BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA – July 22, 2012 – The old adage of being at the right place at the right time held true today for the Tequila Patrón-sponsored Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park with the team finishing second, but awarded the victory after post-race inspection.
The ESM team’s No. 01 Ferrari was listed as the second-place finisher in the GT class at the checkered flag, following Johannes van Overbeek’s “move of the race” to pass Jan Magnussen on the final lap.
However, the first-place Flying Lizard Porsche was excluded from results for a technical infraction following a post-race inspection. As a result, the Extreme Speed Motorsports Tequila Patrón Ferrari was awarded the victory.
This is the first win for Extreme Speed Motorsports in its three-year history competing in the American Le Mans Series. Today’s win marks the second podium for ESM of the 2012 season. In April, Scott Sharp and van Overbeek finished third at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The No. 01 team ran an impressive race. Sharp battled his way from the fourth position on the grid to reach as high as second before turning the Ferrari over to van Overbeek, who was making his 100th ALMS race start this weekend.
The excitement escalated during van Overbeek’s stint in the Ferrari. As his stint progressed, van Overbeek noticed the strength of the Ferrari on the long runs. As he passed GT competitors one-by-one van Overbeek found his way back into the third position.
While running third and gaining on the Corvette of Jan Magnussen, van Overbeek bid his time, confident he could catch Magnussen. Then on the final lap he made his ‘Hail Mary’ pass and maneuvered the Ferrari inside the Corvette in the second part of the Moss Corner complex – in between the 5a and 5b corners – on the 10-turn, 2.459-mile course.
As the No. 01 Ferrari found success late in the race, the No. 02 Tequila Patrón Ferrari driven by Guy Cosmo and Ed Brown had their time to shine early in the event. Cosmo started the No. 02 Ferrari in the 10th position and used clever pit strategy and strong pace to go through into the one hour into the race. Cosmo led 34 minutes of the two-hour and 45-minute event before turning the Ferrari over to Brown. Race strategy got the best of the No. 02 team, which ultimately finished 10th in class.
Scott Sharp
“It was a great day. I really felt this would be a good track for us and for the Ferraris it typically is. We were a little down after qualifying because the Corvettes seemed to have such a good pace on us. But that big spread they had on the field didn’t seem to hold so much in the race. Then Johannes did a really great job, obviously. The Ferrari got better and better the longer we ran. I think where others would fall off, we got stronger. When I was in the car I could reel in the leaders and he was able to do the same thing and grab a second place on the last lap. It really was a great race for us.
“This isn’t exactly how we envisioned our first win happening, but we’ll take it. We had a strong Ferrari today and it kept getting better as the race went on. We certainly had a winning effort today. The entire team has worked tirelessly over the last three years to get us to podium finishes and wins. This is the start of wins for ESM. It can only go up from here.
“We’re looking forward to being even more competitive at Mid-Ohio and exponentially competitive for the remainder of the 2012 season. We’ve had a taste of victory and now we want more.”
Johannes van Overbeek
“The Tequila Patrón Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari was perfect today. Jan is a tough customer and I figured that was the only shot I had at him and I didn’t want to telegraph it earlier, so I saved it for last.”
“There were three of us running in a train. Getting to them and getting around them was a whole different story. I had a bad aero push and I knew that was the only shot, in 5a and 5b, to get around the Corvette. I did the Hail Mary on the last lap and it worked out. I can’t wait for Mid-Ohio now.”
“Although I feel for Pat and Joerg, I couldn’t be happier for Scott, Ed, ESM and Patrón. After the podium the race just didn’t feel over; and as it turned out it wasn’t. Winning at Mosport caps a great weekend and it was a fine way to celebrate my 100th start in this dynamic and competitive series. I hope it’s a sign of things to come. I’m very happy and honored to be a part of ESM/Patron in their first win as a team. I can’t wait to get home and have a glass of Patrón Silver on the rocks!”
Ed Brown
“We tried a strategy and it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to. The Ferrari was good; the team did a great job getting it back together in such a short time. The car was solid all day.
“It was great to see the 01 get up there and finish strong. The team has worked so hard trying to get both cars to move up to a podium and today it paid off for us. It was a great day.
“I am really thrilled for all the team. They have worked tirelessly and to get a win will give everyone a real spring in their step.”
Guy Cosmo
“It was a good run. We knew we were gambling with our strategy a little bit. We might have made the wrong call ultimately but we led for a while. We showed that the No. 02 Tequila Patrón Ferrari was repaired well and quite fast. Ed got in and he did a really good job. We just got caught out in the strategy. We should have pitted earlier and didn’t. The strategy worked last race because we were in fourth with 10 minutes to go, take the contact out of it and the strategy worked perfect for us. We tried it here again. The flow of the race was different; there were a lot of yellows this time. It just didn’t pan out the same way.
“We know we have a good, clean, undamaged, fast race car to head into Mid-Ohio. I’m really happy for Johannes and Scott. They fought so hard to get their Ferrari near the top and in the end, it worked out for them. The 01 and the 02 were the cars to beat today. I’m glad to see they are getting the acknowledgement for the race win.”
“Both our car and the 01 were better on the longer runs. Our Ferrari was really good, the Michelins were great. We had a little trouble with all the yellows getting the tires up to temperature, but once we did our car was phenomenal. We were clearly one of the best cars out there at the end of the stint on the tires.”
“Wins and podiums for both cars are coming – for sure.”
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