Porsche Sprint Challenge – Spring Mountain Raceway – March 2024
Great race weekend at the Porsche Sprint Challenge Race at Spring Mountain Motorsport Resort (March 28 -31, 2024)(Porsche 992 Cup Single Make Series). BRracing Motorsport customers swept the series over the weekend (Blake McDonald, 1st place, Pro-Am, Sam Parnigian, 2nd place, Pro-Am, Kevin Woods, 1st place, Masters).
The first race of the 2024 series started out very cold, and for qualifying on Saturday, rain started, and eventually washed out qualifying. That produced an odd grid for Race #1. Most went out, knowing the track was wet, and treaded gingerly on the first set of laps. The rain started to pick up, getting very heavy. That caught some competitors out, and they ventured off track, causing a RED FLAG, with only 3 laps completed. Those who were playing it safe were caught off guard when the red flag came out, but a few took advantage of the situation, and had gotten a decent lap in on lap 2, which shuffled the grid immensely, almost an inverse grid. The BRracing customers were either in the middle of the pack (not where practiced showed they should be), and Blake having to start dead last. Due to the continuation of the rain, the Saturday race was called off (it started snowing at the end of the day in the surrounding foothills, it was COLD). The race originally scheduled for Saturday was moved to Sunday morning…early….with very cold temperatures…that would prove to be interesting.
Sunday, 8am, Race #1. With the grid highly shuffled due to the shortened and then cancelled qualifying, and the very cold temperatures, there was a little bit of anxiety spread across the group. The track had not fully dried out from the heavy rains the day and night before, there was no sunshine to help dry out the track nor add some temperature into the track, and the track felt cold, hard, and slippery. Since both races were to be held on Sunday, that also put some cause for concern into all teams, for should there be something happen in race #1, there would be almost no time to effect any changes or repairs. As we found last year, one of the most important aspects to try to win a championship, is to be consistent and finish every race, therefore, our customers needed to do well in race #1, but not be too aggressive, and they needed to record a very fast lap in race #1 to provide them a good grid position for the start of race #2 that same day.
The start of race #1 got off to a smooth start, with no one making an aggressive move or dive inside. Tire strategy and tire pressure management would prove to be key….Some of the cars up front had their tire pressures rise too much, making the car a handful to drive. BRracing customers took it easy for the first 3 laps, letting tire pressures build gradually, and their tires started to come in perfectly, and allowed all of our customers to start their march to the front, and to also set fast lap times. At the end, Blake had marched from last place at the start and made his way all the way to the front, claiming 1st place. Sam followed him home, in 2nd place, and Kevin recorded the 3rd fastest lap in the race, and finished 5th. Josh drove a super race, and just missed the podium, but the fast laps in the race set all of the BRracing cars well for race #2.
Blake McDonald on his way to 1st Place in Race #1.
Josh Conley, during Race #1, turning the fastest lap of his life….such amazing progression in the last year
Kevin Woods…turned the 3rd fastest lap in Race #1, putting him P3 for the start of Race #2
Sam, on his way thru the field, to finish Race #1 in P2 behind Blake.
Race #2
Temperatures were a little warmer (but still cold, and no rain or snow), so hopes were up that the warmer temps would allow the tires to heat up and develop a little more grip. Blake was gridded 2nd for the start, Kevin 3rd for the start, Sam 5th for the start, and Josh 6th for the start. At the drop of the green flag, Kevin got a great jump, and slotted into 2nd, w Blake now 3rd, Sam in 6th, and Josh in 7th. Kevin and James chased the leader for the first three laps, pushing the leader hard. As they started to close on the leader, Blake had closed the gap to Kevin, and was turning faster laps than anyone. Kevin let Blake thru, and the tag team then chased down the leader and applied constant pressure. The pressure worked, as the leaders tires started to fall off due to trying to stay out front, and soon both Blake and Kevin were thru, and now in P1 & P2 in the race, with Sam now closing on the lead group. The group of BRracing customers continued to crank out faster laps, and developed a gap to the rest of the field. Sam caught Kevin, and then passed Kevin (they were not in the same class, Sam is in the class as Blake and Josh, Kevin is in the Masters classs). BRR still running 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall. That was how they finished. Blake P1 in class, and P1 overall. Sam P2 in class, P2 overall. Kevin P3 overall, but P1 in class. Josh had some mid race encounters, but put his head down, focussed, and drove laps at the end nearly equal to Blake and Sam. A great race, a great showing for BRracing, as our customers swept the results.
The winter testing and driver development…as expressed by Blake:
Can’t wait to do this again….up next, PSC event at Utah Motorsports Complex, May 10-12, 2024. Stay tuned
