For more information:
Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
Tel.: (317) 201-0729
E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
 
 
 
 
Gleason and Hand Finish Seventh
In KONI Challenge Season Opener
 
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 23 - The Turner Motorsport BMW M3 No. 97 of Chris 
Gleason of Johnstown, Pa. and Joey Hand of Sacramento, Calif. led four laps and 
finished seventh out of 65 cars in the Fresh from Florida 200 season opener 
Friday at Daytona International Speedway.  The solid top-10 finish of their 
car, which is sponsored by H&R Springs, Turner Motorsport and Gleason Financial, 
got them off to a great start in their pursuit of the 2009 championship in the 
KONI Sports Car Challenge Series.
 
They were part of the winning team here too. A sister Turner Motorsport BMW 
driven by Bill Auberlen of Redondo Beach, Calif. and Matthew Bell of Los Altos, 
Calif. won the three-hour race.
 
Gleason started 26th and moved the car up to 13th position in the first hour 
of  competition.  There were lots of accidents during his stint, but Gleason 
successfully avoided them all and turned the car over to Hand in great shape.  
Gleason had the car up to 15th by lap six.  He passed Russell Smith's Kinetic 
Motorsports BMW for 13th on lap 12.  He had a subsequent battle with Tony 
Buffomante in the Porsche that ended up finishing fourth as well as Shawn 
Hickman's Mustang before turning the car over to Hand.
 
Hand, a factory BMW driver, had the car in fifth place by lap 35 and then 
took third two laps later. He passed Craig Stanton's Porsche for second place on 
lap 38, and took the lead on lap 41 by passing Stanton again in the east 
horseshoe. 
 
Unfortunately at that point something in the car's engine started to go awry, 
  and by lap 45 he'd slipped back to fifth.  He was in fourth at the two-hour 
mark, and although he was seventh at the checkered he was able to bring the 
car home in the top 10 for valuable points.
 
The race will be broadcast at 4 p.m. Eastern time Jan. 31 on the SPEED 
network.
 
The pair's next race is March 13-15 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, 
Fla., a track that should be even better suited to the nimble BMW than 
Daytona's road course.
 
For more information see turnermotorsport.com, grand-am.com/koni, ko
nisportscarchallenge.com, gleasoninc.com and speedtv.com. 
 
Driver quotes follow:
 
Chris Gleason:  "We had a little shock problem in qualifying that screwed up 
the handling, and we started 25th or something like that.  The car was working 
pretty well in the race though.  Its set-up wasn't perfect, but we were 
dealing with it.  I haven't driven in more than a year, and it'll probably take me 
three or four races to get reacclimated with the finer points of braking and 
some other things.
 
"There were a lot of accidents during my stint.  Once when I came into Turn 1 
there was smoke and debris everywhere, and you couldn't see well.  You have 
to point to the hole and not brake too hard, because if you do the guy behind 
you might hit you.  It's kind of instinctive; there's not much time to think. 
 
"I got up to about 13th I think, and then Joey played it out.  The team did a 
great job and had very good pit strategy.  Joey quickly got into the top 10 
and then started heading for the top five.  We drove together in '05; he's a 
terrific kid, and like a son to me. 
 
"After Joey led in the second hour, the engine lost power.  The last hour he 
had to fight to stay in the top 10.  Then Bill's drive at the end was very 
exciting; it was great when he won.  
 
"When you can't get on the podium we want to get a top-10 finish.  The 
Grand-Am points system is similar to NASCAR's in that it rewards consistent top-10 
finishes, so that's what we want.  We're out of the gate well.  We'll make some 
improvements in the car and sort out some problems, and I think we'll be very 
competitive at Homestead, a track that suits our car better anyway."
 
Joey Hand: "At first it was the best car I've ever had in a KONI Challenge 
race, but then something in the engine started to go.  We lost torque, and I was 
a sitting duck on the straightaways.  But it was the best power I've ever had 
until then. 
 
"Chris drove great. He did exactly what we needed him to do.  He missed all 
those wrecks.  But I used up everything getting to the front.  I ruined the tir
es.  We have to work on our shocks before the next race too.  I tried to be as 
aggressive and smart as I could be under the situation, and finish with 
points.  Chris and I are trying to win the championship, and a top-10 finish is 
what we need for the points."