SAMAX - Utah race half

SAMAX/ Doncaster Racing posted a strong performance during the first half of the Rolex Sports Car Series season finale at Miller Motorsports Park on Saturday. Rob Bell, Dave Lacey and Greg Wilkins drove a steady pace to move from ninth to third in the GT class in the first 4.5 hours of the nine-hour race. The team anticipated ambient temperature changes after the noon start, so were able to adjust the car to match the conditions.

Lacey started ninth on the GT grid and moved up to fourth during his 90-minute stint. Greg Wilkins took over, returned to the track seventh and moved up to second before pitting just before the three-hour mark. Rob Bell drove the third stint, moving from fourth to second, despite the heat of driving with a non-functioning cool suit. Lacey started his second stint at 4h24, returning to the track third in class.

race report

time           driver                        action
start            Lacey
1h31           Wilkins in                   pit – driver change, tires, fuel
2h58           Bell in                        pit – driver change, tires, fuel
4h24           Lacey in                     pit – driver change, tires, fuel, oil

Rob Bell:  "Our aim is to finish the nine hours; that will be a real achievement. I got in with that in mind and pushed relatively hard, but tried to keep it consistent and not hurt the tires too much. I think that worked and I had lap times in the [two-minute] 59s every lap that was clear, which was good. We're P3 at the moment, after the pitstop. The guy behind us is very, very close, probably a little bit faster, so if we can keep third or fourth for now, we'll just see what happens."

Greg Wilkins:  "We couldn't be happier. Rob had a great stint in the car, everybody's been consistent and the car's working well. We're running third halfway through the race with a strong car and the ability to run consistently. It's too early to get excited – there's a lot of racing left to go – but the strategy is working out really well, the team has done a great job preparing the car. We learned over the last couple of days  with different track temperatures, so we anticipated the change in temperature to get a car that would be a little bit pushy [understeering] for the core heat of the afternoon. I'm really optimistic as time passes."