ILMS 2010 4-Class at Daytona RC

[JTninja]

March 11th, 2010.

The start of Champion Motorsports ILMS season kicked off last Thursday night, March 11th of 2010. After the long off season, everybody packed up their equipment and head down to Daytona, Florida, for round 1 of the ILMS 4-cass series. The 2.24 hour long event would be the first of 9 rounds in this season’s championship.

2009 saw Champion Racing only participating in some races, and when doing so, placed mostly mid-pack. For the last two rounds at Road Atlanta and Le Mans, the team withdrew their entry in the LMP-1 Category, packed up their Audi R10, and ran their Corvette C6R in the GT1 category. There they battled for the lead, though due to technical difficulties, retired both races.

For the 2010 season, it was decided to return to the LMP1 category, and race for the overall win. Champion Racing has once again brought out the Audi R10 TDI. "We decided to run the Audi R10 in this year’s ILMS series," said JT Tami, team owner and driver, during off season testing. "The Audi is a very good car. Last year, the rules didn’t play into the cars favor, and seemed handicapped compared to the rest of the class. This year, with new rules for the car, it’s much more competitive, and it’s a downright beast. Add in the fact that its left hand drive, and it seemed like the perfect choice!"

The offseason testing went well, giving Champion Racing their first pole at Sebring International Raceway. During practice at Daytona, the Champion Audi R10 was once again the middle pack of the prototypes. When asked about their practice session, JT replied "Despite the time, all went well. The race setup is almost there. Ride height is right where we want it, brakes feel good and should have no problem lasting the race, the car feels good. We're still figuring out what aero to run. The R10 only has 5 gears, which means where other cars use 2nd gear for corners, we have to use 1st, usually in the high rpms. Add in the diesel’s incredible amount of torque and a low aero setup, and the car easily slides in slow corners."



Qualifying saw the #97 Audi R10 do reasonably well. It quickly set a 1:33:3, which put it in 5th place. JT said that was good enough for him, and hoped by the time the session was over, would be enough for a top 10 start. The team spent the rest of the session finishing the race setup, which was looking very good. They would finish 8th in qualifying, with Drew McLean getting pole, Mark Bos and Kris Hudson in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Dwanye Jans got pole in LMP2 in the Acura ARX-01B, James Sharkus pole in GT with a Porsche RSR, and Tom Cinnamon pole in GTC, with the Porsche GTC.



32 cars started the race. Much like the GTC race here last week, when the green came out, the field safely made it through turn 1. "It got a little scary going into T1, with the prototypes packed together so tightly," said JT. "I got what looked like a good start, but with traffic ahead, I had to slow down and kinda cruise through Turn 1." After finishing the first lap, JT was up to 7th place.



Soon enough, he was battling the LMP2 leader Dwayne Jans for 5th overall, made that pass, and was reeling in Paul Hamilton's Peugeot 908 for 4th. On lap 12, while following the 908 out of Turn 6 (the double left hander), JT lost control of the Audi R10 ask the torque threw the car across the track. The torque then made a mess in the grass, making it impossible for JT to return the track quickly, and instead trapped him in the small sandpit near the exit. Coming upon the accident scene, Maximark Bradshaw saw the parked car and tried to slow, but also lost control of his car. The Audi refused to move forward, and after losing a few more seconds, JT managed to reverse the car out of the sand, rejoining in 9th place. He quickly managed to catch up to the cars in front, and soon found himself back into 5th overall just under the 2 hour mark.



Coming to the first round of pit stops, JT was in 4th place when he down to pit lane. Upon approach and under braking, JT accidently hit the pitlane speed limiter (61 mph locked max) while still doing around 80 mph, forcing the car to spin around, just like he did last race in the Corvette. Once he got going the right way, made it to his box to take fuel and new tires, without fixing the slight damage that had occurred. He came back out in 4th, and managed to put down respectable times in the mid 1:35s and low 1:36s.



On lap 55, JT was heading onto the back straightaway when Drew McLean, 2rd place, approached to put the Audi R10 a lap down. "I see his pescarola in my mirrors, getting pretty close. He seemed to be running less wing than myself, and was faster, so I flash my lights to let him know he can pass me. He did so, and pulled in front of me as we came towards the chicane of turns 9 and 10. Unfortunately, we we're coming up on a GT Porsche, and coming up fast. I thought Drew would out brake the GT going into the corner, so I lined up to follow. We get within 100 feet, and then suddenly brakes early, as if to wait and pass the car after the chicane. Not knowing this, I threw my car to the left and got on the brakes, barely missing hitting his rear bumper. Suddenly im closing in on the Porsche at a very high rate of speed, and I throw the car to the right, still braking, and somehow managed to not only come within inches of hitting both cars there, but out broke both of them and safely made the corner. After nearly defiling my car, I looked into my mirror to still see Drew behind the GT coming out of the chicane. I felt like I had somehow made Allan McNish feel proud."



The Champion Audi continued to soldier on in 4th, and managed to mostly stay out of trouble. The car gained slightly more damage on lap 68 when while attempting to pass a prototype on the back straight, the car was forced into the wall by the unaware prototype, but both continued on.



A slight spin and some slower pace laptimes put Lenny Trap, in 5th place, within distance of unlapping himself, which would indeed occur when Trap beat the Audi out of the pits with 12 minutes to go. Tami went easy with the last few minutes and brought the R10 across the finish line in 4th place, both overall and in class. "It was a very good race. The engine was fine, never hitting over 86C. We thought of opening the radiator, but it might have taken too much time, so we didn’t bother. Car held up and ran perfect, with the exception of a few mistakes on my part. Traffic was great, the racing was great. Makes Daytona seem almost likable." Tami said laughing.



After tech inspection, the Audi was loaded up into the truck. The team now heads back to their workshop in Irvine, California. Champion Racing will compete in next week in Round 2 of the CMS GTC series, at Old Racing Circuit.