Daytona proved to be a magnet for Performance Touring racers. The larger-than-normal attendance brought close, hard racing to the famed circuit.
In PTB, Bob Rutzky took his Subaru Legacy GT to double wire-to-wire victories, followed by Bryan Lewis in the Quicktime Performance sponsored Nissan 200SX in second and Dennis Koselak in the Nissan 350Z in third. Sunday had Bryan Lewis maintain his previous spot on the box and Michael Birchfield in his VW GTI finished third after his second crash of the weekend.
PTD had Ryan Whitinger running away with double victories, leaving tight battles for second and third on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, rookie Emmanual Baako in his Toyobaru scored his best finish, nipping Brian Edmonds’ E30 at the line for second by a mere .001 seconds! Sunday was an all E30 podium and almost just as close as Saturday with Sandro Espinoza edging out Mark Issa by .009 seconds. PTE had Walter Araya owning the top of the podium twice throughout the weekend.
