Rob Bunker - Road America preview

Rob Bunker was a quick study for this week's Star Mazda Championship race at
Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. The Bridgewater, N.J., teen had only an
abbreviated advance track test, but he quickly mastered the sweeping
4.048-mile road course in his No. 18 AIM Autosport Pro Formula Mazda.

 

"We only got one session before the engine blew up, but we were already
there," he noted. "Everything we needed to have flat [full throttle] was
flat immediately for us, like the carousel and both little kinks. Normally,
that's something people work on for awhile."

 

With constant progress through the season and a strong test behind them,
Bunker and the team will use this week's practice sessions to work on
fine-tuning their performance for Saturday's race.

 

"We've been focussing a lot on the first lap. It didn't quite work out for
us, so we're thinking maybe that's the wrong approach. We're going to let
the race flow for the first lap, because we know we can finish the race.
We'll focus on the whole picture," he explained.

 

"We're going to focus on a lot of little things around the track. We're
really starting to figure things out as far as the car is concerned and I've
been getting better every event. We know we're going in the right direction.
It seems like everything is coming together – we've just got to put in one
good performance and we'll put ourselves up on the podium again."

 

Bunker is a rookie, but his goals are those of a veteran: "We still have
high expectations; we want to do well."

 

The Star Mazda Championship race is set for 1:05 pm ET on Saturday, Aug. 19.