Autometrics Morotsports - Team Biography

Autometrics Motorsports' history can be traced back to 1988 when Gordon Friedman, President of Autometrics, Inc., worked the IMSA season with Brun Motorsports' Prototype effort. During this period, along with knowledge and experience with professional racing came aspirations for his own racing endeavors.

Involvement in the Porsche Club of America's (PCA) Drivers' Education program introduced Autometrics, which had been primarily an import repair shop, to track cars and performance driving. In 1999, when track work took over the majority of the business, Autometrics Motorsports split off as its own entity. This was also when we decided to make the jump from amateur racing to professional racing.

To accomplish this, we continued doing what has worked so well for us in the past, developing road cars. The car we chose was Porsche's 993, the most modern and developed of the accomplished air-cooled 911. The 993 ran in various stages of development with great success. Using PCA Club Racing as a testing ground, the car promised great things when Cory Friedman, the primary driver of the 993, won the car's first race convincingly.

We ran select Speedvision World Challenge GT races in 2000 with respectable results, and finished off the year testing for the Grand-Am Rolex 24 hours at Daytona, the biggest and most difficult Sportscar race in the country. When the 993 arrived at Daytona in February of 2001, it was in its final 3.8 RSR form. Our first top-level Professional race yielded a fine result. Cory's phenomenal qualifying run put us 75th on the grid, so we were quite pleased to not be among the many cars who left early after failing to qualify. Though we lacked the sheer speed of Porsche's newest model, the water-cooled 996-based GT3R, our reliability and durability, the result of countless hours of preparation, proved incredibly effective throughout the grueling race. After running as high as 19th overall, we took the checkers in 23rd, a truly remarkable finish in light of our qualifying spot and the fact that our GT category is the slowest of all competitors. We ran a total of five Grand-Am races in 2001, putting Cory 22nd in GT points. Considering our RSR was the only air-cooled car to run consistently through the season, these results are quite respectable.

Our focus shifted slightly in 2002, when we provided support for SPEED World Challenge races and ran with Marcus Motorsports in a BMW M3 for the Grand-Am Season. Our work with Marcus earned our first Grand-Am GT podium at the second round at Watkins Glen in addition to consistent top-5 finishes. Before we earned the 3rd place with Marcus, we ran with Front Porch Racing's Porsche GT3R at the 6-hour Watkins Glen race in the GTS category. A collapsed windshield with only 10 minutes remaining stripped a class win from us, but left us with an astounding 2nd place finish.

Our first attempt in the American LeMans Series (ALMS) came with Front Porch at the Cadillac Grand Prix in Washington, D.C. The competition at the temporary RFK circuit was fierce to say the least. Cory piloted the car as high as 6th in class, and concluded the race in 8th position.

The 2002 season also marked the last opportunity to run the air-cooled RSR. At the Series finale at Daytona, we again ran with Marcus, but also campaigned the RSR for the last time it would be eligible for top-level professional competition. The car retired strong, earning a top-10 finish.

We returned to the Daytona 24 in 2003 with the M3 and started off the year well with a 13th overall finish out of 44 cars (compared to 2001 where over 80 cars arrived). We ran the Daytona Grand Am Finale with our newly acquired 2000 GT3 Cup mostly as a warm-up for the 2004 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

We arrived for our second attempt at the 24 in a much more competitive car. The 2000 lacked a bit compared to the '04 cars, but it was nothing compared to deficit of the RSR. Cory again qualified the car, and we started 5th in the new SGS category. Unfortunately, we did not stay there long as collisions forced far too many stops to be competitive. This trend continued when we returned to Daytona for the Paul Revere. Friedman qualified 4th this time and shared driving duties with Leh Keen, a dominant Club Racer. Cory was running second when contact with the third place car put us out of the running.

We showed up at VIR with the same driver line-up as the Paul Revere. We qualified 3rd and stayed there the majority of the race, and Cory and Leh got their first of two back-to-back podium finishes. The second came the following weekend at Barber. Keen's first professional qualifying effort put him second on the grid. We lead most of the race before finishing in 3rd.

In 2005, the SGS category merged with the GT class. We campaigned the season with two cars, Cory and Leh in the #14 car and a variety of drivers in the other car. Powered by top-10 finishes in almost every race, five top-5’s and a win at the Watkins Glen 6-hour (where Cory and Leh were joined by Wolf Henzler), we finished 3rd in the 2005 GT Team Championship.

The new 997 became the flagship Porsche for 2006. We brought out the ’05 car for a very disappointing 24. The car got bumped going into turn 1 and the contact with the tire barrier left the car unable to run. We brought last year’s 14 car to make the race, but the engine let go after about 4 hours. We ran our ’06 997 at select races with respectable results.

For the 2007 Rolex 24, the relentless ’05 car was brought back out along with a new Grand Am spec 997. Our first 2-car endeavor at the 24 went reasonably well. Both cars experienced issues but finished strong. We ran about half of the races on the ’07 Grand Am calendar, scoring a top-10 at the Watkins Glen 6-hour.

For the 2008 Rolex 24, we’re bringing two 997s, and we will be looking to improve on our best finish so far of 6th in class (in 2005). Both cars will compete in select races with the 14 car expecting to run the entire calendar.