BTM Motorwerks #91 car was driven mostly by Brad McClure last year, with some occasional help from Andy Chittum, and after a lot of work, the car was really working well, good enough for 2nd overall for the year. But a few issues with NASA's fine technical crew that morning meant a missed warmup session, and a slightly late start to the qualifying session.
Andy took to the track, was stuck in traffic for two laps, then broke free and managed what felt like two more good solid laps with a little time on the table. It was quite a surprise then, to find out that Andy's effort had brought in a 1:56.4, a new lap record for Spece30 at Infineon amidst the largest field to date.
Gary R, the 2010 Champion lined up next to Andy for the early afternoon start. At a Thunderhill event the previous summer, Gary had managed to pull an amazing standing start and leave the BTM car standing, but this time Chittum was ready for the green flag, and Gary fell back to fourth behind Greg P and Loren T. A late charge in the race brought him back up to the front, but Chittum managed keep the BTM car on track and land the top podium position.
The next race of the afternoon was GTS 1, where McClure took over and also managed to drive away from the field. Two wins for the BTM car for the day!
Sunday began more quietly, with Brad taking over driving duties for both the Spec e30 and GTS Challenge races. Qualifying second to Gary R again, Brad lined up next to the 2010 Champion and once again got an amazing start. This time Gary also had a good start, and latched right on to the BTM car's bumper. After getting a few car length lead, both competitors worked to wring every bit out of their cars to gain a tenth on the other, and for 12 hot sweaty laps, they gained and lost mere inches from each other. Once again though the BTM car took the checkered flag with Gary R just seconds behind.
The Sunday GTS Challenge race manged to be more incident filled. The rolling start put McClure in good position, but was nearly passed a number of times by the Bennett M's car. Traffic in the busier race both helped and hindered each car, both again pushing each other for tenths. Finally, late in the race a faster overtaking car from another class dove inside the battle, and hit Bennett's car squarely in the rear quarter panel. Able to continue, he fought on, but McClure once again brought the BTM car back in 1st position.
So, what started as a crazy weekend turned out to be a very good start to the racing season. Sixteen more races will come and go though before we crown a season winner, and every year has come down to the very last race. NASA has promised inverted grids, and other mixups to keep things interesting, but you'll hear all about it right here. Stay tuned!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment