Good afternoon, Race Fans!
THURSDAY NOTES:
Our paddock spot isn’t too far from where we were a couple weeks ago with SCCA. Road America may be a very big track, but the paddock area gets pretty crowded when almost every team comes in 18-wheelers. We have a nice spot that gets a good breeze. That will be important this weekend with the forecast looking hot and humid.
Friday, we have two hour-long practice sessions, at 10:20 and 3:45 Central Time. Saturday, we have the 15-minute qualifying at 8:00. Then the fan walk at 12:45 followed by the 2-hour race at 1:45. As always, catch the race on Peacock.
The team is in good spirits and we are hopeful for a strong performance this weekend.
FRIDAY NOTES:
Practice 1: That’s MPC Practice 1 done! During this session, John was handling the fire extinguisher when the car came in for fuel. I was on the radio, capturing fuel numbers and keeping an eye on track conditions and time. This is a job I love!!
Tyler took the first half of the hour and Morgan took the second. Both drivers are pretty happy with the car and the track. They always make some adjustments and look at brakes and tires between sessions.
Morgan is so analytical (where do you suppose he gets that trait, eh?). He absorbs every nugget of information and updates his plan and expectations constantly. It’s really no wonder that he’s so good at this!
Next up - Practice 2 at 3:45 PM for one hour. We will get it dialed in well!
Practice 2: Well this has been a really good day! But before I tell you about our session I have to note how super cool it is to be standing at pit out when the WeatherTech practice starts. 20+ big horsepower cars fire up all at once and storm out onto the track, all of them trying to get to pit out first and launch down to Turn 1. Loud and chaotic!!
Our session was hampered by a lot of red flags - none involving us fortunately. IMSA will stop the session any time a car stops out on the course, no matter the reason. That made it hard to string multiple laps together in a row and get good information for much of anything. We were up in 2nd place for a long time with some really excellent sector times. Awesome work by Morgan! Toward the end of the session, the Honda put on 4 new tires and laid down a blistering lap and we finished up in third place. Still we were the fastest Hyundai in the session. Pretty darn excellent!!
An extra bonus - Morgan’s Uncle Ron got to suit up and join us on the pit lane with his camera. Now that was a very big grin!
Until tomorrow, friends! We go out for qualifying at 8:00 AM Central.
SATURDAY NOTES:
HOT DAMN, BABY!
This kid is fast! And he really likes this track, obviously. With 5 minutes to go in the 15-minute session, Morgan had the top time! Of course others save the their big run for the last possible moment. We know the Honda is very quick and the Audi is no slouch either. The Herta Hyundais are pretty quick most places too.
Morgan kept laying down good times throughout the session. It ended a teeny bit short with a red flag, but it didn’t affect his last flying lap. At the end of the session, Morgan stands in 4th only 0.001 seconds off 3rd! That is an amazing result (only 6 tenths off the pole time) and puts us in a wonderful starting spot. Super excited!!!
The Honda has the pole. Three Hyundais are clustered close together (0.13 sec spread) in positions 2-4, followed by the Audi (5th) and another Hyundai (6th). While the two classes will be separated for the start of the race, it is very cool to see that Morgan's time puts him 19th overall in a field of 36 cars all together.
Morgan will start the race this afternoon. John will handle the fire extinguisher during fueling activities and I will be on the radio with the computer and all the screens. We have the fan walk at 12:45 and the green flag for the 2-hour race at 1:45 (Central Time). Catch the race on Peacock TV!
You can now see the race on YouTube as well with the IMSA announcers.
RACE RESULTS:
We definitely had the right basic strategy. Morgan did a rock star job of fuel saving to the first caution. We did a short fill - no driver change, no tires - knowing everyone would need to come in for a second stop. Due to the timing of the caution, by the time the pits were open for TCRs, the 40-minute mark had passed - that's the minimum drive time needed. Some teams elected to do their driver and tire change on that stop - we did not. Unfortunately, we didn't plan on the tires falling off like they did.
So on the restart, we had the lead - and that was Amazing!! We lead for 4 laps, two of which were under green flag, but there was no way to really keep it. A twitch under braking (due to the worn tires) into Turn 1 let a freight train of other cars get by. A "push to pass" by the #12 let two more through, and before we knew it, our lead was now an 8th place. We pitted Morgan at the earliest possible point that Tyler could go the distance (with 48 minutes to go) because it was apparent our tires were pretty well used up.
It's kind of heartbreaking. We had really strong pace. Our strategy was spot on right up until it wasn't. Results might have been quite different had we put on a fresh set of front tires in that first stop. It was ours to win today, and instead we walk away with an 8th.
But the good thing is that our stops were organized and pretty quick. The fuel flowed like it was supposed to. The tires came off and went back on with no drama. The driver change was perfect.
So all that's left is to pack up, drive back home, review all the information and choices, and get ready to do it all again in 3 weeks time. Next stop, VIRginia International Raceway!
WEEKEND WRAP:
During every single event, we all learn more about how to do this better. All the experience we brought already has made it possible for us to focus on the things that make IMSA and TCR unique. Every track is unique as well. We have attempted to get to most of them in the SRF3 ahead of the IMSA weekends, but those two cars interact with the pavement surface very differently. So, note to selves - in any pit stop during the race, put on fresher tires! VIR is effectively our home track for the IMSA series and we are very comfortable there. Fingers crossed that we have found and adjusted enough of the little things to really shine there.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Look for the IMSA Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix at 2:10 PM on Saturday, August 24. Thank you so much for following along!
And wish us lots of luck!!