The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge returns to its birthplace, Miller Motorsports Park, where the racers will compete to see who will come away with the Miller Cup trophy!
I had a fantastic week at Miller. It started off with Rick Edwards and I flying out to attend the school at the track on Monday. It was very productive, and he and I had a clear picture of the track in our minds by the time we hopped on the plane home Monday evening. The TC Motorsports team drove down towing the cars, and my dad, brother, John Robison and Duncan Newell flew in Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday was the first time I was able to jump into the #9 TC Motorsports Mustang and go out for my first session with any first hand experience of the race track, and it payed big dividends! I ran well in practice and the crew worked very hard to get the setup right for me. I had a good qualifying (my best to date) Friday morning, and ended up 5th place on the grid. As the race unfolded, Jamie Slone, Dan Aweida and I ended up in a 3-way battle for 5th place. Toward the end of the race, Jamie and I tangled in a corner that slowed both of us and allowed Dan to sneak by (drat!). On the final lap, Jamie attempted a pass on Dan into T21 (23 turns at Miller, crazyness!) and ended up having a huge slide which allowed me by and gave me the 6th place finishing position. WooHoo!!!! My best finish yet in the Mustang Challenge!
We had all of Saturday off, which was great, as the crew needed to perform some "adjustments" to all three cars. It also allowed everyone else to be fans and watch the Rolex SunRichGourmet.com 1000KM race
Sunday morning comes early as we were scheduled to practice at 8:30AM. At this point we are still refining the setup on the car. My first hot lap in the morning pops up on the dash and it's the quickest I've run all weekend (Yup! That change worked!), and I have the best practice session in my short Mustang Challenge career, ending up 3rd on the time sheets (behind Terry Borcheller and Andrew Caddell, no less). Qualifying is a couple hours later, and goes fairly well. The time is a little off the morning's practice time, but still ends up being good enough for 4th.
Unfortunately for them, Terry, Andrew C. and a couple other drivers neglected to appear at the 2:00PM driver's meeting, and were thereby granted direct access to the back of the starting grid! I hear the news, and my heart rate increases dramatically.
I decide to go back to the motor home (which Rick was generous enough to provide for the team for the weekend) and just relax. Rick and I had a good pep-talk, and JR came in and made sure he and I were on the same page, and then it was time!!
I had a good start and P1 and I ran side by side for the first 5 turns, at which point he ran wide (with me on the outside), and allowed Jamie Slone to sneak by, but also allowed me to get around. After everyone got into a single-file line, I opted to stay behind Jamie to try to allow he and I to break away from the pack. This worked to a certain extent as he and I created a small gap that allowed me to focus ahead.
I watched, and waited, and found where he was faster, and found where I was faster, until finally I got a run out of T3 (actually it started all the way back at T1), and managed to get underneath him in T5 (a hairpin left-hander). I managed to make it stick, narrowly avoiding getting passed by P3. At that point, I just had to manage my exponentially growing excitement and drive mistake-free to the finish. Lemme tell ya, taking that checkered flag was the coolest feeling ever!!!
The FRMC has given me new challenges, experiences and knowledge I would not have found anywhere else. I initially underestimated the level of competition this series provided. I showed up to Lime Rock thinking I could run close to the Top 5, and was immediately humbled by the steepness of the learning curve, as well as the quality of driving in the series. It forced me to study like never before, and bring my driving to a whole new level.
First, I've got to thank my Dad. Without him, this would not have happened. Second, I have to thank Taryn and Carlo Sparacio, Rick Edwards, and the whole TC Motorsports crew (Jon A., John Z., Rob C., Clint, and Giulia too!) for the fantastic support and fabulous effort they put on. They really showed what professionalism and enthusiasm combined can make happen. I also need to thank my personal team of John Robison (acting in more roles than I can name here) and Duncan Newell. They had my back the entire way back and forth across the country (and that intense drive from D.C. to C.T....). I also want to thank Kevin York for not only staying to watch the last race, but providing a great example for me to follow as I make steps to forge my own career.
I do have some in-car video that I will edit and upload to YouTube for viewing. Thank you so much, again, to everyone who's had my back, rooted for me, taught me, and congratulated me from the beginning. Can you believe that 8 years ago I did my first HPDE at a BMW Puget Sound HPDE?!?
Neither can I :)
My favorite pic of the weekend:
0 comments:
Post a Comment