The final race of the season is just around the corner. RSR enters the race in third place in the driver's championship only 9 points back. Owen and Sarah will be gunning for their 2nd win of the season. Mid Ohio is a Mini friendly track. We have not won there but have always run up front. After our 1-2 finish at New Jersey, Grand Am has decided that the Mini's were too fast and have placed 25 lb penalty on us.:mad2: Hopefully, we will overcome this and bring home the championship. The cars have been running well and with a little luck . . . Schedule: http://www.grand-am.com/assets/2011M...icialSched.pdf Line ups: 195 Dicky Riegel and Chris Puskar 196 Ron Farmer and Jason Hart 197 Mark Congleton and Tom Dyer 198 Owen Trinkler and Sarah Cattaneo The annual awards dinner will be at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Sunday night following the race. The race will be televised on Sep 25, 12:00 PM ET, SPEED Randy
Mid-Ohio Motoring will be there to cheer you on in full force. Looking forward to seeing all of you again this year in the paddock
Looking forward to see you guys running up front. Time to grab the championship! Man I wish Grand Am would stop sticking it to team RSR.
Two practice sessions down, so far so good. RSR's first practice results: P1 -- 198 -- Cattaneo / Trinkler P2 -- 195 -- Puskar / Riegel P17 -- 196 -- Farmer / Hart P19 -- 197 -- Congleton / Dyer Second practice: P1 -- 198 -- Cattaneo / Trinkler P5 -- 195 -- Puskar / Riegel P6 -- 196 -- Farmer / Hart P7 -- 197 -- Congleton / Dyer
Just returned from the track. MINI's looked great in practice. Cool temps today and for tomorrow should help horsepower.
Here's the rest: P1 -- 198 -- Cattaneo / Trinkler P8 -- 197 -- Congleton / Dyer P13 -- 196 -- Farmer / Hart P17 -- 195 -- Puskar / Riegel
Sarah and Owen had the 198 flying today. It was great to see the team in action today. Can't wait to get back up there tomorrow watch the race in person! I was standing at the fence during qualifying and had a guy walk up and say that he thought that the MINIs were the best sounding cars on the track
All I could do is check in occasionally with live timing so I don't know all the details, but from what I saw I'd say it was a great race with a heartbreaking end for RSR. The story mentions Owen losing his clutch from the lead but doesn't mention that two MINIs (#198 and I think the 197) cut through the field together and then ran 1st and 2nd for a number of laps! RSR finishing positions: P18 -- 197 -- Congleton / Dyer P22 -- 195 -- Puskar / Riegel P24 -- 198 -- Cattaneo / Trinkler Withdrawn (?) -- 196 -- Farmer / Hart Cooldown Lap: Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (grand-am.com) As disappointing as this is, esp. as an incredibly promising season-ender, I'm looking forward to the broadcast next weekend (9/25, 1:00 PM ET, SPEED).
It happened in front of where a bunch of us were standing. The collective groan drowned out even the screaming exhaust of the RX8.
The look on the crowds face...... Followed by a resounding DOH!!! It was a great race & all of us MINI/Team RSR fans are very proud of you & the effort the team put forth. Man you guys were flying!!! We will be there next year cheering you on.
I plan on being at Mid-Ohio next year regardless of what RSR is racing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Shift cable.... Uggg that sucks. The Question is are they running the European Focus with the Volvo 5 Cylinder turbo Motor or are they going to the US spec focus using that Mazda engine (2.0L and 2.3L) that the Mazda Mx-5's are running? Looks like they only offer the US focus with the 2.0L. They do a great job with those motors getting the 2.5L's up as high as 280whp in the World Challenge Spec.... I've heard rumors of 25k+ a motor and they last one race... YIKES!
Anyone else out there who enjoyed the delayed broadcast on SPEED today? I must say, the passing by the MINIs to take over the 1-2 positions late in the race was real edge-of-the-seat stuff. Looking forward with great anticipation to next season. Congratulations and sincere best wishes to the RSR team.
I haven't watched it yet, the DVR has it for me. I was at the race, but races are easier to follow on TV. I figured the coverage of RSR would be decent since they were running up front. Hope to watch it tomorrow evening while eating dinner.
No matter who is running in front, the GS coverage is usually sparse. This time though the close ST title race combined with the excellent ST title-related action on the track and the lack of same in GS meant they spent some quality time on ST for a change. Lucky for us, MINIs were either cutting through the field or out front the whole time! Still heartbreaking in the end but a lot of fun to watch. Even the commentators seemed excited and then let down when Owen pulled off the track. Like I expected, well worth watching despite the multiply unfortunate result.
And 'ol Nic's team continued with there lousy driving! Is Grand Am going to do anything about their driving? Was so hoping Puskar would take Nic out ..........:biggrin5: Definitely a great race to watch. A great end to a great season for RSR ! ! !