For more information:
Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
Cell: (317) 201-0729
E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
 
 
 
 
Gleason and Hand Achieve 
Another Podium Finish
At Watkins Glen on Friday
 
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., June 5 - After winning at Connecticut's Lime Rock Park 
on Memorial Day, Chris Gleason and Joey Hand recorded another strong podium 
finish Friday at Watkins Glen International when they placed third in 
TheGlen200.com KONI Challenge race.
 
Gleason, of Johnstown, Pa., and Hand, of Sacramento, Calif., co-drive the 
Turner Motorsport BMW M3 Coupe No. 97 sponsored in part by Gleason Financial.
 
The duo was always in contention throughout the 2-hour, 30-minute contest 
on the Glen's demanding, 3.4-mile, 11-turn long course, and their car 
recorded the fastest lap of the race among the 51 entries.  That occurred on lap 35 
of the 61-lap race when Hand was timed in 2:03.308 for an average speed of 
99.263 miles per hour.
 
Andy Lally and John Potter won the event in a Porsche followed by Gleason 
and Hand's sister car, the Turner Motorsport BMW M3 Coupe No. 96 driven by 
Bill Auberlen and polesitter Matt Bell.  The latter car was 1.117 seconds 
behind Lally's Porsche at the checkered flag after a day of intermittent rain. 
Gleason and Hand's No. 97 was 1.197 seconds behind its sister BMW at the 
finish.
 
The top three finishers were exactly the same as they were at Lime Rock 
except in a different order.  Gleason and Hand won that race over Lally and 
Potter, with Auberlen and Bell third.
 
Gleason recorded his best qualifying results so far this season when he 
qualified seventh on Friday afternoon at the Glen, posting a lap in 2:05.979 on 
his fifth and final lap in the 15-minute qualifying session. That worked 
out to an average speed of 97.159 miles per hour.  Gleason's qualifying run 
took just 1.403 seconds longer than polesitter Matt Bell's new track record of 
2:04.576 (98.253 mph), and it was only a tenth of a second off the time 
recorded by Jack Roush Jr., the sixth-place starter. 
 
Gleason started the race and he remained in seventh place throughout his 
stint, handing the BMW over to Hand in perfect condition just as hoped. 
Gleason spent most of his stint running behind the Kinetic Motorsports BMW of 
Glenn Bocchino that finished fourth while holding off either John Potter in the 
Porsche that went on to win or Mark Harvison's Mustang.  The winning car was 
2 seconds behind Gleason's when he pitted on lap 12 for Hand to take over 
under a full-course yellow for oil in Turn 1. 
 
Gleason and Hand's entry dropped from seventh to 43rd due to the pit stop, 
but other competitors had to pit too and it only took Hand nine minutes to 
get back to 11th on lap 16. He charged into a podium position for the first 
time on lap 23, a lap before Auberlen passed Bret Seafuse for the lead.  
 
Hand passed Seafuse for second on lap 26 to make it one-two for Turner 
Motorsport at that point. Hand remained in second until lap 29 when he dropped 
to fifth, but he passed Dean Martin for fourth on lap 33 and Seafuse for 
third on lap 34 before he set the fastest lap of the race on lap 35.  
 
At that point he had to make another pit stop, which sent him back to 
eighth. Others had to pit too, and Hand was back in third by lap 43.  At that 
point the two Turner BMWs were chasing two Ford Mustangs, and Hand was 3.334 
seconds ahead of Auberlen.  
 
Auberlen passed Hand for third on lap 50 and then passed James Gue for the 
lead on the subsequent lap. On lap 52 Hand was in second place, 0.637 of a 
second behind Auberlen, while Lally was third followed by two Mustangs.
 
Lally vaulted from third to first on lap 55 with about 13 minutes remaining 
in the race. Hand was 0.224 of a second behind Lally at that point, but 
then Auberlen repassed Hand on lap 56 to push Hand back to third. 
 
Hand wasn't done yet, however.  He passed Auberlen back for second place on 
lap 58 in the Inner Loop with about 4 minutes remaining.  Auberlen got him 
back for the final time in Turn 7 on the next-to-last lap, and that's the 
way they finished.
 
Auberlen led the most laps of the race (18) followed by Ken Wilden, the 
points leader and sixth-place finisher; James Gue and Lally.
 
The race will be broadcast on SPEED at 2 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, June 
14. 
 
Gleason's next race is June 19-21 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 
Lexington, Ohio.  It will air at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, June 28 on 
SPEED.
 
For the rest of the schedule and additional information, see 
turnermotorsport.com, grand-am.com/koni, konisportscarchallenge.com, gleasoninc.com and 
speedtv.com.
 
Gleason's post-race quote follows:
 
"Andy Lally beat us today; his Porsche was great in the rain and he did a 
fabulous job.
 
"I really didn't do very much work today; they brought me in after about 30 
minutes after a couple full-course yellows.  
 
"It rained off and on, including the last 40 minutes or so.  We wanted to 
win, but third is good for the championship.
 
"I qualified seventh, which was my best qualifying result so far this year 
and only a tenth of a second out of sixth. I'm getting my rhythm back.
 
"We had a good pit stop for the driver change; the Turner Motorsport crew 
did a good job.  On Joey's second pit stop he and Bill Auberlen came in at 
the same time and Joey beat him out of the pits.  They might have been first 
and second at the time; I don't remember.
 
"We had no real problems. We had a little problem with the brakes that was 
compounded when it rained, but we had no real problems.  Joey drove the 
wheels off the car.  We really tried to win and we came up a little short, but 
third is good for the points."