Tyler McQuarrie

Just days after our huge win at Super Lap Battle, the FXMD crew and myself made our way north to Infineon Raceway to compete in the last round of Global Time Attack. I’ve been an instructor at Infineon for 14 years so I was very excited to get the FXMD NSX out on my home turf! As good as the car was at Buttonwillow, I knew it would be even better at this track

Since the FXMD NSX has never run at this track, our plan was simply to go out for a time and check the balance on the car. I felt some over boosting on my out lap so I came straight into the pits and we realized that we had some issue’s with the waste gate so that session was a scratch for us. The team did a great job on switching out the waste gate in time for the next session. Our plan was still the same for this session. I was able to get some laps in and got a good  read on the car. Infineon is SO much smoother than Buttonwillow, which really helps the aero work so much better. Trust me, you can REALLY feel the aero working. We made a shock and bar change to help the balance of the car but we also recognized on the data that the motor was running lean, and we determined that it was from some bad E85 that we bought locally. So for the next session we decided to slap some new Yokohama Slicks on and run our low boost setting (550 whp) due to the bad fuel, but I was going to push pretty hard for a time. The car felt awesome on my out lap with the changes we made to the chassis and after a few laps, the Yokohama Slicks got up to optimal temp and i was ready to lay down a flyer! I pushed harder in every area of the track and did a time of 1:34.564, which was a new track record. Our closest competitor was GST at a 1:37.000 so we parked it for the rest of the session. The FXMD were stoked with this time because we were on low boost! Full boost would put us in the 750whp range, which I think would get us in the 1:32′s! After the session, we got word the the GST car broke and would not return to action. We really wanted to go back out with a little more boost to lower the record but we all thought it wasn’t worth loosing the motor due to the bad fuel. A tough call but the right one.

In the end, we got another track record and overall win in the FXMD NSX! Thats two in one week!!! No better way to start a relationship with  FXMD than to give them two wins and two track records in two events. This NSX is a beast and so much fun to drive. Even better is working with the FXMD guys and I’m excited to take down more track records with them in 2012!

It has been a couple of years since I’ve competed in a Time Attack, so when I got the call from Ken at FXMD, I was excited for a couple of reasons. I was excited to get a shot at driving the FXMD NSX because I’ve seen the car being developed over the last few years and it looks like it has some insane potential. I was also excited to get out to Super Lap Battle at Buttonwillow because it has become known around the world and a record that every time attack team wants and shoots for. I knew I had a shot at the record behind the wheel of the FXMD NSX!

Ken called me about a week and half before the event so it was pretty short notice. Our first issue would be testing and getting me some seat time. Due to SEMA and prior commitments I had for some driver coaching, we found ourselves left with the test day before the event day as our only test. This meant I would have to get up to speed quickly and we had no time for any issue’s with the car.

On our first and only test day we spent most of the day chasing an issues with the left rear suspension. We threw everything at it to find the issue, but by then we only had a couple of sessions to nail the set up and get me some seat time. By the end of our first and only test day, we all knew the overall lap record was going to be though to beat simply because of the lack of time in the car, but we were not going to give up. This car is a beast and I knew it had the potential to do it.

We got to the track early on the event day and had planned to get a couple of sessions in before we went for the record. During the first session the car was feeling good so I turned up the wick a bit. I was coming out of the bus stop and got a little crossed up, which is normally no problem but this car has so much downforce, large tires, and no power steering. This makes the return on the wheel fast and jerky and that made my shoulder pop out of the socket! It hurt like a mother but it’s not the first time it has happened… Long story short, I tore my labrum muscle in a NASCAR Southwest Tour race in 2005 and was told that I need surgery or it will continue to pop out, and it has 3 times since then. I made my way back into the pits in some serious pain but was not going to let this stop our quest to beat the record. I put my shoulder on ice, rubbed some Bio freeze on it, and wrapped it with an ace bandage. I was back in the car an hour later and it hurt more outside of the car than it did driving, which was a good sign. During this session I did a 1:41.800 which was fast enough to beat the rear wheel drive record set by the FXMD NSX last year but still well short of the overall record. We knew the next session was our only shot at going for the record because the track conditions deteriate after that. We threw on some new rubber and I focused on a couple of areas on the track where I knew I left some time on the table, but even then I knew it was going to be a tough task. All I could do at this point is go for it! I knew that my time would come on the 3rd lap so I really focused on getting a good exit on the last corner of the 2nd lap. I was very happy with almost every corner on the lap and knew it was close but still didn’t think it was good enough until I saw the time pop up and the team came over the radio yelling “1:40.9″!!!! I had to ask them a couple of times on my in lap ” did we really do a 1:40.9? Did we beat the record?”

Such a great feeling to get the Super Lap Battle overall lap record at Buttonwillow! This event is the Daytona of time attack. It has become the bench mark and the record that every time attack team wants and strives for. So for myself and the FXMD guys to come together just days before the event and beat a team like Sierra Sierra that has spent so much time and money to get that record is AWESOME! It’s a testament to the FXMD crew and the car they built. I’ve driven many time attack cars but none come close to the FXMD NSX beast! I’m honored to drive it and I hope we can go after more records in the future.

I love drifting at Irwindale and always look forward to going there but this year was different. The previous round in Las Vegas was the most odd and frustrating race weekend of my career. I went to Irwindale with a chip on my shoulder and a point to make regarding decisions that were made in Vegas. I knew I was going to drive with everything I had and I knew this would be my last Formula D event with Falken Tire.

Formula D decided to extend the traditional track, which I think was a great decision. All the drivers liked the new layout and it was going to give the fans a better show. The first few runs in practice were spent getting used the new layout. As usual, the ASD crew nailed my setup and we made a few changes to the car so we could adjust to the new track. I was very happy with my car and just spent most of practice getting my qualifying line down.

I was very confident going into qualifying but knew just needed to put a clean run together. My first run was a conservative one but it gave me the ability to hang it all out on my second run. I drove my second run “angry” and nailed it. I scored a 88.4 which in the end put me 3rd! I was very happy with that and it would set the tone for the rest of the event.

I was very confident going into top 32 and focused on one battle at a time. My match up in top 32 was Cyrus Martinez. I knew Cyrus was going to go all out and he did just that but made a few mistakes behind me. I just needed to follow him and the win would be mine. We went into the bank and I was about 1 car length behind him and he got into the wall. Luckily he stayed up on the wall and didn’t come down onto me. I just finished the run and got the win.

Next up would be Dean Kearney in the Dodge Viper. Dean has got the Viper looking better and better every round and he has been looking good this weekend. I was on a mission and it never entered my mind once that I might lose this round. I had a good lead run and was able to pull out a gap and my follow run was solid. I got the win and was moving onto the great 8.

I gotta be honest, I was expecting to meet Dai in the great 8. No disrespect to Ken Gushi but Dai has been on fire all year but I think Ken was on a mission like me this round and took out Dai in top 16. Ken and I have gone up against each other a lot and he is always fair. I knew it was going to be a battle! I was to lead first but this is where it got messed up. Ken left before the lights went out, which is normal for the chase car to do to ensure that we enter as close as possible. But Ken left SO early I remember thinking “slow down” as we left the line. I tried to catch up and I think it would have been ok but it was tough for Ken to see me catching him and he slowed right before I entered, which created a big gap. All I had to do on my follow run was stick to him and I did that. The win went to me! On to the final 4!

I would meet my team mate DMac in the final 4. I went into this thinking it’s just another battle and just another driver in my way to the finals. No one said a word to me about the Championship implication this result would have and I’m glad they didn’t! If DMac won this battle and went onto win the event, he would win the Championship. If I won this battle, Dai would win the Championship. A lot was riding on this. I led first and went all out and pulled away from DMac. I knew I had to be aggressive on my follow run and he got away from me on the start but I reeled him back in on the bank. We both drove into the inner bank very hard and both tapped the wall and I stuck to him throughout the rest of the coarse. I got the win! This was a huge win for me and I’m moving onto the finals. I drove back to the pits and saw everyone lifting up Dai and I was a little confused… I knew he had clinched the triple crown earlier so I thought they were filming something for his show. I pull into my pit area and Dai jumped in my window and was hugging me yelling ” I love you, I won the championship”! I was surprised no one said anything to me before this battle but after Vegas I think enough had been asked of me and to be honest, I would have gone for the win no matter what.

Making it to the finals is a great feeling because you are guaranteed a spot on the podium but I wouldn’t be happy with anything but the top spot at this point. I was going against Rhys who has been looking awesome and is fresh off the win in Vegas. I led first and I went as hard as I could on the bank and held full throttle all the way until I went into the inner bank. I was moving and Rhys followed me into the inner bank. I was inches from the wall and Rhys got into the wall and spun. I pretty much just had to run behind him and the win would be mine. He had a pretty good gap on me,which I was cool with simply because his spin was too big of a mistake to come back from. They announced me the winner and I jump onto my carbon hood,which folded like a piece of card board ( sorry ASD). I won Irwindale!!!

With everything that went down in Vegas and knowing this was my last event with Falken, I couldn’t have written a better ending to the season and my time at Falken. It was such a great way to thank my boys at ASD for all their hard work over the past 3 years on my car. They bust their butts and to give them another win and carbon trophy in my last event with them was just awesome! I was told after Irwindale, that if i won Vegas like I did the year before, I would have won the 2011 championship by one point! I really wish they didn’t pull me out of that damn car… But in the end i finished the championship in 5th place. Not too bad considering i was forced to miss an event. I’m excited for the new opportunity I have in Formula D for 2012 and this win will give me the momentum I need going into the off season.

I was so excited to get back out and race with the Insight Racing Team. Our last race was Road America where I got pole position and led half the race before my co-driver Nico Rondet had a suspension failure, which resulted in a huge wreck that wrote off the car. The team was committed to get the GS M3 back on track before seasons end and I was excited to get the call to help Martin Jensen with that effort. This would be my first time racing the Insight Racing GS BMW M3 and my first time at Mid Ohio. I was more than ready for the challenge.

My plan for my first practice was to get comfortable in the car and learn the track. Prior to this weekend, I spent a lot of time on the iracing simulator so I wasn’t surprised that I was on pace with my my team mate Martin after four laps. It was tough to get a clean lap with over 70 cars entered in the GS and ST class. But I was surprised to be a second and a half off the quick time in GS! Martin and I soon released that we had our work cut out for us. With the help of our engineers Steve Dinan and Cooper King, we started to chip away at the time. Some of our time loss was due to the fact that we still had the stock M3 motor and are down 40hp to the other M3′s. This made our work on the setup even more important to make up for our lack of power. Martin and I were both happy with the progress during practice but never gave up on making it better. Every change we made, the car got better and improved our tire wear and by the time practice ended, we were happy with the car we had.

For this race, I would qualify and start the car. Luckily for our qualifying session, Grand Am would separate the GS and ST field. I was still concerned with getting a clean lap because there was 38 GS cars. I did a good job on my out lap getting some space and I was able to focus on putting a good lap together. The Continental Tires are fastest in the first few laps so you have to get your lap in early. I ended up with a 1:31.667 which was only 4 tenths off of pole! Although that puts us in 7th starting position out of the 38 GS cars, I was more pleased with the gap to the front. We were almost two seconds off at the start of practice, so to only be 4 tenths off now is a huge accomplishment for the team. And to think if we didn’t have the stock motor….

We had a few concerns for the start of the race. With 73 cars racing for 2.5 hours, obviously staying out of trouble and finishing the race was our number one goal. Our car was on pace but due to our lack of power it was faster by itself. It was not as quick in traffic and I knew we would be weak from the exit of the keyhole down to turn 4. It was very important to protect our position down that straight because our car was strong from turn 4 to turn 12.

I got a good start and ended up side by side with a mustang from the drop of the green flag to turn 7. By the end of the first lap, I was sitting in 7th place and part of the lead pack. Just as I thought, I had to be defensive down the straight from the the keyhole. Our car was very good on tires so we decided to go for a one stop strategy. It was a gamble but track position was important for our car. About an hour into my stint, I had made my way up to 2nd place and the cation laps were in our favor to make it on one stop but we needed a full coarse cation at the halfway point. The car was feeling great and I was just waiting for our pit window to open. In my efforts to save the car for Martin, I fell back to 3rd place and soon after that a full coarse yellow came out. This was perfect for our strategy and it was time to pit. I brought the car in and Martin and had a perfect driver switch and over the wall I went.

I started to take my helmet off and looked back at the pit and the car was still there.Our pit stop was over a minute! Not good at all but it was due to an issue with the fuel rig. Martin got back out on track in 20th and our perfect race took on a new look. We were good to go to the end of the race and Martin started picking cars off. It’s very tough to pass with our car at Mid Ohio but Martin was doing a great job. With only a few laps to go it started to get a little rough out there and Martin brought the Insight Racing BMW M3 home in 12th place.

All in all the weekend was a success for the Insight Racing Team. Our goal was to come back to last race of the year with a competitive car and finish the race strong. We did just that and It was great for the team to see us at the sharp end of the field. To only be 4 tenths off pole is a great motivation for the off season with our motor program coming for 2012. Insight Racing can enter the 2012 season knowing that we will be a title contender and that is exciting for everyone involved!

I think everyone in Formula D likes going to Seattle. The Evergreen track is fast and the fans are some of the best we see all year. I have had some success at this track after finishing 2nd in 2009, so I’m looking to “one up” that result this year.

We only had an hour of practice before qualifying, so there wasn’t much time for changes to the car. Luckily, the ASD Falken Tire crew nailed my setup! The car felt amazing and we just spent time fine tuning the tire  pressure  to the track temp. This gave me some time to just work on my line. By the end of practice, I was feeling very good and ready for qualifying.

My first qualifying run was a conservative one and it was no where close to the stuff I was doing in practice.  I was scored an 86 on my first run, which put me 3rd after the first round. I knew I had a shot at the top spot because I left so much on the table. On my second run, I went into the bank as hard as I could and rode the wall as close as I could. I got big angle coming off the bank and tapped the “power ally” wall with my rear bumper and gave it a big flick into the last corner. The judges scored it a 94.5. I qualified 1st for Formula D Seattle!!! A great result for me and Team Falken Tire but I still had a lot of work to do.

My match up for Top 32 would be Luke Lonberger in the Corvette. Luke has been improving every round but he can still be inconsistent at times. His trap speeds are also much lower than mine, which make these early rounds tricky and very nerve racking. Going off our trap speeds, I decided to give him some room but he turned it up a notch and the gap was a little too big in the begging. The judges called for a OMT. I would rather sit back a bit in top 32 and risk a OMT rather than tripping all over a slower car and get knocked out. Plus, now I knew what to expect. I turned it up a couple of notches and got the win on the OMT. Onto the top 16.

I was going up against Local favorite Alex Lee in the Top 16. Looking back through our notes, Alex had been driving solid all weekend but he was 15mph slower than me coming off the bank. That can be very tricky to follow and I knew that part of the track was a make or break for me. We did a lot to slow the car down and it worked. Again, he drove well but not much of a match up car to car… I got the win and moved onto the Great 8.

Time to turn it up! I would battle Fredrick Aasbo in the great 8. He is an awesome driver and I knew he was going to do the same. On our first run, I had a good lead run and had a good gap to him through the bank. he closed up a bit in the power ally but carried a little too much speed in and washed out on the left hander. I ended the course with a 3-4 car gap on Aasbo.

On my follow run, I was on him from the middle to the end of the bank. I let him pull away a bit in the power ally so I could set him up better for the left hander. It worked perfect and I was on his door the rest of the coarse. I knew I had a clean run and I never felt him on my door so I knew that I was closer to him than he was to me.

When the judges called for a OMT I asked the ASD guys over the radio where he got me and they said ” don’t know”. All I could do is turn it up and win this round, and that I did. I got even closer to him this time but it was the same result, another OMT. My plan for the next run was to hold nothing back… drive through him if I had to. I had a good lead run with a decent gap on Aasbo. I was all over him on my follow but made a little bobble in the power ally. We finished the coarse side by side with inches between us.

I knew I did everything I could but they went with Aasbo… I didn’t know what to think at the time, I knew I was all over him, and when I led I pulled out a gap consistently. In years past it would be a no brainer win to me, Proximity has always been the most important variable in tandem. That makes the best show for the crowd and keeps it exciting. Now, style seems to trump proximity and I don’t think thats is going to produce the best tandem battles. It is what it is, and I lost but I’m still not very clear as to why.

In the end, I finished 5th at Seattle. Not bad but I wanted champagne on my skin! This moved me back into 6th in the Championship and I’m in a good position to finish the year strong. I’m going into the next round at Las Vegas as the defending event winner… I’m also going there with something to prove and some un finished business from Seattle. I’m bringing my “McEnroe” game to Vegas so keep your camera’s rolling!

I was excited to get back with the Insight Racing team after having to miss the Watkins Glenn round due to my Formula D commitment. Even though Road America is one of my favorite tracks in North America, I didn’t think it would be a strong track for us. We simply lack straight line speed due to the restrictor we are forced to use from Grand Am. I knew the Insight Racing crew would do everything in their power to help Me and my co-driver Nico make up for what we didn’t have. We all focused on our handling and brakes hoping that would make up for our big deficit in straight line speed.

The weather was another variable we had to deal with all weekend. Nico and I both were hoping for rain because our Insight Racing BMW is very good in those conditions. I also spent two years racing Formula Vauxhall in England and Nico grew up racing in Brazil and France, so we are both very comfortable in the rain. During the promoter test day, we found ourselves sitting around third or forth fastest. But it was odd as the track dried, we didn’t seem to fall down the order at all. The turbo cars that we thought would be light years ahead of us were actually behind us. I soon realized that setup and brakes were more important than Power at Road America. A good surprise to say the least. Even though we are 7 mph down on the straight to the Turbo cars, we were crazy fast from the brake zone into turn 5 all the way through the carousel. We went from thinking and hoping for a top ten finish, to thinking we could win this thing!

I got the nod to qualify the car and I was excited to get out there and ring the neck of the Insight Racing BMW. Most of practice was spent in traffic so one of my main focuses was to find a clear track. This was also my first time during the weekend on a new set of tires with a dry track. Our car was hooked up! My first timed lap was good enough for pole at 1:32.200 but I wasn’t sure if some teams had been sand bagging so I put another lap together. It felt faster but I was a bit surprised when a 1:31.988 popped up on my dash. It was a track record and good enough for pole position by 7 tenths. The team has been busting their butts and it feels great to get pole. A little reward for the entire team and an awesome way for me to say thanks. But, still a lot of work to get the “W” that we all want.

I knew we had the pace to stay out front during the race but the start and first lap were my main concerns. The big problem area on the first lap would be the straight from turn 3 to turn 5 where we are down 7 mph to some cars. My main goal was to stay in the lead by the time we got to turn 5 because from there I could create a gap from those cars that have good straight line speed. As we took the green flag, I got a great start and held the lead into turn one with no problem. I had a 2-3 car gap over 2nd place as we exited turn 3. Just as I thought that gap was closed to inches off my bumper down the straight. I stayed driver’s left, which would force him to go around the outside going into turn 5. He played it smart and stayed behind me. If he would have gone to the outside it would have opened the door for everyone behind him. The entire field of 28 cars was nose to tail coming out of turn 5 and It stayed that way all the way over to the carousel. Our car was hooked up through the carousel and I was able to pull out 3-4 car lengths in that one corner. I passed start finish on lap one in the lead but not by much. Steve Dinan cam over the radio and said ” put your head down and put some quick laps in here to create a gap”. I did just that by laying down the fastest lap of the race and pulled out to a 2-3 second lead. I could see 2nd and 3rd racing pretty hard , which helped me save the car a bit. I had a pretty healthy lead so it was not a surprise that there was not a lot of chatter on the radio. But it was a surprise to not hear anything on the radio during a caution. I soon realized that I had lost all radio communication with the team. We had a long green flag run and I knew we were close to halfway. I started to play out pit strategies in my head but I also knew that if they needed me to come in that they would give me some kind of signal. I was looking over at the pits every time I passed and I didn’t see any activity, so I stayed out. Luckily, a full coarse caution came out shortly after I was racking my brain on when to come in. The pits are open for ST on the third lap of a full coarse caution so I flashed my lights as I passed the pits on the first lap to let the team know I was coming in. It just so happened that Steve Dinan was asking me over the radio to flash my lights if I could hear them. I couldn’t hear anything but they thought I could. I could see that Nico was ready to get in so I knew they were expecting me. I came in when the pits opened for ST and our stop was clean and Nico was  back on track. He had the same issue with the radio as me, he couldn’t hear anything. Nico was sitting in 3rd with 20 minutes to go and the gap to leaders was staying the same so I started to think we might have to settle for 3rd. Soon after that, we saw a huge crash on the live feed and I remember just seeing a black and white car doing 360′s in the air. I was gutted because I knew it was him and it was a huge hit. We were all glad to see him get out on his own but such a crappy feeling after the race we had up to that point. After they showed the replay, I remember saying ” that car is done and so is our season”. We are not sure what broke on the car but it was very clear after the crash that something did brake on Nico. So bummed!

I got pole, broke the track record, and led from the drop of the green flag to when I got out of the car. Normally that would be an amazing weekend but its all pretty meaningless with a crash like Nico had. The Insight Racing guys put so much into this program and it sucks for them too. Gil and Chris, who are the Team Principles at Insight Racing made it very clear to everyone on the team that this is not the end. We are going to come back even stronger so stay tuned! Laguna Seca is the one race that I was really looking forward to because it is a home track for me. The track really suits our car also so I knew we would kill it there. I’m SO disappointed that we have to miss that race now. We hope to be back by Mid Ohio with a new Insight Racing BMW.

On our way to Lime Rock, the Insight Racing team was invited to BMW North America for an employee appreciation event. We had the Insight Racing BMW on display and we gave a few tickets away for the race at Lime Rock. BMW is a great supporter of our team and it was good to meet some of the people that make it all happen.

We arrived at Lime Rock but only had two sessions to sort out the car. Lime Rock is an interesting track to setup a car. Its almost like a reverse oval. All right hand corner’s with one left hand corner

So we had some work to do when we unloaded the car off the trailer. We made great progress in those two sessions and ended up with a good qualifying run. We qualified  4th out of the 33 car field in and we were only 2 tenths off pole. The top 20 cars were separated by 1 second in qualifying.

My main concern for the race was the start. I wanted to get through turn one with no contact and maintain my position since it’s a long race.

We came out of turn two and I was in forth and looking good. I was content just sitting there for a bit because our car is so good on the tires and I knew the other cars were not and their times would fall off because of it. It’s so hard to pass here and I didn’t want to force anything that early.

I worked my way up to 2nd behind the APR VW and we checked out from the rest of the pack. He was also holding me up a bit but I could see his front tires getting worn fast and he started to make some mistakes. Again, I didn’t force anything and keep my car clean.

I eventually got into the lead! Our Insight Racing BMW is a real momentum car and once I got out in front, I was gone. I pulled out a 6 second lead, which is pretty big for this series. The car was so good throughout the entire stint, There was a full coarse caution around the 40 minute mark but it was too early for us to make our 1 and only pit stop. Everyone else was on a 2 stop strategy, so they pit on that cation. It was a gamble and I was hoping for another caution that never came. We had to make a green flag stop, which normally would put us a lap down. We were lucky that I had such a big lead that it gave a shot to get my co-driver Nico in the car with out going a lap down.

The team got him back out there in 18th but we knew everyone still had to do their second stop. After every one’s second stop, we were sitting in 2nd and closing in on 1st. Nico had some issue’s with the ABS braking system and spun in turn 1. This put us back to 10th.

He did a good job and fought his way back up to forth and was closing in on 3rd when the checkered came out.All this considered it was a good result but man we were so close to getting the Insight Racing team their first win. It’s our first year as a team but we have shown everyone that we are here to stay and are a threat at every race. And for that, I’m happy but not content. I WANT THAT “W”!!!!

Round 4 of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge was at VIR in Virginia. I was very excited to get back with the Insight Racing Team since I had to miss the 3rd round at Barber due to a conflict with my Formula D schedule. I was also excited for this round because we knew our Insight Racing BMW 328 would be good at this track. The team deserves a good result and I was going to do everything in my power to get them one.

Practice went well as usual, our car was quick right off the truck! Nico(co-driver), Steve Dinan and myself  put our heads together and made a few changes to make the car even better. The first practice started out wet andthe car was on rails! I was over 2 seconds faster than the second place car in ST with the wet conditions. The track started to dry enough to go to slicks and our car was quick in those conditions too.  We stayed on top of the time charts in ST the entire session and when it was all said anddone, I was the fastest ST car by over a second!

For this event, I would qualify and start the car. I was very confident going into qualifying because our pace in practice was very quick and I knew there was some speed left in the car. Unfortunately there was some dirty tactics on the out lap by some other cars, which caused me to get stuck in traffic. This killed my opportunity to get a clean lap, which is very important in our car. We also had some issues with the rear toe moving on the car. The combination of the two caused me to go 5 tenths slower than I did in practice. It was a huge let down because we ended up 10th when we should have grabbed pole. Luckily it’s a long race but it meant we had some work to do.

One of my main goals going into the race was to protect all four corners of my car. There is a lot of contact in the ST class and you can end your race in a heartbeat but I think its very important to keep your car as clean as possible to have a good car at the end of the 2.5 hour race. I was very careful at the start but still managed to gain 2 spots on the opening lap. I settled into a groove and picked off one car at a time. By the end of my stint, I was in 4th place in ST and we were in our window to make our one and only stop. A full coarse caution came out so it was time to pass over the car to my co-driver, Nico Rondet. We had a good driver change but a slight mistake on the pit stop with our fueler set us back a few spots. Most ST cars pit much later than us andwhen the pit stops all cycled through we found ourselves in the lead. The last 10 minutes were a real nail biter! Nico exchanged the lead many times with Ryan Eversley. After a hard and exciting battle we settled for 2nd place in ST.

This is Insight Racing’s first year and only our 4th race together. To finish 2nd is a huge success in my eyes and we are that much closer to getting the “W”, which is what we are here to do. Nico and I knew that we would be a very strong combo and knew we would get these results but its very important for the crew to see and experience this. The power behind results like these are huge and getting a taste of it for everyone on the team will make them want it again, and again! I’m so glad to be part of Insight Racing because I think this is just the beggining of something great. I think the best way to thank the Insight Racing team for bringing me on is to get results like this… I plan on thanking them “my way” a lot!