DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 27, 2014) – Kurt Rezzetano, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was the class of the Touring 2 field as he led the entire 14-lap race at the SCCA Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway. Cooper MacNeil, of Boulder, Colorado, finished second with Preston Calvert, of Potomac, Maryland, completing the top three.

Rezzetano, at the controls of the No. 37 Phoenix Performance/Calvert Dynamics Ford Mustang GT, utilized his Tire Rack pole position to his advantage by taking the lead into Turn One. From that point, he drove away from the rest of the field to win his first National Championship title in his third career start.

“I have to start off by saying this is the third attempt at this,” Rezzetano said. “In 2013, we came here with the Mustang and were a little outgunned at Road America. We were hoping it would be enough, but it just didn’t have it then. We kept working on things and the evolution of this car has been all about small changes. I feel like this is the strongest T2 field since 2013. After what happened at Mazda Raceway I thought we were cursed at the Runoffs.

“This year, everything just fell into place. We had a great first qualifying session, on Monday, and the car just felt awesome. I just tried to make sure all the little things stayed together. Overall, this car has just been phenomenal. We were down a little bit to the BMW on the banking, but the car was just so good that all I had to do was get a little separation, early on.”

MacNeil started in the second position, in the No. 46 WeatherTech BMW E92 M3, but was unable to hold off Calvert on the opening lap. Calvert was able to get the best of MacNeil into Turn Two, but MacNeil made his way back around Calvert on lap two in the bus stop chicane. MacNeil held station in that position until the end of the race.

Calvert, in the No. 77 Calvert Dynamics/Phoenix Performance Ford Mustang GT, was able to improve on his third-place grid position during the opening lap of the race. However, Calvert could not hold off MacNeil as his Phoenix Performance teammate pulled away from Calvert and the rest of the field.

“Kurt set up a really great start,” Calvert said. “In the beginning we spread things out enough to get through Turn One safely. Cooper did a great job of tucking in behind Kurt . I knew that tires would take a little longer to come in, so I decide to try to make the pass into Turn Two.

“I made the pass, and it stuck. I knew his tires would come in later in the race, but I managed to stay ahead of him for a little while. Once he got around me I was able to stick with him for a little bit, but once he hit the sweet spot of his tires he began to pull away. At that point, I just couldn’t catch back up.”

Competing the top five positions were Tim Kezman, in the No. 4 Calypso Lemonade/Fall Line Motorsports Porsche 997, in fourth and Bill Collins, in the No. 63 Interstate Truck Driver School Chevrolet Corvette, in fifth.

The 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, crowned Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27.

While the live broadcast of all 27 National Championship were available live at SCCA.com, each race will be on demand in the coming weeks.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Results for Sunday’s SCCA Touring 2 National Championship at the 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.

1, (1), Kurt Rezzetano, Phoenixville, PA, Ford Mustang GT Coupe, 14.
2, (2), Cooper MacNeil, Boulder, CO, BMW E92 M3, 14.
3, (3), Preston Calvert, Potomac, MD, Ford Mustang GT Coupe, 14.
4, (5), Tim Kezman, Franksville, WI, Porsche 997, 14.
5, (4), Bill Collins, Saint Paul, MN, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, 14.
6, (9), Marty Grand, Manassas Park, VA, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, 14.
7, (12), John Buttermore, South Lyon, MI, Chevrolet Corvette C6, 14.
8, (6), Michael Lavigne, Hooksett, NH, Ford Mustang Coupe, 14.
9, (10), Jim Leithauser, Westminster, CO, BMW E92 M3, 14.
10, (8), Aaron Kaplan, Evanston, IL, BMW E92 M3, 14.
11, (16), Natha Waldbaum, Omaha, NE, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, 14.
12, (18), John Shannon, Oswego, NY, Chevrolet Corvette C5 ZO6, 14.
13, (20), Carl Fung, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, 13.
14, (15), Christopher Qualls, Los Angeles, CA, Chevrolet Corvette, 14.
15, (11), Oscar Hernandez, Miami Lakes, FL, Porsche 911/996, 13.
16, (19), Nicole Jacque, San Jose, CA, Ford Mustang Coupe, 13.
17, (13), Russell Peterson DVM, Menlo Park, CA, Chevrolet Corvette C5 Zo6, 13.
18, (14), William Moore, Chagrin Falls, OH, Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE, 5.
19, (7), Albert Nocerine, Shavertown, PA, Ford Mustang GT, 4.

Overall Time of Race: 28:36.723
Average Race Speed: 104.515 mph
Margin of Victory: 20.972 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: Kurt Rezzetano, 2:01.077 (105.850 mph)
Sunoco Hard Charger: #88, Carl Fung
Lap Leaders: Lap 1-14, Kurt Rezzetano

Image: Kurt Rezzetano dominated in Touring 2 at the SCCA Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway.
Credit: Mark Weber