A mid-race power failure in the Dominican Republic disrupted the computer timing and scoring system, forcing race officials to manually score the remainder of the race.
Maxwell and Empringham were originally credited with 2nd place in the #55 car with Jeannette and Gue in 4th. However a post-race audit placed the #55 Mustang a lap in arrears, putting them back to 9th. Jeannette and Gue were elevated to second place.
The four factory Ford Mustang drivers all now have a total of 54 points - only four points behind the championship leading BMW M3 duo of Rob Finlay and Michael McDowell.
Multimatic Motorsports now heads to California Speedway in Fontana near Los Angeles this weekend for round three of the 2005 championship, eager to build upon the strong start to the season by both cars.
"To have both Mustangs running equal second in the championship is a great result for this year and a great reward for all the hard work put in by everybody at Multimatic Motorsports and Ford Racing Technologies," Multimatic Vice President and team Technical Director, Larry Holt said.
"The target for Multimatic Motorsports is to now challenge for our first race win of 2005. Both cars have a second place to their credit, but getting a couple of race wins under our belt along with some consistent points scoring performances will be perfect for our championship changes.
"But the competition is tough - not only from the other manufacturers, but from the Mustang FR500C customer entries."
Ford Racing Technology embarked on this program to return the Mustang to the race track, and unveiled the new Mustang FR500C racer at the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer's Association Show in Las Vegas in November last year. Ford Racing worked closely with Multimatic on the design, development, and build of the race car to Grand-Am specification.
Ford Racing Performance Parts will offer the Mustang FR500C in Grand-Am Cup specification, as well as all the racing components necessary for race team support and for those enthusiasts interested in enhancing their own Mustangs.
In conjunction with the debut season of the new Mustang FR500C, Multimatic Motorsports has launched a new web site to commemorate the return to the track by the Ford muscle-car. The site is located at www.multimaticmotorsports.com/mustang/ and features driver profiles, race news, photo galleries and Multimatic Motorsports and Mustang history.
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