Lexington, OH (25 August 05)—After a difficult race weekend in ALMS competition last week at Road America, Guy Cosmo is ready to take on another great road course this weekend in Grand Am Cup competition for the Emco Gears Classic on Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Cosmo will be reunited with his BGB Motorsports teammate Mark Plummer in their Porsche 996 in the GS class. Their last race together saw the American duo score a tenth place finish at Mosport, and a return to Mid-Ohio has Cosmo excited about the weekend as the 89-lap Cup race will be the Sunday headliner on the 2.258-mile natural road course outside of Mansfield, Ohio.
With a collection of trophies from Mid-Ohio victories in a variety of race cars, from Formula Ford, Formula 2000 and Star Mazda, it’s understandable why Cosmo became known as “Mr. Mid-Ohio.” He has also taken his cars to the pole position regularly on the track--Cosmo managed to clear the field by a full second in his 2002 championship-winning season. And, earlier this summer he put another feather in his cap by scoring Mazda’s breakthrough win in ALMS competition for their first rotary-powered victory since the marques 1991 Le Mans triumph.
“This track has a lot of great memories for me, and I feel like I always have something extra at this track,” said Cosmo. “It’s been a while since Mosport, and I know the BGB guys have continued to improve our Porsche, so we’re looking to do even better than we did at Mosport. I have a lot of laps under my belt here at Mid-Ohio, and we should definitely be competitive. With almost 75 cars on the track, I know it is going to be very busy, but it’s also going to be a blast on this track.”
Cosmo has been able to bounce back from a difficult event at Road America after his teammate encountered a problem early in the race, preventing Cosmo from getting his shot at glory on the magnificent Elkhart Lake track.
“After all the hard work the B-K Motorsports team put in for Road America, we were disappointed to not get the chance to fight,” sighed Cosmo. “Jamie started the car and got hit during the start, which caused some damage to the drive train. Unfortunately we were done for the day. Despite our misfortune, the B-K Motorsports Mazda program continues to progress in leaps and bounds, and we look forward to what we can show in the future. We also had a really good time with all the Sportsbook.com folks and all of the people visiting us for Jamie’s birthday.”
Television times for the Emco Gears Classic have not yet been posted, but will be noted on guycosmo.com once they are released.
July 15th, 2005—With three American Le Mans Series races in five weekends, July is a busy month for Guy Cosmo – but the 2002 Star Mazda Champion is looking forward to being busy in his B-K Motorsports Sportsbook.com/Mazda-powered Courage in the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series. Cosmo will be back in action this weekend for the Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway as he and teammate Jamie Bach look to regain the points lead in the LMP2 championship standings.
After a difficult outing at Lime Rock Park over the July 4th weekend, which saw problems taking Cosmo and teammate Bach out of the LMP2 points lead, Cosmo is excited about racing again at the twelve-turn, 2.53-mile natural terrain circuit in Northern California. The track holds some fond memories for the native New Yorker, as it was the site of his first Star Mazda victory on the way to winning the 2002 Star Mazda Pro Series.
“I just love this track,” said Cosmo. “It’s very technical and you have to be very precise throughout the whole lap. This track has some twisty, high-speed sections, some slower, off-camber corners with elevation changes, and it’s a real thrill for a driver. I started my Star Mazda championship run with a win here a couple of years ago, and I really hope I can drive another Mazda into victory circle again this weekend!”
Cosmo has proven a quick learner in the ultra-light and powerful Mazda/Courage combination, as he and Bach took victory in just their second start. Cosmo knows that driving the Sportsbook.com Mazda at Infineon this weekend will be unlike anything he has driven there before, but he is eager to strap in and go.
“This will be the fastest car that I have raced here, so it will take a couple of laps to get my braking and turn in points adjusted, but this track is so fun that the faster the car, the better!” said Cosmo. “We are really focused on getting a good result here and we want to get back on top in the points. All of us at B-K Motorsports look forward to another chapter of good results at Infineon this weekend.”
The race will be carried Live on CBS Sports on July 17th beginning at 3:00 PM EST.
(Bowmanville, ONT)—Guy Cosmo kept his momentum going in Grand-Am Cup competition this weekend, taking tenth place at Mosport International Raceway with teammate Mark Plummer in their BGB Motorsport Porsche 996. Cosmo, who opened up the season with a fifth place finish at Daytona International Raceway, suffered through three consecutive mechanical DNF’s earlier in the season before rebounding at Watkins Glen last weekend with the team’s first finish since Daytona.
Cosmo’s teammate Plummer had never raced at the high-speed Canadian facility before the weekend, but learned the fast way around with some help from Cosmo, who has good knowledge of the track having taken poles and wins there before.
Plummer showed himself to be a quick learner, shaving seconds off of his time through the weekend and qualifying fifteenth for the race. Immediately after the green flag fell, though, Plummer felt as though something wasn’t quite right with the car’s handling, and was forced to slow his pace as he learned how to get the most speed out of the ill-handling car before turning it over to Cosmo.
“When I got in the car, I could tell right away what Mark had been talking about – the car was very different from how it’d felt in the morning warm up and very difficult to drive,” said Cosmo. “It felt like it was a loss of shock canister pressure or a broken roll-bar, but once the green drops you have no choice but to drive what you’ve got as hard and as fast as you can, and that’s what we did.”
Cosmo, who had his chances at a good race result at Watkins Glen eliminated after a spinning car struck his, thought that the field behaved much better during the Mosport race.
“There was a lot of contact and rough racing at The Glen, but everyone did a much better job this weekend – the racing was extremely tough but very clean,” said Cosmo. “Driving an ill-handling car is always a challenge, and then add the demands of Mosport and a very competitive sixty-car field – I worked hard, but I loved every minute of it. I really love racing at Mosport and I’m glad we salvaged a top-ten out of the weekend.”
Ever the racer, Cosmo has been frustrated not to get the chance to show what the BGB Motorsports team is truly capable of.
“Our program and our Porsche have gained a lot of strength, and I’ve got one of the best teammates out there. We have a package that will contend for podiums as long as lady luck even glances our way. By the next round at Barber we’re looking for a flawless run and the results should speak for themselves!”
Cosmo will race next in his Mazda-powered Courage for the American Le Mans Grand Prix weekend at Lime Rock Park on the July 4th weekend as he will look to take another win in the LMP2 class with B-K Motorsports.
Bowmanville, ONT (June 16, 2005) — After opening the Grand-Am Cup season with an encouraging fifth place finish at Daytona in February, Guy Cosmo suffered through three consecutive rounds of misfortune in his BGB Motorsports Porsche 996. Cosmo was able to make it to the finish in last weekends Chemung Canal 200 at Watkins Glen and is hoping that this weekend he will be able to not only make it to the finish, but also score another strong result in the Grand Am 200 at Mosport International Raceway. The race is round six of eleven for Cosmo and his teammate Mark Plummer in their BGB Motorsports Porsche 996.
Described as one of the most challenging tracks in North America, the 2.459-mile natural terrain circuit features a number of blind, high-speed corners, as well as significant elevation changes. Can-Am, IndyCar, and Formula 1 have all raced on the track with drivers like Fittipaldi, Andretti, Donohue, Ickx, Stewart, and Foyt taking wins on the daunting circuit.
Cosmo himself is also on that list, having scored victories at the track in both US F2000 competition as well as during his championship-winning 2002 Star Mazda season, when he scored the pole position by over a full second to the field. Cosmo loves racing at the track, which lies sixty miles east of Toronto.
“Mosport is a track that separates the men from the boys with all the fast, blind corners and sweeping elevation changes,” said Cosmo. “The track also has some very long corners, which should be good for our Porsche. The car is constantly under load here, and our car is very well behaved at the limit. Hopefully that will be an advantage for us.”
With rain forecast for Friday and possibly for the race on Saturday, it’s anybody’s guess what is going to happen weather wise for the race, which is scheduled to get underway at 3:30 PM EST, but Cosmo is hoping for a dry race.
“I enjoy the challenge of racing in the rain, but feel like we have something to prove to our competition in the dry.” said Cosmo. “The BGB Motorsports crew has done a great job to avoid the small problems that took us out of some of the races earlier this season, and we have made a lot of progress with our set up.”
Cosmo’s teammate Plummer will qualify the car on Friday and start the race on Saturday before turning the car over to Cosmo. The race will be aired on Speed Channel, although the air date has not yet been announced.