading into the last two rounds of the season. We’ve locked up the Drivers Championship, so it’s all about the Team Championship now.”
Change Racing has a 12-point lead on Mitchum Motorsports in the Team Championship heading into the last two rounds of the season Oct. 1-3 at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.
Povoledo and Lewis dominated the weekend, topping the charts in every session. The dynamic duo won Round 10 on Sunday by 4.293 seconds in the No. 76 Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo representing Lamborghini Boston and fielded by Musante Motorsports. Dillon Machavern placed second overall in the No. 07 Mitchum Motorsports entry and was the top Amateur finisher.
“I just tried to get it out front and hold a steady pace the whole way through,” Lewis said. “I wanted to conserve the tires as much as possible. There came a point where I was in the safety zone, and my goal was to keep it going and get to the window to pass it off and let Aaron finish it up.”
After the driver change, Povoledo led by more than 22 seconds before a full-course yellow bunched the field together late in the race. On the restart, Povoledo continued the trend, pulling away to capture the checkered flag.
“We’ve done a lot of hard work with this car,” Povoledo said. “Even from yesterday we made some small changes in the setup. We’re not afraid to take some chances, but everything we’ve done has helped us get better. When you have a very powerful Lamborghini with four-wheel drive, you have to get front and the rear to compliment each other. I think we’re finding the magic zone, and that’s why I think you’re seeing the gaps in times.”
Conway finished third, his seventh podium finish in 10 rounds this season.
Kevin O’Connell finished fourth overall and second in the Amateur class in the No. 9 Gallardo representing Lamborghini Houston and fielded by Rick Ware Racing. Lee Carpentier drove his No. 46 Mitchum Motorsports Lamborghini entry through the field to finish third in the Amateur class after starting last in the field.
Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe driver Jake Rattenbury finished ninth in the No. 1 entry fielded by Jota Corse Racing and representing Lamborghini Dallas, after starting the race in 12th. Rattenbury, from Cardiff, Wales, drove his way to as high as second place until he had a mechanical issue drop him back on the final lap.
The weekend at VIR continued a busy stretch of action worldwide for the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo championship, which continues to reach new levels of success at every round in Europe, North America and Asia.
The Asian Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo championship resumes Aug. 30-31 at Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Japan. The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe last competed July 25-26 at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, with the next event Sept. 19-21 at Nurburg, Germany.
The Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo car is the ultimate single-make race car and the only four-wheel drive GT racer in the world. The 570-horsepower, V10 Gallardo LP 570-4 features impressive technology such as paddle shift E-gear transmission, Öhlins race shocks, Brembo brakes, a carbon fiber aerodynamic package that includes a rear wing with 10 adjustable positions, MTA data acquisition, air jacks, center wheel locks and more.
Lamborghini and Blancpain provided world-class hospitality this weekend for clients and guests of Lamborghini dealers. Guests also participated in the IMSA Hot Lap Experience, high-speed rides around the VIR Circuit in a Lamborghini.
The Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo also was on display at Lamborghini Village at the circuit throughout the weekend. The Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo will begin competition in 2015 in all three global Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo series, Europe, Asia and North America.
ROUND 10 POST-RACE QUOTES:
COREY LEWIS (No. 76 Lamborghini Boston, winner): “We’ve had an absolutely amazing car all weekend. I just tried to get it out front and hold a steady pace the whole way through. I wanted to conserve the tires as much as possible. There came a point where I had a big lead and was in the safety zone, and my goal was to keep it going and get to the window to pass it off and let Aaron finish it up. And that’s what he did.”
AARON POVOLEDO (No. 76 Lamborghini Boston, winner): “The mindset is the same getting in the car, no matter what. We’ve lost races in this series because of bad pit stops. So you just have to focus on what’s next, and then after that, it’s just process, process, process. We’ve done a lot of hard work with this car. Even from yesterday we made some small changes in the setup. We’re not afraid to take some chances, but everything we’ve done has helped us get better. When you have a very powerful Lamborghini with four-wheel drive, you have to get front and the rear to compliment each other. I think we’re finding the magic zone, and that’s why I think you’re seeing the gaps in times.”
DILLON MACHAVERN (No. 07, second, first Amateur): “It was a really wild race. The car was definitely stronger than yesterday. About halfway in, Gonzalez blew a tire at the top of the esses, which is the fastest part of the track, and I had to go into the grass to avoid him. So I lost a couple of spots, and we had to come in for a stop earlier than we had wanted to. After that, we were just trying to maintain the pace and save the tires because we figured something would happen at the end, and it ended up happening. There was a lapped car between Kevin (Conway) and I and the leader. We split him, and it ended up working in my favor.”
KEVIN CONWAY (No. 29 Lamborghini Carolinas, third): “It wasn’t quite as good as yesterday. We made some adjustments on the car. It just got a little bit too free at the end. We had a little too much oversteer to contend. I just tried to make the most of the day in the points, and now with Mitchum in the championship, we’re neck and neck. We’ll take that to Rounds 11 and 12 of the championship at Road Atlanta, Petit Le Mans. Excited, all in all, for Lamborghini Carolinas to lock up our Drivers Championship and continue in our lead with the Team Championship. I just want to thank Robby Benton and Eddie Littlefield. All of our guys worked really hard. We were looking for a better result, but we’ll take this, and it adds a lot of fuel to the fire heading into the last two rounds of the season. We’ve locked up the Drivers Championship, so it’s all about the Team Championship now.”
LEE CARPENTIER (No. 46 Lamborghini Chicago, third Amateur): “I actually started at the back today. I jumped into a different car, so we were dead last. I got myself up to P6 overall and third in the Amateur class, so I’m really happy with that. The full-course yellow definitely helped in our favor. I got caught up in some slower traffic at the beginning of the race. But it was a clean race all the way through. Mitchum Motorsports did an awesome job with the car. The Chicago Gold Coast car was awesome."