Grand-Am

SCC: VIR: Guy Cosmo race report

Cosmo And Fountain Motorsports End KONI Season Upbeat No. 127 Fountain Motorsports BMW Sends A Message For 2008 With just under 20 minutes remaining in the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series ST (Street Tuner) Six Hour Saturday at Virginia ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

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Cosmo And Fountain Motorsports End KONI Season Upbeat
No. 127 Fountain Motorsports BMW Sends A Message For 2008

With just under 20 minutes remaining in the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series ST (Street Tuner) Six Hour Saturday at Virginia International Raceway, the race leading No. 127 Fountain Motorsports BMW 330i of Guy Cosmo had to pit for a splash of fuel. Cosmo rejoined the race in second. Unfortunately, time ran out with Cosmo crossing the finish line 26.154 seconds behind the winners. Cosmo, who won in the same Fountain BMW earlier this year at Iowa Speedway, helped give his co-driver VJ Mirzayan another Grand-Am career-best finish of second after crossing the line in second place at Laguna Seca this past May.

The weekend started off a bit challenging for the No. 127 Fountain Motorsports BMW 330i. The car experienced some handling issues but the crew managed to work with the set-up and make some gains. By qualifying, they had made the progress they were looking for. Had it not been for the shortened session the team surely would have been sitting on the front row. Even then, the No. 127 BMW 300i, just 2 tenths off the pole sitter, qualified in 6th place.

When the flag dropped on race-day, everyone got the action they came to see.

"The start of the race was about as action-packed as it gets." laughed Guy. "Most everyone moved to the right of the track to defend the inside line, and I immediately jumped at the opportunity to go around the outside. I think I made up two or three positions in turn 1 by out-braking and passing on the outside... boy was it close! After working my way up to second, it was clear that Shane Lewis and his Honda were the class of the field as he opened up the gap on the field. Our BMW 330i proved strong in all areas against the rest of the competition, though."

Cosmo put in a double-stint to get the team well into the race and running up front before turning the car over to VJ Mirzayan. Without any hesitation, VJ stepped up and delivered. Though VJ had been a bit off-pace in practice trying to get acclimated to the slick conditions, after a few laps he got into a rhythm and began getting consistently faster. After the pit stop VJ had taken the No. 127 car from 8th to 3rd. He was outstanding. After going a double-stint VJ turned the car over to Cosmo to finish out the race.

Cosmo climb into the car at dusk, under a full course caution. Nighttime came within minutes.

"The restart was one of the craziest moments I ever had on track," exclaimed Guy. "It was dark, cold, slippery and I was surrounded by cars everywhere and all the while none of us could see the turns in front of us. It was seriously dark around VIR, with no lighting anywhere. It was a huge challenge in itself just to navigate your way around the course by yourself, let alone having ten cars that can't see where they're going all trying to get into the same apex. Talk about adrenaline, it was awesome."

Unfortunately, the racing was so wild that while Cosmo worked through that group of cars, Shane Lewis was able to stretch out a big lead in uninterrupted darkness. Cosmo ran 2nd until inheriting the lead when Shane stopped for fuel. Of course, the No. 127 would need to stop for a splash as well.

"I tried to open up as big of a gap as I could," said Guy, "but we handed over the lead to Shane during our splash and go. And that was it. The gap was too large to make up, so we brought home a solid second place. Needless to say, we were happy with the whole day."

"What an incredible race, and a great way to finish off the season," noted Guy. "To be able to run up front all day for six hours and show what this Fountain Motorsports team is capable of is truly a pleasure. I'm really proud of what this team has accomplished this season. Fountain Motorsports is a rookie team this year and has come a long way. To be rewarded with a flawless run and a 2nd place finish is a great way to finish off the season for these guys. It's been so much fun to work with everyone in the Fountain Motorsports family, they deserved the podium celebration to cap off the year."

-credit: gc/jt

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