Anything is possible in racing. If anybody were looking for further proof of this, they may want to look at the feat the Champion Motorsports No. 79 Dallara pulled off at the season finale at Road Atlanta.
Entering the weekend, the team based out of Denton, Texas sat in ninth place in the Endurance Cup standings, trailing championship leaders Element SimRacing by twelve points.
With a maximum of 15 Endurance Cup points possible to be earned in Petit Le Mans, claiming the championship seemed like an impossible feat.
But when Element SimRacing scored zero points due to a post-race disqualification on grounds of exceeding the maximum drive time, and the Fischer Motorsport No. 14 car finished second behind Thomas Fisher and Cameron Barker, who piloted to the No. 79 Dallara P217, the team scored 14 Endurance Cup points and beat the odds to claim the championship.
For the Champion Motorsports P2 Prototype team, the Endurance Cup season started off with a P5 finish and scoring eight Endurance Cup points in total in the longest race of the season, the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The team’s most difficult race ensued in the next round at Sebring. In the 12 Hours of Sebring, the No. 79 Dallara finished only 17th but thanks to the points system that awards championship points at the four-hour mark, eight-hour mark and finish the team still scored six Endurance Cup points.
The Endurance Cup continued with the 6 Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International in June. While the P10 finish wasn’t quite what drivers Cameron Barker and John-Taylor Tami hoped for, while missing Thomas Fisher in this race, consistency throughout the event earned them another four Endurance Cup points, placing the No. 79 Dallara ninth in the standings going into the season finale.
And the rest is history. Not only did the Champion Motorsports crew celebrate its first VSCA victory at Road Atlanta, but when news broke out they are also Endurance Cup champions, emotions burst out.
“I’m so proud of the team. We just talked about it the last few weeks, how we’d hope to finish this season strong. To have the team come through like this and not only win the race but also win the Endurance Cup, is really special. The guys have done a phenomenal job, especially Thomas and Cameron.”, said Champion Motorsports team owner David Anderson.
The Fischer Motorsport No. 14 Dallara finished the 2022 Endurance Cup tied with the Champion Motorsports entry on points, but by finishing second in Petit Le Mans, had to settle for second in the championship based on zero wins compared to the No. 79 team’s one win at Road Atlanta.
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