Podium Performance by Stevenson Motorsports at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

·       No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS finishes second, for first podium of the season
·       Top Audi finisher in Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix

Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada (10 July 2016) – After showing strong pace and strength in the only back-to-back races on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule, Stevenson Motorsports scored its first podium result in the team’s new Audi machinery at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as Robin Liddell drove the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS that he shares with Andrew Davis to second place on Sunday.
The brother No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS shared by Matt Bell and Lawson Aschenbach charged to a ninth place position.

Davis opened the sunny two hour and 40 minute race in the No. 6 Audi machine, while Bell took the green in the brother No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS. Both Audi machines proved consistently strong in the opening laps as the duo maintained track position despite the blistering pace of the sprint format race. In fact, Davis managed to open up a three second gap between himself and third place as he set laps on par with the race leader prior to pitting for the first stop 50 minutes in.

The No. 6 car took four fresh Continental Tires and fuel as Liddell climbed behind the wheel to tackle the 2.459-mile circuit, re-joining in the top-10 under a green flag stop thanks to quick work by the team. Bell pitted just after Davis in the No. 9 for his routine stop and ceded controls to Aschenbach as the team performed another flawless stop that also saw Aschenbach rejoin the field in the top-10.

Throwing down scorching lap times, faster than the class leader, Liddell quickly advance up the pack to slip into podium contention as the first of the three full course cautions at the one hour 14 minute mark provided the next opportunity for pit stops and gave the Scot four fresh tires and fuel.

Unfortunately a slightly longer stop on the No. 9, with an additional stop just after returning to green racing with an hour and 24 minutes remaining in order to make a change on the handling, saw Lawson rejoin one lap down.

As the race continued at the same furious pace, Liddell made a final pit stop for left side tires and fuel before heading back into the field to charge to a podium finish of second place.

In the No. 9, Aschenbach used the unlocked speed from the Audi to pay back the time that the pit stop cost,
working his way through a busy field to regain the lap lost on lap 92 of the race.
Unfortunately the racey pace came too late in the short race to give him the result the car was truly capable of and he brought it home in ninth place.

“This was a great day for the No. 6 car,” said Team Strategist Mike Johnson. “Everything went as we planned it. We didn’t have the ultimate pace that we had hoped, but at this place, track position and good pit stops are key and it was good for us as a team to finally do everything right like we know how to do it and actually have it finally show in a good result. On the flip side, the No. 9 had the pace but at the wrong time and we lost a lap on a pit stop trying to make the car better. When we did make the change, the car was able to bang out some really good lap times, we just needed it to be a 12–hour race instead of a shorter one for them. More than anything I think it is really good for the team to feel that little kick of confidence and that little boost of momentum going into the last half of the season. I would love to win a race here pretty soon. Second is as close as you can get so we will take this momentum and move forward.”

The team now looks forward to a brief break in racing action before heading to Lime Rock on July 22-23.