AIM & Doncaster - Utah race
AIM Autosport turned in a flawless top-five performance through almost seven
hours of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series finale on Saturday, but
contact from another competitor turned it into an 11th-place finish just two
minutes from the finish. It was a disappointing end to a strong season for
the rookie team backed by Exchange Traded Gold, Barrick Gold Corporation,
RBC Financial Group and Telus' Mike Network.
Brian Frisselle and Burt Frisselle of Lynchburg, Va., and Mark Wilkins of
Toronto alternated driving the No. 61 Lexus-powered Riley Mk XI, keeping it
at or near the front of the field through the six-hour 51-minute race on the
4.486-mile Miller Motorsports Park road course in Tooele, Utah. With
superior fuel strategy, the gold-backed Daytona Prototype car led three
times. Burt Frisselle was running sixth when he was hit by another car about
45 minutes before the finish. The contact ultimately broke the car's
driveshaft and he dropped back through the field in the last two minutes to
finish 11th.
Doncaster Racing had a better finish, starting 12th in the GT class and
finishing fifth. Dave Lacey of Toronto drove the No. 17 MineStar / Tim
Hortons Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car first, trying a new helmet system that
didn't provide sufficient air. He finished his stint with an elevated
carbon-monoxide level that didn't allow him to get back behind the wheel.
Greg Wilkins of Toronto drove two stints, with Tom Papadopoulos of East
Hills, N.Y., taking a stint between. Darren Law of Phoenix, whose Daytona
Prototype car went out of the race early, substituted for Lacey and drove
the final hour, securing fifth place for the team.
race report
car time driver action
17 start Lacey
1h23 change pit – Greg
Wilkins in, four tires, fuel
2h39 change pit –
Papadopoulos in, four tires, fuel, cool suit ice
4h43 change pit – Greg
Wilkins in, four tires, fuel, cool suit ice
5h44 change pit – Law in,
four tires, fuel
61 start Brian Frisselle
1h30 change pit – Burt
Frisselle in, four tires, fuel
3h00 change pit – Mark
Wilkins in, four tires, fuel, cool suit ice
4h38 change pit – Brian
Frisselle in, four tires, fuel
5h36 change pit – Burt
Frisselle in, four tires, fuel
6h04 Burt Frisselle hit by 23 car,
turn 1
Andrew Bordin (AIM co-owner): "I'm really proud of everybody. Our drivers
really evolved this year; they're becoming world-class drivers. We all
worked hard, we've learned as a team and our team has done really well. We
showed well today. If we didn't have any bad luck – which is a huge part of
the equation in racing – we would have done well. There's all of next year
and the year after that and the year after that and the year after that, so
it will come around for us."
Brian Frisselle: "It's the end of the year now and it's a little bit
disappointing way to end it. We showed a lot of potential all year and
during this race. It's a great group of guys; I love working with them. I've
got to thank Exchange Traded Gold, Performance Drink, CDOC, Lexus, all our
supporters for making this all possible. It was a fun year, it was a
learning year for the team and for all of us. It's not the way we wanted to
end it, but it's not always perfect. We'll come back next year and hopefully
win some races."
Burt Frisselle: "The last hour was absolutely chaos out there, but all in
all, it was a good day and I'm happy with the team's performance. A lap and
a half from the end, we broke a half-shaft after some contact with the 23
car, but I was proud to be part of the team this year. I think today we
showed our performance and next year, the sky's the limit for AIM."
Mark Wilkins: "The guys worked so hard and I was really, really hoping for
a top-five this weekend. For the majority of the race, that's the way it was
going. We had a really good setup, a really good car, all three of us drove
the wheels off it. It's a shame that the car didn't make the end. It's
definitely a tough one to end the year."
John Lacey (Doncaster partner): "I'm very pleased with a fifth-place
finish. David got some carbon-monoxide poisoning after doing a great drive,
Greg filled in nicely and Tom did a good job. We were able to get Darren Law
to fill in for David at the end. Hopefully, this fifth place will get Darren
the win in the Porsche championship worldwide. That would be a terrific cap
to the season."
Dave Lacey: "We tried a new helmet ventilation system this weekend and
think we got it wrong because as soon as I got out of the car, I just felt
absolutely queasy, like I'd been breathing carbon monoxide for an hour and a
half. I went to race medical and they did some blood tests and the
carbon-monoxide levels were elevated. I got some oxygen and I felt like I
was coming back a little bit, but race medical suggested that I should not
get back in the car. I'm really happy with the fifth place. We didn't know
where we were going to end up – we made a lot of changes overnight and they
turned out well."
Darren Law: "I have to say thanks to John Lacey, Greg Wilkins and all the
guys at Doncaster for allowing me to do that. That's the second time this
season they let me jump in their car to try to run for Porsche points, and
hopefully it helped them keep it out front and get a good finish, as well."
Tom Papadopoulos: "It's an absolutely wonderful way to end the year. We
were consistent and clean the whole race. It was fun, it was great! I hope
to do it many more times like this."
Greg Wilkins: "We had a great race today. Everybody just drove a really
consistent race and kept the car clean. We weren't really that quick over
the qualifying and practice, but it's a long race and we had a consistent
base. It's a nice way to end the season."
– aimautosport.com –
Sylvia Proudfoot
HYPERLINK "mailto:sylvia@spurcom.ca"sylvia@spurcom.ca
403 287 3945
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