The Supercar Life Racing team of Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut will start in eighth row on the grid in Saturday, April 25's Bosch Engineering 250 race at Virginia International Raceway.
Supercar Life's No. 55 BMW-Riley DP finished in the Top Five during Friday's first practice run. The No. 55 car ran at the front of the pack with Bouchut behind the wheel at the beginning of practice two. Tucker took over with six laps left, keeping the car at a steady and aggressive pace that averaged 113 mph and pushed the car to fourth position by lap 10. Tucker's momentum would have gone unchecked, had uneven terrain not caught the front splitter on lap 10, which damaged the front of the car, ending its practice session early.
No. 55 spent practice three in the pits, as the level-headed crew made adjustments to get it back on track for qualifying. The team worked quickly and efficiently, and had Tucker back in the car within 50 minutes. Tucker was then able to drive seven minutes of the qualifying session, resulting in a best lap time of 1:55.033 at 102.335 mph. Driver Memo Rojas of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates clocked the fastest time of the session at 1:41.646 (115.813 mph), taking the pole position for Saturday's race, with Timo Bernhard of Penske Racing following in the No. 12 car with a best lap time of 01:42.233 (115.148 mph).
"The accident caused enough damage to the car that we had no other choice but to pit," Tucker said. "The team did an outstanding job getting the car back out on track so that we could make the qualifying session. This was a good test of our teamwork under pressure; we will continue to work on the car overnight so that the No. 55 finishes strong in tomorrow's race."
Saturday's race promises even more excitement, as Tucker and the Supercar Life Racing team find worthy competitors in the Brumos Racing team, which is back on the track fresh off their season-opener victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Brumos plans to run their Porsche Daytona Prototypes for the first time with a five-speed transmission rather than a six, along with reduced RPM. Working hard to adapt to the post-Daytona Grand-Am rule change affecting Porsche six-cylinder engine specifications, the team took advantage of last month's test days at Homestead to work on adapting to the new specifications and fine-tuning the set-up of the cars.
"We've been keeping tabs on Brumos Racing, and we are confident that, along with our drivers' mental preparation of the track, the adjustments we have made to the No. 55 machine will keep the other teams on their toes," said Team Manager David Stone.
All drivers of the Grand-Am Rolex Series who take to Virginia International Raceway's 17-turn track will face many challenges along the way to the finish line. The first three turns on the 3.27-mile natural terrain road course set the positions within the field for the race. Coming out of turn one, drivers must keep full throttle so that they don't find themselves on the side of the track going into turn two. Approaching into turn three, drivers must resist the temptation to overdrive; this part of the track is very technical and needs an experienced driver behind the wheel.
Watch Saturday, April 25, as the Supercar Life Racing team and the rest of the 2009 Daytona Prototype field race towards the checkered flag in round two of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. For live national coverage of the race, tune into SPEED TV at 2:30 p.m. EST.
No comments:
Post a Comment