Autometrics
Motorsports Wins Second Straight Podium Finish
Grand
Am Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park
October
10, 2004
Coming off a strong 3rd
place finish at VIR last weekend, we were optimistic for a similar
result at Barber. At the BMP PCA Club race earlier this year, Leh
Keen won the sprint race convincingly and he and Cory Friedman also took
first in the enduro. We kept the same driver line-up from last
race, and this is the last event we have scheduled for our #14 2000 GT3
Cup. We did not run the test day on Thursday because of how close
it was to the last event. The majority of the field did run the
test, and as a result, we were a little off pace in practice on
Friday. In the first practice, we were 6th in class, nearly two
seconds off the fastest car.
We
made some dramatic changes, and in the final practice before qualifying,
we were first in class running in damp conditions. Mid-Ohio aside,
we have been qualifying increasingly well this season. We were 5th
at the Rolex 24, 4th at the Paul Revere, 3rd at VIR and Leh took the car
to 2nd on the grid in his first professional qualifying effort.
The #36 TPC car was on pole again, but this time we were ahead of the
#38 car. Keen's qualifying time was two seconds faster than the
course record for the class.
Yellow
was the color of the day for the rainy Porsche 250. Light rain was
present throughout the entire race and at times the rain picked up to
the point where rains would have been beneficial. The slick
surface caused many off-track excursions, and 36 out of our 84 laps were
following the safety car. A few cars opted to start the race on
rains, but most, including us, chose dry tires. The pole sitting
#36 car made decision for rains and it cost them, as they had to come in
for slicks only 6 laps into the race. This tire choice allowed Leh
to quickly take the class lead and put a comfortable distance to the 36
and 38 cars. The first of six full-course cautions came out seven
laps into the race and we were fortunate to have the race leader between
us and the rest of the SGS field. This allowed Leh to circle the track
at full speed and take almost a full lap lead over the second place
car. We used this opportunity to take a quick splash-and-go
without losing any ground to our competitors. About 30 minutes
into the race, the rain really started picking up and we considered
putting rains on the car. We had the rain tires constantly ready,
but never did need them. The second caution came about 15 minutes
later, and we did another splash-and-go, but decided to keep Leh in the
car a little longer. TPC brought 36 and 38 in and changed drivers
to Lally and Pobst. Just before the caution ended, 36 made another
stop to add coolant. An earlier incident ruptured their left front
radiator.
Keen continued to
circulate in first place with the 38 car about 70 seconds behind.
He was keeping pace with Lally, but Pobst was running an incredible pace
quickly catching the top two cars despite the radiator problems.
With about an hour left to go, another caution came out and all 3 of the
top SGS cars were caught behind the pace car. The TPC cars were
ahead of Leh in track position, but down a lap. We brought the car
in to do our final fuel stop and put Cory in the car along with fresh
tires. The race leading prototype, who was behind the pace car
also came in this lap. Typically, in situations like this, the
pace car will simply pick up the next car in line. The actions of
the pace car are determined by Grand Am's Race Control, whose primary
job is to make the race run smoothly and be exciting for
television. In this case, he did something that is certainly
within the rulebook, but not very common. The pace car did a
second wave-by to pick up the new race leader. While we were in
pit lane, the 36 and 38 cars were allowed to circle the track and get to
the back of the field, eliminating the one lap lead we had carried the
entire race up until this point. We actually fell to second place
temporarily until the 38 car made his last stop, and we regained 1st in
class. The same luck which gave us a lap earlier in the race
worked against us late in the race and we led only by a few seconds over
the 38 car and less than a lap over the 36 car. Lally was pushing
hard with the championship on the line and Pobst was absolutely on fire
trying to make up the time lost adding coolant.
Shortly
after Cory got in the car, the rain picked up harder than it had all
weekend. Rains were certainly in order, but the time we would have
gained with rains would not offset the time it would take to make the
change. Just after the clock turned over 2 hours (the race was limited
to 2:45) Cory was passed by Lally and we dropped to second in SGS.
We still had a significant lead over Pobst, but he was catching
fast. It was no accident that our pit box was adjacent to
TPC's. When the rain got bad, we pulled the rain tires out to the
pit wall in case we might need them, but mostly to see how the TPC crew
would react. They immediately followed suit; obviously, they were
paying close attention to what we were doing. At the current pace,
Randy was going to catch us in the last few minutes of the race, but it
would have been close. When a late yellow came out, the lead we
had dissolved completely and Pobst was only a few cars behind
Cory. It took two laps for the 36 car, who had unfortunately for
us suppressed their coolant leak, to catch and pass Friedman, dropping
us into 3rd place. Cory's pace was still strong, and he was
continuing to put ground on the 4th place car, who was never really a
factor in this race. In accordance with the rest of the race, the
checkered flag flew alongside a yellow, and an incredibly exciting race
ended quite anticlimactically. The 38 car took the win and
driver's championship for Bunting and Lally, and the 36 car of Levitas
and Pobst took second.
Our drivers
and crew did a great job, and like last race, only the top 3 SGS cars
were on the lead lap and only 3 laps down from the race winning
DP. Anyone who might have thought our finish in last race was a
fluke should certainly be convinced at this point. We lead for
well over two-thirds of the race, but our 4-year old car just did not
have the potential to keep pace with Pobst and Lally in the rain.
Competition in this class is vicious and any small mistake or incident
can throw a car completely out of the running. Cory and Leh have
done a phenomenal job keeping the car out of harms way and on-course,
and our pit stops have been nearly flawless and well-timed. In
these last two races, even pit stops under yellow have needed to be fast
as track position can pay dividends as the race unfolds.
We
have received many congratulatory phone calls and e-mails in the last
week, and we would like to thank everyone for their support. We
couldn't be happier with the way we finished out the season and are
looking forward to next season.
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