The green flag drops on the 2013 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series! Jack Roush Jr. starts the #61 Mustang on the outside of row one, alongside Jade Buford in the #55 Aston Martin Vantage.

For the second consecutive year, Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson claimed victory in the opening round of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series, the 2013 edition entitled the BMW Performance 200 at Daytona International Speedway on January 25th. The driving duo have a recent history of “zero to hero” performances at the famed 3.56-mile track, starting in 2011 when Jack Roush Jr. stuffed his Mustang in the tires with brake failure on the race’s second lap. Roush and Johnson redeemed themselves in 2012 with a solid victory, and followed it up with a repeat win this year.

Jack Roush Jr. pits his Mustang Boss 302R with a flat left-front tire. Fortunately, he picked up the puncture during a full-course caution, and was able to hand over driving duties to co-driver Billy Johnson.

The Roush Performance #51 and #61 were the fastest of the Mustangs, and ran in the top ten for every practice session. The Turner Motorsport and Fall-Line BMWs shared fastest practice times with the Multimatic Aston Marton Vantages. Regardless, “winning practice” means nothing, as some teams were certainly holding back until qualifying.

Qualifying was cut to only a couple hot laps because of an on-track incident that brought out the black flag. However, those that set quickest laps were Jade Buford, in the #55 Multimatic Aston Martin Vantage, followed by Jack Roush Jr., in the #61 Mustang Boss 302R, and the other Roush team car (#51) qualified by Joey Atterbury.

The opening laps of the race saw Nick Longhi (#13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche), and pole-sitter Jade Buford battle for the lead, with Brett Sandberg (#48 Fall-Line BMW), and Al Carter (#45 Fall-Line BMW) in hot pursuit. At the twenty-minute mark, the first full-course caution came out when Mark Boden (#46 Fall-Line BMW) tangled with some slower ST-class cars and landed in the tires at turn 5.

Roush Performance fielded the #49 Mustang Boss 302R for Bryan Ortiz and Roly Falgueras. They started 16th and finished a solid 14th in the race.

The race didn’t start well for the eventual victors Roush and Johnson, when the left-front tire of their Roush Performance steed lost air, requiring Roush to limp to the pits for a fresh set of boots. Fortunately, it was during the caution period, and the duo only lost positions but stayed on the lead lap. Roush recalled, “I cut a tire. I must have run over debris. I don’t remember hitting anything, but I know I never ran into anybody.”

With Billy Johnson installed behind the controls, the Roush Performance Mustang rejoined the race and picked off positions through the following laps. On lap 34, Johnson passed David Epringham (#15 Aston Martin Vantage) on the backstretch to take the lead. Even after stopping for a quick splash of fuel twenty minutes later, Johnson never relinquished the lead, and took the checked flag over Matt Plumb (who took over driving of the #13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche) and David Epringham. It was Johnson’s 14th career win in the series, and Jack Roush Jr.’s ninth.

The series moves on to the newly-constructed Circuit of the Americas, just outside of Austin, Texas for round two of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series. The teams are looking forward to competing on this world-class circuit, which is the current home of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix!

Roger Miller and Ian James backed up their strong finishes in 2012 with a tenth place finish at Daytona in their #158 Mustang Boss 302R. Miller started the race from 24th position before handing it over to co-driver James.

The BTE Sport #43 Mustang Boss 302R finished the race in 24th position, one lap down. Drivers Anthony Massari and Alain Desrochers started 28th.

Jim Click Racing brought their FR500C for some lead-follow exercises during practice at Daytona. Click and co-driver, Mike McGovern, teamed up in their blue Boss 302R for the race.

Joey Atterbury and Shelby Blackstock’s weekend started strong by qualifying third, behind Roush Jr. and former teammate Jade Buford. However, they started 35th after failing post-qualifying inspection. To add insult to injury, their race ended after only 27 laps, when they suffered a broken transmission. Atterbury was running 4th.

The #78 Racer’s Edge Motorsports Mustang Boss 302R hosted drivers Rich Golinello and David Levine at Daytona. They qualified 15th and finished 16th.

Car dealer Jim click and Mike McGovern, drove the #2 Mustang Boss 302R to an excellent 7th place finish after starting 25th!

The MoonPie Racing Mustang made its competition debut at Daytona with drivers Roddey Sterling Jr. and Dean Martin. Sterling qualified 27th, and Martin finished 20th, one lap down in the Rehagen Racing-built Mustang that started life as a wrecked Boss 302 Laguna Seca.

Jesse Cox jumps over the fuel hose when the MoonPie Racing team practiced pit stops.

John Yarosz and Craig Capaldi shared the Capaldi Racing Mustang Boss 302R for the first race of the 2013 season at Daytona. The team started the race from 30th and finished 22nd.

The #05 Racer’s Edge Motorsports Mustang streaks past the infield Ferris wheel at Daytona. Joel Janco and Jon Miller shared driving duties. They started 31st and finished 25th.

Victorious again! Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson celebrate their second-consecutive win at Daytona, in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series, under a shower of Gatorade from their team.