Double Podium for Acura at Road America
Road AmericaIt was a double podium performance for Acura as both ARX-06 prototypes of Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport notched top-three finishes at the newly-repaved Road America circuit.
· Second place finish at Road America for #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06
· Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport rounds out podium 2-3 finish for Acura
· Third place result gives WTRAndretti championship lead
ELKHART LAKE, WI (August 6) – It was a double podium performance for Acura as both ARX-06 prototypes of Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport notched top-three finishes at the newly-repaved Road America circuit.
The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 qualified sixth on the grid, but would end up starting fourth following separate incidents for two cars ahead prior to the race start. Drivers Colin Braun and Tom Bolmqvist would move forward during their stints and their combined efforts were rewarded with a second-place finish.
The #10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 squad of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor would finish third following a fourth-place qualifying effort and rebounding after handling issues and a small off through the middle stages of the race. The P3 finish was enough to move their WTRAndretti team into first place in the championship standings by just 14 points.
The full IMSA field next runs September 15-17 on the road course of the famed Indianapolis Motors Speedway for the TireRack.com Battle of the Bricks.
It’s good to be back on the podium and as championship leader. Of course, the points swing is so big now with 10 cars on the grid, so you can easily have a 100-point swing. So, while it’s good to be there, it’s more important for us to stay there with no mistakes at all from here on out—not even in practice! We saw today the #31 have a crash in warm up that sent them back in the race, and that’s what we need to avoid. Making those mistakes is super easy, so we have to keep on our toes with two races to go.
It’s good to be back on the podium and as championship leader. Of course, the points swing is so big now with 10 cars on the grid, so you can easily have a 100-point swing. So, while it’s good to be there, it’s more important for us to stay there with no mistakes at all from here on out—not even in practice! We saw today the #31 have a crash in warm up that sent them back in the race, and that’s what we need to avoid. Making those mistakes is super easy, so we have to keep on our toes with two races to go.
All-in-all I’m really proud of Acura, HPD and MSR. I think this is a great result! Considering where we started, we had a couple of challenging practice sessions with some brake issues, so hats off to the guys, we turned it around and got into the window in qualifying. And then the race today was close. I wouldn't have expected us to have so few yellows during this event, and that made the strategy a bit more straightforward and gave us less opportunity to capitalize. Tom did a great job the last few stints and it was really close at the end, but the traffic just didn’t go our way. But, you can’t be too upset about a podium.
All-in-all I’m really proud of Acura, HPD and MSR. I think this is a great result! Considering where we started, we had a couple of challenging practice sessions with some brake issues, so hats off to the guys, we turned it around and got into the window in qualifying. And then the race today was close. I wouldn't have expected us to have so few yellows during this event, and that made the strategy a bit more straightforward and gave us less opportunity to capitalize. Tom did a great job the last few stints and it was really close at the end, but the traffic just didn’t go our way. But, you can’t be too upset about a podium.
