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April 13th, 2010

The No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports / VinSolutions / BryanMark Financial Chevrolet Camaro GT.R, driven by Robin Liddell and co-driver Andrew Davis, finished in fourth place in the third race of the 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16.

Held at beautiful Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, the skies were blue and the temperatures much more pleasant than previous Grand-Am events run here in the middle of summer. Despite the nice weather, the oh-so-hot Mazdas were the cars that ran up front all day, a circumstance Robin Liddell knows all too well having spent three consecutive races watching them race ahead.

“The Mazda clearly has an advantage at all the tracks simply because it is a faster and lighter car.” Liddell said after the race. “ I believe it has always enjoyed an advantage but now there are more Mazdas so there is more competition from within and they are having to raise their game. It is a shame for the fans when they watch Mazda driving away at every track and a great car like the Camaro not being able to race because the Series apparently has an agenda. It's not just the Mazda actually, lets not forget the Corvette is 100 lbs lighter weight with the same chassis, engine and gearbox as the Camaro but a more aerodynamic body, work that one out if you can!”

“ The competition was very fierce in the mid field in GT yesterday,” he continued, “ and we had some hard fought battles, but as for fighting for the lead there was no chance.”

Liddell’s co-driver, Andrew Davis, also vented some frustration over the apparent advantage the Mazda cars have enjoyed in the series after three of twelve races, or one quarter of the season completed. The climb to the top of the championship points scale seems to get a bit longer with each race.

Team Manager Mike Johnson feels the time for GRAND-AM to review the disparity in performance between the Mazda entries and the rest of the GT field is now, before the season gets any deeper.

“ I think this is the first weekend since we have been running the Pratt & Miller chassis that we just got beat. With the current rules package, we have nothing on the Mazdas and since we are 100 pounds heavier than the Corvettes and the BMW M6, we are pretty uncompetitive.”

Johnson would like to see an improvement in the fortunes of the Camaro GT.Rs as well, and he is hoping GRAND-AM will revisit the outcome of the first three races and take appropriate action to level the playing field.

Johnson: “ We have won the last two years in a row at VIR (with the Pontiac GXP.R), but if Grand-Am doesn’t allow us to race, this championship could be over before half way.”

More information about the Stevenson Motorsports team, and the new Stevenson performance shop, can be found at www.stevensonmotorsports.com

For more information on the Grand-Am Rolex Series,
go to www.grand-am.com/rolex/