Team News - AIM Autosport Watkins Glen Qualifying
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The six hour race at Watkins Glen means a tight schedule and not a lot of practice time. While this did not affect drivers Mark Wilkins and Burt Frisselle who have logged many laps at the circuit, it did mean there would be little time for former open wheel star Bruno Junqueira to get up to speed in the car. This would be Brunos debut in the Rolex Sports Car Series and only his second time competing in a car with fenders so track time would be very important. The upside is that Bruno is a quick study and in addition to providing a new level of feedback for the team, adapted very quickly to the car. The limited track time combined with giving all three drivers sufficient laps added to the challenge that AIMs engineers have been facing this season in adapting their setups to the 2009 specification Pirelli tire. This meant that Mark had to be on his game going into qualifying with less than the normal number of practice laps.
Qualifying was close, except for one car that had the measure of the field, and the No. 61 Ford Riley was within four-tenths of the front row. Unfortunately, that difference would have Mark starting from seventh on the grid. Not great but not so bad either in a race scheduled to run six hours. There was still a lot of promise when the race began.
Mark was running a strong seventh place in sight of the leaders with a car that was not handling as expected when the team noticed a slow drop in right rear tire pressure on the telemetry. Then, less than thirty minutes into the race he brought the car to pit lane with the right rear tire losing air. Mark was also complaining of poor vision as one car ahead was spraying oil on the windshield over the first few laps. New tires, a fuel top up and one windshield tear-off later and Mark was back on track and the mandatory pit stop was out of the way. The early stop did not fit with the planned strategy and the No. 61 Ford Riley re-entered the race in seventeenth place but as the majority of the other cars would still need to pit, it was looking good for a move up the field. By the end of the first hour with all the teams completing their stops, Mark would be eighth and being able to stay out during the races first caution, was now up to fourth place. His lap times dropping, Mark was catching the leaders by almost two seconds a lap. An hour and twenty minutes in and Mark had just passed for second when the second full course caution came out. After a quick stop for fuel, tires and wing adjustment, Mark was only seven seconds behind the leader when the race went green. The team is feeling good.
Thirty minutes later, that good feeling is gone as Mark brings the No 61 Ford Riley to pit lane with what he thinks is another tire going down. It turns out to be a mechanical failure with a rear suspension part and in a flurry of activity the AIM Autosport crew changes the part and completes a full service including a driver change. Unfortunately though, the repair has been costly in terms of time and the car is now three laps down from the leaders. With four hours to go and Bruno Junqueira now in the car, the hope is for some more caution periods which might allow the team to use pit strategy to work back to the lead lap. Junqueira certainly does prove to be a quick study and is soon running the same pace as the leaders. A potential break in the teams favour happened when the next caution came out. The strategy would be to have Bruno stay out behind the pace car when the leader pitted to get a wave by and therefore a lap back. However as luck would have it the team is now experiencing a radio problem and while they can hear Bruno, he cannot hear them. Bruno followed the instructions of the pre race strategy meeting and brought the car in when the pits opened and the crew completes a full service and fixes the radio problem.
Over the next hour stint Brunos times continually improve and he goes on to set the No. 61s fastest lap of the race so far at 1:42.874. His overall times are on pace with the leaders but it is very difficult to get back on the lead lap without more cautions. There is a yellow at the four hour mark but the leader had pitted so we would not get a wave by to regain a lap. Bruno brings the No 61 Ford Riley in for a full load of Sunoco fuel, a fresh set of Pirelli tires and to hand the car over to Burt for the final two hours. Burt is back on track in twelfth place with the race still under a fairly long caution that should help with fuel consumption.
With an hour to go, Burt brings the car in for its final stop when another problem comes up. The engine is revving very high as the throttle pedal is not returning properly. By the time this issue is sorted, the No. 61 Ford Riley has gone down another two laps to the leaders. It is now about survival to the end of the race and holding track position. AIM Autosport is sitting eleventh with just less than an hour to go.
Over the final hour, Burt gets to show what could have been as he sets the fastest lap of the race for the No. 61 a 1:42.284 on lap 173. His overall times were also on pace with the leaders. Encouraging, but not enough to overcome the five lap deficit. The AIM Autosport No. 61 Ford Riley would cross the checkers in eleventh position.
Following the race, the drivers and team management offered these comments:
Mark Wilkins: We were confident coming in but had some of that confidence shaken when we were not as quick as hoped through the early practice sessions. By race time though, we knew we had a good setup and the speed to get the job done. Burt and I have both had some success at this track and Bruno proved to have the speed we would need to win. But there are some things you just cant control or foresee and that is what caught us out today. Now its on to Mid Ohio in two week. We had a good run there last year and the whole team will be focusing on bettering that result this year.
Burt Frisselle: At the end of the day it is disappointing to know we had a car capable of competing with the leaders but were unable to fend off the those mechanical gremlins that decide to show up from time to time. Mark did a great job under difficult circumstances to keep us up front and Bruno put in a terrific effort to keep us in the game despite being three laps down. He is definitely a race who knows it isnt over until its over. Well now take this two weeks to regroup and focus on getting it done at Mid Ohio.
Bruno Junqueira: It is too bad how we finished today but in the end, I learned a lot about the car and managed to put in a lot of laps and run at competitive speeds. The tight schedule did not give me a lot of practice time but there was lots of time in the race to get up to speed. AIM Autosport gave us a good car and we could run on pace with the leaders which is very encouraging. I am very happy to have had the opportunity to run with a team that is a proven winner and to race with Mark and Burt who were both very supportive and helped me to learn the car. It would have been great to celebrate with them on the podium. I hope there will be other opportunities.
Ian Willis (team principal): The drivers put in a great effort and the crew met every challenge we and the car threw at them today. The Six Hours of The Glen is what endurance racing is all about. A compact version of the Rolex 24, it can still throw the same kinds of curves a team can experience at the 24 but with less time to recover. Even so, it was a long day at the track starting with an early warm up session and everyone on the crew did a great job to keep us in the race to the end. There was no giving up.
It was great to see the interaction between Mark, Burt and Bruno as well. They did a fantastic job communicating and sharing information that had us running on pace with the leaders. Bruno was up to speed very quickly considering the amount of practice time he had in the car and we are happy to have been part of his first experience of prototype racing.
Next up for the AIM Autosport No. 61 Ford Riley is the Emco Gears Classic at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio June 19-21.