SAMAX - Homestead race

SAMAX Motorsport did not enjoy hometrack advantage during the Rolex Sports
Car Series race at Homestead Miami Speedway on Saturday evening. Although
the team expected some caution periods, the race did not follow a
predictable pattern, leaving strategiests scrambling. The first 45 minutes
of green-flag racing were followed by turmoil, with 66 minutes of the final
two hours run under caution.

 

Rob Bell started the No. 17 SAMAX Porsche 911 GT3 Cup third on the GT grid,
and moved to second on the first turn. Although he missed gaining a lap on
the first caution because of the car's position relative to the safety car,
a smart pit call kept the car on the class lead lap. John Dalziel took over
and returned to the track ninth. He moved up two positions before a
late-race stop for fuel and driver change dropped the car back to finish
eighth.

 

The SAMAX/Doncaster Racing crew fought handling issues with the No. 71
Porsche all weekend. Greg Wilkins started the race eighth in class and moved
up to sixth before a spin sent him back to pit lane. Dave Lacey took over
and stayed in the top 10 throughout his stint. The pair finished ninth.

 

race report

 

car          time             driver                  action

 

17           start              Bell                      

               1h02             Dalziel in              pit – driver change,
tires, fuel

               1h17             Dalziel                  pit – fuel

               2h22             Bell in                   pit – driver
change, tires, fuel

 

71           start              Wilkins                 

               54m              Wilkins                 pit – rear tires,
fuel

               1h14             Lacey in               pit – driver change ,
tires, fuel

 

 

Rob Bell (No. 17 Porsche): "We qualified P3, so that was a good place to
start. I had it in my head before the race that I was definitely going to
get to second on the first corner, and I did that. I was about a millimeter
off the guy in front on pole, so there was no chance the second man was
going to get in. I did about 40 laps before the first yellow, just clean and
pulling away. I also did five or six laps at the end. It felt pretty good
and I overtook a lot of cars. Overall, I'm disappointed, though, because we
should have been on the podium."

 

John Dalziel (No. 17 Porsche): "It was an exciting race, lots of action. I
really enjoyed racing under the lights here; it's a good track. It got a bit
dicey out there, a little bit rough in places. Unfortunately, some of the
rough moments put me on the grass, after coming together with some
prototypes. But we live to fight another day. I want to thank Peter Baron
and SAMAX for giving me the chance to race with them."

 

Dave Lacey (No. 71 Porsche): "It's disappointing. I just don't think we had
the pace all weekend. We were chasing the setup. We had a reasonable car,
but everybody was just a little bit quicker than us. We were a second off
the pace and we just couldn't make it back. Top-10 is okay, I guess, but
we'd like to be top-five or on the podium."

 

Greg Wilkins (No. 71 Porsche): "It was a difficult race. We knew we were
going to have some trouble with the car from practice and that proved to be
the case. Once the tires started to go off, the car got very loose. We made
a couple of mistakes that put us down, so we were really fighting a
rearguard action the entire way. It was a tough weekend."

 

online

 

samaxmotorsport.com

 

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Sylvia Proudfoot
HYPERLINK "mailto:sylvia@spurcom.ca"sylvia@spurcom.ca
403 287 3945