Bosch Engineering 200

The Stats

GS 1st: Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson, No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang

GS 2nd: Paul Dalla Lana and Bill Auberlen, No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3

GS 3rd: Terry Borcheller and Mark Boden, No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3

ST 1st: Ryan Eversley and Karl Thomson, No. 75 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si

ST 2nd: Nico Rondet and Tyler McQuarrie, No. 18 Insight Racing BMW 328i

ST 3rd: Andrew Carbonell and Rhett O'Doski, No. 25 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5

Margin of Victory: 1.866 seconds

Average Speed: 73.199 mph

Cautions: Five for 27 laps

The Points

GS: Bill Auberlen/Paul Dalla Lana 129; Joe Foster/Scott Maxwell 108; Mark Boden 103.

ST: Ryan Ellis/Ian Baas 103; Sarah Cattaneo/Owen Trinkler 99; Nic Jonsson 96;

The Story

Billy Johnson passed Bill Auberlen for the lead with less than five minutes remaining and held on to win Saturday's Bosch Engineering 200 at Virginia International Raceway, Round 4 of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

After opening the season with a 32nd-place finish at Daytona International Speedway, Johnson and co-driver Jack Roush Jr. now have three consecutive podium finishes in the No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302R. It was their first victory of the season after finishing second at Homestead-Miami Speedway and third at Barber Motorsports Park.

Johnson took the lead from defending Grand Sport champ Charles Espenlaub with 15 minutes remaining in the two-hour, 30-minute event. Auberlen passed Johnson entering Turn 1 with five minutes remaining, but went wide in the Oak Tree Turn, allowing Johnson to slip by on the inside.

It was the fourth consecutive podium finish for Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3, who extended their GS lead to 21 points over Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster, who finished 15th. Johnson and Roush moved up to sixth in the championship, 35 points behind.

The Street Tuner lead changed hands several times during the final laps before Ryan Eversley finally got by Nico Rondet and held on to win by .681 seconds. It was the first victory of the season for Eversley and Karl Thomson in the No. 75 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si. It was also the best showing for first-year team Insight Racing, with Rondet joined by Tyler McQuarrie in the No. 18 i2i Capital/Aloha Group/Dinan BMW 328i.

The Surprises

	Al Carter won his first pole in the No. 45 BMW M3 and was running third throughout the opening 45 minutes. On the lap he planned to pit under caution, his car suddenly came to a stop and would not refire. It turned out that the ECU fuse blew, but the team lost eight laps while working to diagnose the problem.
	The ST pole-winning No. 73 American Harvest Porsche Boxster flipped three times after Rick DeMan went off at Turn 10 (the Oak Tree turn), hit the tire barrier and rolled three times. DeMan quickly got out of the car and walked away.
	First-year team Insight Racing scored its first podium and came within .681 seconds of its first victory. Nico Rondet, who took over from Tyler McQuarrie in the No. 18 BMW 328i, led the race three times for 13 laps.
	Michael Galati, who joined Nic Jonsson in giving the Kia Forte Koup its first victory in the most recent race at Barber Motorsports Park, slid off at the Oak Tree Turn and tagged the tires early in the race, losing a lap and falling out of contention. They eventually finished 26th.

The Numbers:

	4 - Victories for Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson in the No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang.
	19 - Laps led by ST pole winner David Murry in the No. 73 American Harvest Porsche Boxster.
	95.595 mph - Fastest race lap posted by Bill Auberlen (No. 96 BMW M3) with five laps remaining.

The Quotes:

	"It really seems like we're paralleling last year - not getting any points at Daytona and then having some pretty strong results. That's a testimony for everyone at Roush putting together a strong car and for Ford giving us such a great platform to compete with. I hope to keep up this head of steam and dig ourselves back out of the hole we dug for ourselves at Daytona and get back in the hunt for the championship." - Billy Johnson (No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302R)
	"We won on strategy and driving talent during the last 10 minutes. We didn't have the fastest car. Fortunately, Ryan (Eversley) had enough car left to battle with Nico (Rondet) at the end. I was on the edge of my seat the entire final 10 minutes." Compass360 team owner Karl Thomson, who started the winning ST No. 75 Honda Civic Si.
	"I don't know what happened. Something cut off at the exit of the Esses, and it lost power. It wasn't the engine - it didn't blow up - the car just wouldn't refire. It's a shame. It was running good. The B+ BMW was running smooth and easy. I liked running up front." - Al Carter (No. 45 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3)
	"It got pretty dicey when we hit the Street Tuner traffic before the first yellow. But I didn't hit anyone - it was pretty clean racing." - Jack Roush Jr. (No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302R)
	"I think the cloud cover is holding in the tension. People were acting strangely out there on the race track. There was a lot of super, super aggressive driving. We really nailed the setup. I moved up from 14th to ninth and was making decent headway. I love this place - this is where I got my first win last year." - Michael Marcel (No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3)

The Next Race:

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge next visits historic Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., to participate in the traditional Memorial Day weekend event. The Memorial Day Classic on Saturday, May 28 will mark the lone time that the Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes will compete in separate events. Joey Hand and Michael Marsal won last year's GS race in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3. Seth Thomas and Bill Heumann won the ST race in the No. 81 Performance Friction/RAYS Engineering BMW 328i.