Scott Tucker and the Boardwalk Ferrari Supercar Life Racing team set the stage for a head-to-head championship battle, dominating the Ferrari Challenge Series' fifth round of racing at Quebec's Circuit Mont-Tremblant. During a race weekend marked by a combination of thrilling action, inclement weather and a Series upset, the No. 55 F430 machine captured first in race nine and then went on to lead every lap in race 10 to take the checkered flag.
"It was an incredibly challenging race weekend for us-the kind of weekend we needed," Tucker said. "We ran strong throughout each race and the car performed great. I think as a team we are continuing to make a lot of progress. My guys were great in the pits, all their hard work really paid off once we crossed that finish line."
In a nail-biting race nine qualifying session, Tucker secured second position on the starting grid, recording a fastest lap time of 01:40.364--just 12 one-thousandths of a second behind pole winner Mark McKenzie's 01:40.352. At the race's start, McKenzie took the lead going into turn one. Tucker tucked the No. 55 close behind with Ferrari of Beverly Hills' James Henley and Ferrari of Silicon Valley's Zak Brown in third and fourth positions.
Tucker exerted consistent pressure on McKenzie in the opening laps--a well-planned strategy that forced the Texan to overdrive his No. 27 car. The plan paid off, taking a toll on the Ferrari of Houston driver--and his tires.
The first caution occurred on lap 12 when Ferrari of Houston's Richard Fant crashed his No. 42 car into the wall. The car sustained heavy damage, and Fant left the race.
When the race resumed in a single-file restart, Tucker began in earnest his plan of attack on first position. Entering turn 10 on lap 18, Tucker made a late-breaking move, diving to the inside of McKenzie and pulling ahead by three car lengths.
Henri Richard in the No. 98 F430, who began the race in fifth position, climbed to fourth. Ferrari of Newport Beach's Steve Hill took over fifth from Richard; both drivers gunned for third-place Brown in a chase to the finish line.
At the checkered flag, Tucker took his sixth win of the season. McKenzie (01:41.089) came in second, with Brown (01:42.091), Richard (01:42.165) and Hill (01:42.541) rounding out the Top Five. Going into Sunday's race, Tucker was only 120 points behind McKenzie in the Series standings.
The fierce rivals had set up an epic qualifying session for race 10, but the weather refused to cooperate. Heavy rainfall for Sunday's race made for treacherous track conditions for the Ferrari Challenge Series competitors, leading officials to cancel the morning's qualifying session. Drivers would begin race 10 according to their rank in the Series' standings.
The Boardwalk Ferrari Supercar Life No. 55 launched out of its second place starting position to take the early lead within seconds of the green flag drop, leaving now-second position McKenzie behind.
After leading the first few laps, Tucker's radio failed, leaving him without any communication from the team. Unphased, the consummate professional maintained his lead, remaining calm and collected as the team worked feverishly to fix the problem. The Boardwalk Ferrari Supercar Life Racing team was back on line within minutes, headed toward their second win of the weekend.
By this time, the torrent that had plagued the race's start had ended and the track had dried. But McKenzie was nevertheless fading fast. The dry track and set-up technicalities were taking their toll on the No. 27 car's tires, forcing it to drop back in the field.
At the front, Brown, who had started the race in third, had moved up to second to challenge Tucker for first. But Tucker refused to yield; the fierce battle intensified as Richard's No. 98 car entered the fray in third position.
As the laps clicked off, Ferrari of Beverly Hills' James Henley found himself far ahead of his No. 12 starting position. Driving the No. 9 F430, Henley made his way through the field and landed behind The Collection's Mike Zoi in sixth position. Henley parked himself on Zoi's rear bumper and began to close in rapidly on the No. 8 car, ultimately breaking into the top five.
Tucker meanwhile had collected a 2.837-second lead over Brown and maintained that margin all the way to the finish line. Clocking in a fastest lap time of 01:52.418 and leading all 23 laps, the Boardwalk Ferrari Supercar Life Racing team scored their second win of the weekend. Brown (01:52.278) was runner-up, followed by Richard (01:52.753), Steve Hill (01:53.397) and Henley (01:53.022).
Just 30 points shy in the Series standings from McKenzie's leading 1605 points, Tucker (1575 points) and his team's goal to win the 2009 championship title is just a race away.
"It's a crapshoot every weekend that we race," driver coach Ed Zabinski said. "You never know what's going to happen out on track. When we lost radio signal, Scott did an excellent job keeping his lead under the difficult circumstances. As a team, we have a great driver and car combination. With only one race left until the championships, the chase for the title is as tight as ever, but I'm confident that we're the team that will bring home that final trophy."
Catch Supercar Life Racing on SPEED TV at the following dates and times:
Ferrari Challenge Series:
Saturday, August 22 at 1:30 a.m. EST (Race 7 at Road America)
Friday, August 28 at 9:30 a.m. EST (Race 8 at Road America)
Rolex Series:
Sunday, August 7 at 8 p.m. EST (Race 9 at Watkins Glen)
Saturday, August 29 at 2 p.m. EST (Race 10 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve)
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