CompUSA
200 at the Glen
Watkins
Glen, NY
August
13, 2005
Race nine on the 2005 Grand Am Calendar
took us back to Watkins Glen, where our #14 Porsche GT3 Cup won the GT
class a few months ago. This time we were running with NASCAR, so
the event was condensed to only 2 days, and we were running on Watkins
Glen's Short Course.
Cory and Leh went into this race behind 4
other cars in the Team Championship standings, and we were looking to
overtake at least one of the cars ahead of us. In the 94 car for
this race was Bransen Patch and Patrick Small.
The BMW's were fast as always, and the
GTO's with their enlarged restrictor were also showing considerable
speed. Only the fastest Porsches could come close to the times of
the front engined cars. The 14 car was running consistently 9th
fastest through the practice sessions, but Friedman was not able to put
a clean lap together and started 12th on the grid. Bransen
Qualified the 94 car and would start 19th.
Practices
were all dry and it was pretty hot at about 90 degrees. The race
was on Saturday, and early afternoon rain stopped all NASCAR
practice. The last race here in the rain was very good to us, so
we were prepared for a wet race, but the weather cleared and left us
with cooler temperatures and a clean track. This race is the
shortest on the calendar at 200 miles (or 2:00) on the incredibly fast
(higher average speed than Daytona) Short Circuit, so one stop near the
middle of the race was sufficient. Consequently, two factors
became critically important. Teams with one strong and one weak
driver are typically able to sneak their weak driver in the car for a
short time in the middle of the race, leaving the strong driver to start
and finish. For this race, the weak driver must run nearly half
the race, or a second stop would be required. Teams like ours with
comparable drivers were going to be at a big advantage. The second
issue is that pit timing and execution would be more important than
usual. It was very likely many cars would stop on the same lap,
and the team to get their work finished first could gain track position
in the process.
The start of the
race went off with no issues, Cory temporarily lost a position to the
#22 BMW, but by 10 minutes, had moved into the top 10. Similarly,
Bransen also picked up position running strongly in 17th. The
first yellow came out only 15 minutes into the race, and unfortunately,
our 94 car was the cause. The #19 Daytona Prototype trying to make
a pass on another car came across and hit Bransen's front right fender
hard, knocking him off-course and slammed him into the guardrail.
The car bounced off the driver side Armco and slid back across the
track, luckily avoiding any further collisions. The car is damaged
very badly, but Bransen sustained no injuries. The DP was called
for a 1 minute stop-and-go for avoidable contact, but that is little
consolation.
The race progressed to
the 1-hour mark with only 3 more laps under yellow. Cory had run
as high as 6th, but was passed by a BMW and a GTO, leaving him in
8th. This yellow put all teams comfortably into their final stop
window. All pertinent teams, with the exception of the #80 car,
made stops early in this caution. Our guys did a great stop, with
tires and a driver change complete before the fuel was full. We
picked up some track position with the stop, but not enough to pick up a
position in class. The 80 car opted to not pit early on because
they were in position to get a wave-by. This could have put them
nearly a full lap up on the second place GT car, which at this point in
the race would have been almost certain victory. Things did not go
as planned for the points-leading team, however. When you get a
wave-by, you have 2 laps before the track goes green again. Murry
in #80 came in after the first lap, and when the stop was complete, they
got held up at the end of pit lane. They were not able to get out
of pit lane before the safety car went by. This would have a huge
impact on the outcome of the race, as it meant an almost certain win
dissolved into the 80 car sitting about 10th in class at the back of the
field.
Back to racing, Leh was in
6th place, and things were looking good, as the #65 GTO had to make a
stop-and-go penalty, which put them further behind us, and Keen overtook
the #26 Porsche to move us into the top 5. We moved into the last
half-hour of the race, which would go the 2-hour time limit due to the
long cautions, still 5th in GT, only 15 seconds behind the class
leader. The 36 car passed us just before a yellow came out with 17
minutes to go. This yellow gave the 73 car a chance to do its
driver change, so we picked up one position there, but overall it hurt
us, as it allowed the 80 and 65 cars to catch up, eliminating the
substantial lead we had.
Only 10
minutes to go in the race, and 8 GT cars were still on the lead
lap. We really hoped we could maintain our 5th position, but we
had some very fast cars behind us. A bad break in traffic allowed
the 80 Porsche to slip by. A very short caution with only 5 laps
remaining gave the 65 GTO the opportunity it needed to finally overtake
Keen. On the restart, he simply drove right by us. In the
last 2 laps of the race, Lally in the GTO passed us, the #80 Porsche and
the #22 BMW. The GTO's are seriously fast, as the team car won the
GT class. The top 7 GT cars were within 10 seconds at the end of
the race.
The 7th place finish was
reasonably productive for the #14 car in the Season Championship.
The winning car is not in contention, so that was helpful. We lost
further ground to the 16 BMW and 80 Porsche, and the 65 GTO improved its
lead over us slightly. We now trail 65 in 3rd by 5 points, and are
only 24 points out of the overall lead. Entering the race, the 73
Porsche led us by 1 point, but afterwards, we have a slim 3 point
lead. Friedman and Keen are 6th in the Driver's standings.
The points race is very close this season, and with 5 races remaining,
there is still plenty of opportunity for things to change.
Round
10 is only two weeks later at Mid-Ohio.
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