Brumos Racing at Barber Motorsports Park

Brumos Racing {link} always enjoys returning to Birmingham’s scenic Barber Motorsports Park, but the Porsche 250 offers added incentive. The first GRAND-AM Rolex Series event at Barber that was sponsored by Porsche was in 2004, but a Porsche has yet to claim the victory there. Brumos was hoping to reverse that trend, but well aware of the challenges they would face in doing so. Although they did not reach the top step of the podium this year, Brumos did put their #59 Porsche GT3 in Victory Lane with a hard-fought 3rd place finish.
In a weekend shared with the IndyCar Series, track time was limited and conditions were less than optimal. Warm temperatures, a rough track surface, and rubber buildup from the IndyCars all made for low grip. Struggles continued as the #59 ended qualifying in 8th place following a session cut short by a yellow flag. Starting driver Andrew Davis is very familiar with the challenges of Barber, given his role as a Porsche Sport Driving School instructor, and found the result particularly meaningful. “I am thrilled with our podium here at Barber,” he said. “Many of my family members are here, so it’s nice to be able to spray some champagne and have them here to enjoy the podium with me. I am so proud of Brumos Racing – the race was a tough one, but the strategy calls and the pit stops really made the difference. I’m not sure we had the car that was going to win this race, but we obviously have a winning team. I do have to give special thanks to our driving mentor, Hurley Haywood. When we qualified poorly, he told us what he wanted us to do and what he expected from us. I also have to thank Leh Keen for another superb job. To be able to drive a car that was handling the way it was and hold on to the podium, despite the fierce competition, was quite an accomplishment. I am really
proud of his effort and to have Leh as my teammate.” 

For Leh Keen, the weekend was all about never giving up. “I can’t say enough about the Brumos guys,” he said. “When we came off the truck, the car was actually pretty decent, we just didn’t realize it at the time, since we were slipping and sliding around due to low grip. We made a lot of changes and got closer to where we needed to be, but the guys never quit. They kept working hard and kept a good attitude. We all came to the track on race day with smiles on our faces and ready to do a good job, all the way through the last lap. Andrew did a great job in the opening stint and drove a smart race. We had good strategy and the crew delivered clean, fast pit stops that put us where we needed to be leaving the pits. In the end, it all paid off with a podium. Now, Brumos has two podiums in a row for the first two races of the season, so we are off to a great start for 2012.” 

The third place finish moves Brumos into a tie for 2nd place in the GT standings, just three points out of the lead. Action resumes on April 29th, as the Rolex Series heads south to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Round 3 of the 2012 season.

Brumos Racing ready for next challenge

Following months of intense preparation for the challenging Rolex 24 at Daytona,
GRAND-AM Rolex Series competitors appreciate a post-race break in the action to regroup and ready
themselves for the season ahead. Now, nearly two months since their podium finish at the 2012
Daytona classic, Brumos is eager to return to action in the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park.
The scenic Birmingham venue has long been a favorite of Brumos, but last season Barber marked a
critical milestone for the Brumos GT effort, as noted by Andrew Davis. "The Barber Motorsports Park
event was very special, as it was the first time our squad worked together as a single unit. Each
member of the team brought a wealth of experience, but it was not known at the time how quickly
everything would come together. We were on our way to a solid top five until a Daytona Prototype
made contact with us, but the strong showing was certainly a sign of things to come. Now we are
returning to the circuit as champions, having the confidence necessary to challenge for the race win."
Davis, who enjoys the track and its amenities often in his role as instructor for the Porsche Sport
Driving School, is especially looking forward to seeing many of his friends and family in attendance –
particularly his wife and young son, Layne, who attended his very first race at Barber last season.
Leh Keen has plenty of reasons of his own to anticipate returning to Barber, including scoring one of
his first podiums there in 2004 and taking a pole position in 2009. This year, Keen welcomes what he
calls the true start to the 2012 season at Barber, saying, “It’s time for us to hunker down now for the
typical Rolex Series sprint race format. Last year we had a great run at this track as a brand new team.
This year we are back as race winners and as champions, so we expect even better results. The
competition is going to be fierce – we have some new teams, and some familiar teams that have
stepped up their game with even better drivers, so everyone has turned it up a notch. Every team will
be digging to get more out of the car and their crew, but we have stepped up our game as well. I can’t
think of anything better than kicking off this part of the season driving the #59 Brumos Porsche GT3
in the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park.”
Skip Schinsing looks back at Barber, his first race in the role of Brumos Team Manager, with pride.
“We went in to Barber as a new group working together for the first time. We came out knowing what
we were capable of after that first weekend, and we built on that all season,” he said. “Barber gave a
lot of confidence to the entire team. We carried that confidence on to the next race and soon we were
on our way to the championship. Barber was definitely a turning point for Brumos as a team. We’ve
continued that momentum with our podium at Daytona and have taken advantage of the break to get a
lot done. We got our spares together, made steady improvements to the car, tested a bit, and have
done all we can to prepare for the extremely busy season that lies ahead. Brumos is ready to race.”
Andrew Davis summed it up well on behalf of the entire Brumos team when he said, “The Porsche
250 draws a large crowd, and the Rolex Series always puts on a great show around the twists and turns
of Barber Motorsports Park. I can’t wait for the 2012 season to get back into full swing!”

Brumos Racing secures Rolex 24 podium finish

With countless hours of hard work and preparation behind them, Brumos Racing was happy to get back on track at the 2012 season-opener Rolex 24 at Daytona. With momentum of the 2011 Championship behind them, the drivers and crew were confident of their ability to deliver a strong performance and hopeful of delivering a Rolex 24 win as well. The challenges were many, with one of the largest and most competitive fields in Rolex 24 history. Although the hoped-for win proved elusive, Brumos delivered a dominant performance, with the #59 leading the race for 281 laps before ending on the podium with a 3rd place finish.
Andrew Davis faced the daunting task of qualifying the Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 in the 45-car GT field. The crew’s hard work put him at the front of the line as the session began, and he delivered, capturing pole position for the #59. Davis described the race as a grueling event, adding, “This is the first of my eleven Rolex 24 starts where I can say we had a flawless run. There was no time spent in the garage, behind the pit wall, in a tire wall, or in the penalty box. At the end, we struggled with a power steering issue and a misfire so unfortunately we weren’t able to challenge for the win after leading so much of the race. I am so proud of the Brumos crew and appreciate all of the support we receive from the entire Brumos organization.”
Leh Keen also gave high marks to his crew. “We had a stellar performance and raced for the win the entire 24 hours,” he said. “Our podium finish gives us a great start to defend our championship for 2012, and such a strong run throughout the race also helped us in the Endurance Championship. This was personally my best finish at a Rolex 24 and I am very proud of that. It was really special to share the podium with Hurley Haywood on his final Rolex 24 race. All in all, any time you leave a race soaked in champagne, you have had a good day. I can’t wait for the rest of this season and the chance to show everyone what Brumos can do.”
It was fitting that Hurley Haywood ended his 40th Rolex 24 back on the podium, but he was already focused on season ahead. “This was such a hard race,” he said. “We were lucky to have a good car underneath us, and our guys did a great job of driving it. All in all, we ran a trouble-free race until the end. Marc was doing a Herculean job of driving, never knowing from corner to corner if he was going to have power steering or not. But our performance at this race has painted the picture – it has shown our competitors that we are going to be the team to beat in 2012.”
Marc Lieb’s performance in the closing stint was applauded by his teammates, as his efforts kept the #59 on the podium despite the challenges. Lieb joined his co-drivers with praise for the crew, saying, “It was an amazing effort, the car was fantastic and the crew did an awesome job with the pit stops. Leh and Andrew were perfect and then we had Hurley doing his 40th race, getting in the car when he didn’t drive much in practice, but doing an awesome job. I can see it’s going to be really difficult this year in the Rolex Series GT class with this level of competition, but Leh and Andrew have the ability and they can do it. I’m sure it’s going to be a great 2012 for Brumos.”
For Dan Davis, the podium represented a new milestone for the Brumos GT effort. Davis said, “Brumos accomplished something this week that we have strived for a long time, and that is to finish on the podium at the 24 hours. We were fortunate enough to do that in our DP car and now we are on the podium again for the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24. We were also on the GT pole, which I think is a tremendous salute to our team and our drivers. Our strategy didn’t work out quite as we had planned, but a 3rd place finish in this race is something to be really proud of. I thank all our folks for their hard work and dedication to what we’re trying to do - that is, to win races. I thank everyone
at all of our Brumos dealerships, too, for all that they do to enable us to continue to go racing.”
The Rolex 24 at Daytona finish puts Brumos in 3rd place in team points standings, and in 2nd place in the North American Endurance Championship, just one point shy of the lead. 

Following the post-Rolex 24 break, Brumos {link} is back in action on March 31st in the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.