A tough day for the AMR powered crews at the Michelin Pilot Challenge office yesterday
The long haul for most to the west side of the United States proved itself to be an unproductive one for the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered runners within the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series.
After the usual two opening rounds to their 2026 had kept them within Florida, a visit to the Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca circuit beckoned the five AMR powered runners for the next two-hour race around the infamous corkscrew circuit in California.
This time around, we welcomed back the #10 Van Der Steur prepared AMR of husband and wide racer Ben and Christine Sloss as they became just one of two bronze cup entries against the reigning and now Ford Mustang Team TGM #64 crew.
It was also the first round with their new #4 AMR Vantage GT4 car for the Medusa Motorsport crew of Hunter Yeany and Athan Sterling alongside the now more regular line up of the #26 Heart of Racing AMR of Hannah’s Grisham and Greenemeir, the #66 Van Der Steur prepared entry of Trenton Estep and Allen Patten as well as the #14 Circle H Racing car of David Hampton and Thomas Merrill.
A lowly performance from probable BoP reasons from any of the five Astons and Friday saw the best placed (#66) starting from P6 with the rest somewhere between P13 and P27 out of a GS class size of thirty-one entries.
Saturaday’s race started up at best hazy skies although (being California) the warmth was at least still there so Mother Nature wouldn’t be making her mark upon things this time around. An early Full Course Yellow for an upturned GS car in the tyre wall soon mellowed the racing again after another usual ‘busy’ start.
However, incident and accident soon got the better of some as the #10 car became the meat into several racing sandwiches which saw the bashed about the circuit by the faster powered crews around as well as picking up (like most of the AMR powered crews did at one point or another) a drive through penalty for one infraction or another.
These results leave the Heart of Racing the best placed AMR crew within the GS Drivers Championship table in eight as the series looks ahead to its next round from Mid-Ohio in early June.
Photo credits – Teams / social media
Sunday, May 03, 2026 |
Read more...
Giovani's and Plumb retain their Michelin Pilot Challenge Bronze Cup crown at Road Atlanta
Competing at the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta circuit and IMSA’s annual Petit Le Mans end of season event, the #64 crew went into yesterday’s final two-hour race of the season holding a slight lead over the #15 Van Der Steur AMR Vantage of Christine Sloss (driving again this weekend with husband Ben), the title win was a straight shoot-out between these two cars.
With the guesting #8 89X Motorsport AMR of Mike Fitzpatrick and Johan Schwartz initially stealing the Bronze Cup show with pole position in Qualifying before all three bronze cup entered Aston Martins came home in a 1-2-3 format in class to end another season on a high.
For their first season of IMSA racing largely together with Ben having to skip a couple of rounds, the #15 crews second place finish within the Bronze Cup is also one to be proud of for them.
For the other two AMR runners of the #46 Team TGM car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb together with the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell – their 2025 season would unfortunately finish in very much the manner in which it started and continued through the year in as again the #46 car showed good pace in qualifying only to drop down the order as the race continued whilst the #71 car would again come to the attention of the Race Stewards giving them further time penalties from which they could not recover.
At the end of this race, the #46 car would finish P9 with the #71 car in P17 whilst overall the #46 car would still be the highest placed Aston Martin in the leaderboard in eighth with the #71 not too far behind in tenth.
Still – it was another great year of racing entertainment.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Saturday, October 11, 2025 |
Read more...
Two Aston Martin dice for the Bronze Cup prize in Michelin Pilot Challenge finale this weekend
Another bumper packed forty-three strong GS and TCR based entry for this weekend’s two-hour finale in support of the main Weathertech Sportscar Championship Petit Le Mans event sees the #64 Team TGM AMR Vantage GT4 crew of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb battle it out with the #15 Van Der Steur AMR Vantage GT4 of husband-and-wife duo Ben and Christine Sloss for the GS Bronze Cup title.
Title defenders from last season of course, sees the #64 crew hold a slight one-hundred-and-twenty-point lead over Christine Sloss (Ben having missed a couple of rounds earlier in the season) but that deficit is easily assailable for the #15 crew should class results go in their favour.
We also welcome back the #46 Team TGM AMR of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb as the outgoing champion (Plumb) and his team mate desperately look for a decent finish to their 2025 season after having qualified usually so well but not able to convert that into a credible challenge again this season. The #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell will also be looking to end another year in the saddle together on something of a high as the green car had a tendency of attracting unwanted race ending contact with themselves during earlier rounds for the two crews to sit P9 and P10 respectively in the drivers table going into this final round.
There is also a reappearance of the #8 89X Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 of Mike Fitzpatrick plus a co-driver yet to be confirmed. This season has seen Fitzpatrick and his team partake within various high-profile races within both IMSA and SRO sanctioned races with his older 16A variant.
The start to this final race will begin at 12:45hrs local time on Friday.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media
Tuesday, October 07, 2025 |
Read more...
Two Astons still battling for championship glory in Michelin Pilot Challenge this weekend
With another two-hour thriller hopefully in store for us all on Saturday afternoon, four AMR powered crews again go racing within the twenty-five strong GS class plus a further sixteen TCR based crews as eight rounds into the season, only those battling within the GS Bronze Cup can hope for anything out of this season now.
The #46 Team TGM regulars of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb remain the highest placed AMR drivers within the GS class, presently sitting eighth in the table but already too far behind to have any real and significant impact upon the overall championship battle.
The #71 Rebel Rock AMR crew of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell sit not too far back from them in eleventh (and a further 250 points in arrears to them) after a couple of bruising rounds that have seen parts of tehir car scattered across the circuits after (usually) coming across someone else’s accident in a wrong time/ wrong place type of way.
The championship winning aspirations, however, come with both the #64 Team TGM AMR of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb who presently lead the way within the Bronze Cup sub-category over the #15 Van Der Steur AMR of Christine and Ben Sloss after both crews have enjoyed a recent string of Bronze Cup podium finishes.
The timetable of events for these crews will see two Free Practice sessions on Friday before Qualifying and the start to their two hours race from 12:40hrs local on Saturday.
Photo credit – Teams / Series / social media
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 |
Read more...
The race that was not really a race for Michelin Pilot Challenge from Road America
Road America and its seventh round of the season should have been one of those races but through mainly incident on track, that event was left to be something of a follow my lead behind the Safety Car with a quick dash off for the line towards the end.
There were again just four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s competing within the twenty-three strong GS class alongside the additional fifteen TCR based entries with the nature of the four-mile Road America (in theory) more than enough for this thirty-eight strong grid to make their way around. Team TGM were back with their #46 (Paul Holton/Matt Plumb) and #64 (Hugh Plumb/Ted Giovanis) alongside the #71 Rebel Rock Racing (Frank DePew/Robin Liddell) and #15 Van Der Steur (Christine/Ben Sloss) AMR entries.
Qualifying had seen Holton again take another forward starting position in P4 whilst the others were placed further back in P17 (#71), P19 (#15) and P21 (#64) but with the latter two again battling things out within Bronze Cup in P1 and P2 respectively.
All that, however, changed on the opening lap as first Holton was seen recovering himself back to the circuit way down in P14 as the then three other cars including the #71 Rebel Rock AMR of DePew were seen crawling away from the same scene with damage – Safety car number one! Whilst front near side damage to the #71 would normally have seen them retire from the race, the team did manage to effect repairs for them to rejoin the race later (nine laps down) as an effective elongated test.
There would be further turmoil for the #46 car as their start was adjudged to have been contrary to the rules (changing lanes before the start line) for which they would get a further drive through penalty!
Back to green but then quickly back under caution as ‘safety cars do breed safety cars’ upon those immediate restart laps – this time for a TCR punted off by another into the gravel with half an hour gone already without a full racing lap under anyone’s belt!!
There would be two further Safety car interventions after this to the start of the second and final hour of racing but even that was punctuated by another messy and unnecessary contact between GS cars that lead to an extended clean-up operation again.
That left less than thirty minutes to the finish to decide but whilst the #71 was already of contention with its earlier damage and the #46 hobbled with penalty time down pit lane, the only podium winning success was again with those two Aston Martins with Bronze Cup for which the #64 crew would again claim the top step with the #15 Van Der Steur entry of husband and wife duo in third.
The series now moves onto Virginia International Raceway for its next round at the end of August.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, August 03, 2025 |
Read more...
Four AMR crews also back in business this weekend in Michelin Pilot Challenge from Road America
Another healthy entry of twenty-three GS (GT4) based cars alongside the additional fifteen TCR based entries. Like most of the season so far, the Aston Martin Racing powered runners will be from the Van Der Steur, Team TGM and Rebel Rock Racing teams where things have been going well within the Bronze Cup sub-class for two of those entries.
Also last out at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park three weeks ago, saw the #46 car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb again qualify at the sharper end of the GS class in third only to suffer late misfortune again after another Safety Car restart that eventually saw them finish tenth overall. That was still better than the #71 Rebel Rock entry that was unceremonious taken out of racing contention in a dramatic style after Robin Liddell became embroiled in three other cars racing accident after a promising start from Frank DePew.
Success in Canada however came from both the #15 Van Der Steur entry of husband and wife crew of Christine and Ben Sloss and the #64 Team TGM crew of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb who between them commanded the top two steps of the Bronze Cup podium after they finished P15 and P16 overall in GS.
Those results now tie the #15 and #64 crews at the top of the Bronze Cup championship battle ahead of this two-hour race.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Saturday, July 26, 2025 |
Read more...
The rough and the smooth of IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge racing at CTMSP
Round six of the 2025 season has seen the ‘front runner’ AMR powered crews somewhat struggle for race pace whilst the lower Bronze Cup entered crews have enjoyed a large degree of racing success as the 2024 reigning champions from Team TGM continue to lead the way.
Again in qualifying, the #46 Team TGM AMR of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb continued to be the fastest of the five as they secured another second row start to this two-hour race whilst the #72 Rebel Rock Racing AMR for Frank DePew and Robin Liddell positioned themselves nicely in P14 for another one of the Scotsman’s epic drives.
Another hot and dry start to the race allowed Holton to comfortably hold track position for was to be an overall clean opening lap and the race quickly adapted a flowing format around the traditional twisting and undulating circuit layout. DePew was also having a good race holding P12 whilst Ted Giovanis was having another ‘difficult’ start to the race after having to start from pit lane and then getting a drive through penalty as a consequence.
Forty minutes done as it was minimum drive time achieved for all of the bronze rated drivers with Holton staying out but with Giovanis, Christine Sloss and DePew pitting with their Team TGM, Van Der Steur and Rebel Rock cars respectively.
After the turn of the first hour, Liddell was already on his move through the field and was circulating in eighth whilst (now Matt Plumb) within the #46 had dropped to P4 after their first service but that all changed at the forty minute to go mark as a multiple car incident along the back straight claimed the #71 Rebel Rock Aston Martin as it tried to thread the needle between the three cars originally involved only to become a victim himself with significant front end damage.
The extensive debris field obviously negated any possibility of an early restart as the full Course Yellow extended through to leave just over ten minutes to go at the restart. There was then further strife for the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin as Plumb got turned around on that restart lap after contact from a Ford Mustang behind after Plumb had impacted up the rear of another car beforehand, and that dropped them out of a third-place position.
At the chequered flag, the #46 car would recover to a disappointing for them P10 position and whilst the #71 Rebel Rock was an obvious DNF, the success came for the two remaining Bronze Cup entered Aston Martins with husband-and-wife duo Christine and Ben Sloss taking first with their P15 overall finish Giovanis and Hugh Plumb taking P2 one place behind.
There was some joy for the Rebel Rock Racing AMR team however, as DePew took he second position finish within the GSX class in the VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Series in-between Michelin Pilot Challenge sessions to go with his first earned at CoTA earlier in the year but race two was cancelled after earlier torrential rain to allow the other IMSA Series races to maintain their televised time slots.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Tuesday, July 15, 2025 |
Read more...
Better all round performances from the four AMR Vantage GT4 crews at Watkins Glen
Round five of the season and it was back to a two-hour race format this time around as the #46 Team TGM AMR of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb again showed their one lap qualifying pace to secure their umpteenth front row start to yesterday’s race.
Featuring another thirty-nine strong GS (GT4) and TCR based grid, the next best was the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell in P14 with the two Bronze Cup entered #64 Team TGM Aston of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb and the #15 Van der Steur of Ben and Christine Sloss a bit further back in P18 and P19 respectively in class.
Fast and furious through the opening laps for the lead group in GS saw the #46 car hold position up until the first Full Course Yellow after only five minutes of racing – but just for a stranded TCR on the kerbs. Back to green and Holton stole the lead to the race from the Mustang which he then held convincingly up until the midway pitstop and driver change – a stop that was also done under another FCY.
With the ‘lesser’ driver aboard the other three cars having survived the opening laps, their track position would obviously improve once their faster drivers were aboard with Liddell again being the one to watch for progress within the #71 car.
Getting back to racing, the #46 car has also dropped to P2 behind the Toyota, but Liddell was already up to P8 with still fifty minutes remaining as the lead pack came across the next set of TCR backmarkers for the next time around. That was how the #46 car found themselves being bumped down the order as Plumb elected to take the TCR car around the wrong side of it only to be pushed back down to P5 as a consequence.
Going into the final twenty minutes, there were still only 3.5 seconds between first to fifth at the head of the train but three quick and consecutive FCY’s for stranded cars would bite hard into that remaining race time for all concerned.
Eventually having to make do with a P5 finish, this race saw the return of the feisty pair within the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin with the #71 Rebel Rock AMR finishing just two places back. The accolades again came from within the Bronze Cup sub-class as Mr and Mrs Sloss this time overcame their recent poor form to take the BC win P14 overall in GS and two places ahead of the #64 Team TGM of Giovanis and Plumb who took second in BC to maintain their title defence this season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, June 22, 2025 |
Read more...
Four Aston Martins back in Michelin Pilot Challenge for Watkins Glen this weekend
Last time out at Mid-Ohio, the series enjoyed the status of the main event as they embarked upon another four-hour race for the second time this season two weeks ago – an event which again saw the four Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entries struggle.
Despite claiming a front row start, the #46 Team TGM car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb only managed to secure a P11 finish at the end whilst the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew, Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis ran out of time with their recovery driver to secure an AMR powered best of P8.
Only the Bronze Cup entered #64 Team TGM AMR of Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb and Kris Wilson enjoyed any kind of success with a P17 in class finish – P2 within their Bronze Cup sub class whilst the #15 Van Der Steur Bronze Cup entry of Christine and Ben Sloss failed to finish (although they were classified as finishing third).
This weekend sees all four cars back in action but with the omission of the third driver within both Bronze Cup entries amongst the combined entry list of twenty-two GS (GT4) cars and seventeen TCR cars.
Track action will begin on Thursday with Free Practice 1 before Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Friday before an 11:45hrs local start to their two-hour fifth round of the season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Track action will begin on Thursday with Free Practice 1 before Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Friday before an 11:45hrs local start to their two-hour fifth round of the season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, June 15, 2025 |
Read more...
Tough times for the Aston Martin Racing powered contingent at Mid-Ohio
Within the earlier two VP Racing Sportscar Challenge races, there was only the #72 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew within that twenty strong LPM3/GT3 and GT4 based cars but perhaps the less said about that the better as DePew had earlier contact within Race 1 and was forced to retire after only three laps before lasting only slightly longer in the second forty-five-minute race to retire after twelve laps.
That left four AMR powered crews competing within the four-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race as its fourth round of the season.
Hopes from the Team TGM team were again elevated in qualifying as Paul Holton again stuck his #46 car onto the front row of the grid in P2 whilst the other three Astons from the Van Der Steur, Team TGM and Rebel Rock stables all struggled towards the rear of the GS class.
Unfortunately, the sun had all but gone ahead of Sunday’s start and it wasn’t long before the GS leaders were lapping the GS class tail enders (including the #15 VDS car of Christine Sloss just after the fifteen-minute mark. Dropping down to fifth at the half hour mark, Holton soon had more cars around them to what he would have preferred before the first full course yellow of the race.
Two more quick FCY’s then followed before eventually going back to green which unfortunately saw the #15 VDS car of Ben Sloss edged off the track and into the tyre wall. By the end of the second hour both Team TGM cars and the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of DePew, Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell found themselves behind some of the faster TCR based cars on track.
With the order of DePew handing onto Davis and then onto Liddell sparked something of a wonder recovery drive from the Scotsman who gradually elevated his position from its lower third position on track into more palatable by the end. Going into the final hour, by taking service Matt Plumb in his #46 car dropped out of the top ten with Liddell just a few more places back as the Aston was clearly struggling for pace compared to its Porsche and BMW rivals.
With the sun finally trying to make an appearance, it was a mad dash to the flag before a late FCY for a spun car on the infield heightened the tensions. Getting back to green and with all the pack line astern to one another, it was Liddell’s final opportunity to make up ground as he was now within the top ten although eventually, he and his #71 crew would finish P8 overall and in class.
With the #46 Team TGM car finishing P11 overall and in class, their sister #64 car of Ted Giovanis, Hugh Plumb and Kris Wilson did earn themselves another Bronze Cup podium finish by finishing P17 in class and second within the Bronze Cup sub-class. The #15 Van Der Steur car of Christine and Ben Sloss were sidelined after that restart incident and failed to finish for the first time this season.
The next round of the series will be from Watkins Glenn in two weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Monday, June 09, 2025 |
Read more...
Five Aston Martin Vantage GT4 crews venture down to IMSAs Mid-Ohio event this weekend
This will be the third round of the season so far for the LMP3/GT3 and GT4 powered crews as just twenty of them will compete within the two available races this time around. After visit to both Daytona at the Roar before the twenty-four test and most recently from the Circuit of the America back in early March, it will again be just the #72 Rebell Rock Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Frank DePew presenting the brand within the GSX class entry of ten GT4 cars.
At CoTA, DePew secured his first podium finish of the season with an opportunist drive during race one of that weekend to score a P3 finish within the Bronze Cup. Unlike CoTA, DePew will be back to his double racing duties between the two series again.
Then within the Michelin Pilot Challenge Series, they will be racing their fourth round of the season after rounds at Daytona, Sebring and most recently at Laguna Seca just a month ago with another four-hour event like the opening round of the season.
This weekend’s entry list shows no surprises within the AMR powered ranks as just four Vantage GT4 crew compete alongside a further nineteen GS class (GT4) crews alongside that of a further fifteen TCR based cars.
Both Team TGM entries for the #46 of Matt Plumb/Paul Holton and the #64 car of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb (with Kris Wilson again as third man) alongside the #15 Van Der Stuer entry of husband-and-wife team Christine and - Ben Sloss. The #71 Rebel Rock entry for DePew, Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis complete the AMR powered entry.
It is the #71 Rebel Rock crew that presently lead the AMR way within the overall points, but they lag at 50% of that of the present championship leaders so there is still a lot of work to be done this season.
The first of the two VP Racing Sportscar Challenge races and MPC Qualifying will be on Saturday with the other two races on Sunday.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Monday, June 02, 2025 |
Read more...
The Michelin Pilot Challenge cauldron continue to heat up as the series visits VIR next weekend
Ending that two-hour encounter with two car upon the overall podium with P2 and P3 finishes as well as another claiming the Bronze Cup three events before end of season is obviously what others would like to emulate as the Series also moves onto the Virginia International Raceway two-hour affair next weekend.
Once again, there are slight driver changes within two of the six Vantage GT4 crews with the #45 Ruckus Racing entry this time absent from the proceedings.
The #16 Skip Barber Racing AMR entry sees Will Lambros return to partner Ken Fukuda whilst Valentin Hasse-Clot’s place within the #19 Van Der Steur car is again replaced by Aussie Scott Andrews as the young Frenchman is again on ACO rules racing duties in Europe. Rory Van Der Steur and Andrews will be keen to develop upon their P3 finish last time out to maximise that championship aspirations.
No changes with the #46 Team TGM car of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb nor with last times P2 finishes within the #88 Archangel prepared AMR of Todd Coleman and Aaron Telitz. The newly crowned Bronze Cup Champions of Hugh Plumb and Ted Giovanis as well as the #71 Rebel Rock pairing of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell complete the Aston Martin line up within the thirty-one strong grid.
Results from Road America have split the three leading Aston Martin powered drivers at the top of the Championship leaderboard with Matt Plumb still leading the way on 2000 points but with the Porsche powered contingent of Trent Hindman and Stevan McAleer just 200 point behind. Van der Steur is now thirty points behind the Porsche pairing with Holton a further seventy points back from him with two remaining rounds from Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans still to come.
The GS Championship 2024 is literally still wide open.
Photo credits – Teams / Series social media
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 |
Read more...
Staying out of trouble earned Stoner Car Care team their first Bronze Cup podium in Michelin Pilot Challenge
With ambient temperatures near 90 and track temps over 100, drivers Rob Ecklin, Jr. and Ramin Abdolvahabi knew they had a challenge ahead in the No. 09 Invisible Glass Aston Martin Vantage GT4 – with their usual Stoner Car Care Aston Martin sidelined with a differential issue, the team recalled the iconic colors back into action on Friday afternoon.
With past IMPC races as a benchmark, the team knew a four-hour race at the vaunted Wisconsin road course would hold nonstop action – and more than a few incidents. The game plan as always was to play it smart, making judicious passes and taking advantage where they could as they sought their first Bronze Cup victory (for Bronze FIA-rated drivers).The action commenced from the drop of the green, as 39 cars diced for position. Abdolvahabi, starting 23rd, got the worst of it on lap one – hit from behind and from the side in turn three.
Assessing the damage, he and the team determined that the car was not badly damaged, so Abdolvahabi continued. The first caution came only 20 minutes into the race, and the team made a strategy call to save time, calling Abdolvahabi into pit lane for left-side Michelin tires and fuel.
"On that first lap, one car shut the door on me and we made contact, which sent me into another car," said Abdolvahabi. "Then he hit me from behind. I'm just glad I was able to keep it on the road and keep it going, we're lucky we didn't get spun around. But that's the sort of thing that happens in such close racing! The car just wasn't the same after that - the steering was fine, but the toe seemed a bit off. We just didn't have the pace."
The race went green, yellow, green, yellow in rapid succession over the next hour, but Abdolvahabi made smart moves and took advantage of a round of late pit stops to move up to P14. He held steady throughout the final minutes of his stint, handing off to Ecklin with just over two hours remaining.
"On that first lap, one car shut the door on me and we made contact, which sent me into another car," said Abdolvahabi. "Then he hit me from behind. I'm just glad I was able to keep it on the road and keep it going, we're lucky we didn't get spun around. But that's the sort of thing that happens in such close racing! The car just wasn't the same after that - the steering was fine, but the toe seemed a bit off. We just didn't have the pace."
The race went green, yellow, green, yellow in rapid succession over the next hour, but Abdolvahabi made smart moves and took advantage of a round of late pit stops to move up to P14. He held steady throughout the final minutes of his stint, handing off to Ecklin with just over two hours remaining.
But shortly thereafter, it was Ecklin’s turn to get tagged from behind in what was rapidly becoming a game of bumper cars. He fought the ill-handling car but still laid down steady laps, climbing from P22 up to P16 with 40 minutes remaining. When the checkered flag flew, Ecklin was second in the Bronze Cup standings and P14 overall.
"Staying out of trouble was key today - those were some hard hits out there today,” said Ecklin. “I couldn't feel anything technically wrong with the car, but it was just off pace. I couldn't gain time anywhere. So it was a matter of managing fuel and keeping the car on track. This is a very physical track to race on for four hours, so while we're disappointed not to get the Bronze Cup win, we're happy to have brought the car home."
"Rob and I really wanted P1 in Bronze Cup," said Abdolvahabi. "The strategy was spot-on, but all those hits just took us out of contention."“Finishing on the lead lap after four hours, with a wounded car from lap one on, with some good strategy along the way, I’m pretty happy with that,” said Automatic Racing team manager David Russell. “Driver changes were good, crew work was excellent, and we survived it with a whole car – and in this race, that’s a positive outcome.”
The Stoner Car Care team continues to support End Alzheimer’s Racing, carrying decals on the car to help their efforts to raise funds and awareness.
Next up for the Stoner Car Care team will be the Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix from VIRginia International Raceway.
Source material - Stoner Car Care
Next up for the Stoner Car Care team will be the Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix from VIRginia International Raceway.
Source material - Stoner Car Care
Monday, August 08, 2022 |
Read more...


















































