Hey, great to have the live timing and scoring for this event. Congratulations to team Tom! Good luck this weekend, it should be great weather.
The race was a blast, especially getting my first win! I qualified 7th overall on the grid on season points but Tom F missed the start. Ever have that sinking feeling while you are sitting in the pits and you see your race group leave the grid? 8:30 am on a cold Atlanta morning is too early to begin a race.
Tom caught the field after the start and started passing like a demon. The ice on the track moved a few unlucky drivers out of his way, too. That run-down 1.6 rental car embarassed a few high horsepower cars. Tom drove laps in the 1:45-1:46 range. Not bad in a car that had just run the 13 hour VIR Enduro and only had an oil change. I guess that Race Engineering motor is pretty strong. We only pitted for gas so Tom F drove the first stint, I drove stints 2 and 3, Tom F drove 4 and I drove 5 and 6.
The finish was Kyle was fun. When I wiggled in a turn he passed cleanly but I was able to stay on his bumper. He was running PTE and had pulled his restrictor plate so I had to really pedal to keep up. I pushed him up the back straight but figured that I didn't have the HP to get a pass done before 10a and 10b (I have seen videos of what happens when you don't finish the pass there ) so I just stayed as close as I could. Unfortunately for Kyle, on the next lap his tire end down and I finished P1. Kyle demonstrated his driving talent by the way he kept from crashing the car coming down the hill in T12 as the tire went loose and finishing in P2.
Thanks to Tom F for driving a good race and giving us front position. OPM is a great outfit and they have given me wonderful support in my first year of racing. Ryan, Tim Ricky, Scott and the rest of the guys on the crew really know what they are doing and have been patient with this racer newbie. Since Tracy showed up, the food rivals Wolfgang Puck.