SAMAX - Phoenix race

SAMAX Motorsport had a disappointing finish to a strong Rolex Sports Car
Series race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. Ian James started the
No. 17 SAMAX Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car third on the GT grid, based on Ryan
Hunter-Reay's qualifying race result. James dropped back with handling
issues, but stayed in the top five through his stint. He pitted on the last
of his fuel reserve – unfortunately, one lap before a caution period that
would have provided ideal pit timing. Hunter-Reay took over, returning to
the track seventh in class. He was charging ahead when he was hit by another
GT car. The contact broke the right and center front radiators on the car,
taking him out of the race. The pair were scored 12th in class.

 

race report

 

time           driver                        action

 

start            James

1h33           Hunter-Reay in            pit – driver change, tires, fuel

1h51           Hunter-Reay               contact in turn 9, broken right and
center front radiators

                                                   out of race

 

Ryan Hunter-Reay:  "We had a great weekend going – I qualified third for the
qualifying race and then we finished third [in it]. Today, we had a loose
car; Ian did as good a job as he could to keep it straight.  ... The 80 car
dive-bombed the 57 'Vette and I went under with the 80 car, but the 57 car
just came straight down on me. Unfortunately, that ended our day. Everybody
here deserved a much better result than that, and we could have had a better
result. I was confident I could bring it through the pack a bit more."

 

Ian James: "It was definitely an eventful day. The car handling went loose
[oversteering] pretty soon into the stint. About 10 laps in, we were
struggling a little bit. For the first time in a long time, it was
snap-loose, it was really hard to drive through the oval because it would
just break loose at any given moment. All in all, we gave it a good go. We
were competitive after awhile, but unfortunately, with what happened to
Ryan, it's all a moot point."

 

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