Subaru Enthusiasts Car Club of the Sierras - PR - Subaru WRX Wins USTCC Seasone Finale

Sheehan Motor Racing Wins USTCC Finale at Infineon Raceway

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Martinez, CA: Gary Sheehan drove the Subaru of America/Cobb/Stoptech/DMS WRX to a dominating win at the 2003 USTCC season finale, ahead of Tom Lepper’s 2nd place Honda Accord and Ali Arsham’s 3rd place Honda Civic.

The coldest race weekend of the year began clear and windy. By the end of the first qualifying session on Saturday the provisional pole was held by Lepper’s Accord with a laptime of 1:51.8. Sheehan’s Subaru WRX was 0.4 seconds behind in the number two position. The teamSMR crew was looking forward to second qualifying on Sunday because the car was responding very well to new suspension tuning. The team was confident the lap times would drop as the weekend continued.

Sunday was again cold, but calm and sunny. Additional alignment and shock adjustments were made prior to qualifying in an effort to beat Lepper’s Accord in qualifying. The changes worked extremely well and Sheehan set his all time fastest lap at Sears Point. Sheehan claimed the pole with a 1:50.646 lap time, a full second faster than the Accord of Lepper. USTCC rules required the pole winning Subaru WRX carry an additional 25 pounds of REWARDS weight during the race.

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The final race of the season began with a false start, causing the field to lap the track and regrid for the standing start. The next green flag was a keeper and the All Wheel Drive of Sheehan’s WRX launched him into an early lead. Within the first few laps the WRX stretched the lead out to 2.5 seconds before the Accord rallied and took some of that time back. The Accord could not maintain the pace of the Subaru and began to drop back. The rest of the race was uneventful and Sheehan claimed the flag to flag win.

“The car was just awesome this weekend!” Sheehan said after the race. “This is the best the car has handled all year and we owe a lot to the DMS shocks and the assistance that DMS North America has provided to get our car sorted out. The balance was near perfect in the corners and the car just planted in the braking zones. I think if we had these shocks on the car from the start of the season, we would have taken the championship home this year.”

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Claiming maximum points for the weekend wasn’t enough to allow the Subaru WRX to capture the championship and the team finished the season with 690 points, just 8 points shy of the number one spot. The team grabbed 2 pole positions, three race wins, three 2nd place finishes and one 3rd place finish, finishing every race on the podium. These results are made even more impressive considering the Subaru WRX was 400 pounds heavier than its nearest competitor and the most limited with restrictor plates and other power reducing rules as mandated by the USTCC in 2003.

Sheehan Motor Racing would like to thank the following business partners for making the 2003 season such a success; Subaru of America for providing their support for a third consecutive year, Cobb Tuning for providing outstanding power delivery and engine reliability, Stoptech Brakes for the best braking performance in the USTCC and their constant pursuit of braking excellence, DMS North America for their combination of suspension tuning knowledge and amazing 50mm strut technology, Hotchkis Tuning for their race proven suspension products that allow a huge amount of adjustability, Rev-Lab for making the car easier to drive with their rugged steering products and SPI Motorsports with C-West for the aerodynamic solutions that kept the racecar on the track.